December 29, 1999
Go Russia Go!
Since 1995, team Russia has not won any prestigious tournaments. Now things are
going well for the Russians. Hockey is immensely popular among the natives of this country
and without any doubt all of them have been hungry for the success of its team.
Two years ago, Russian hockey bosses and fans gave confidence to
the coaching staff of the team, which included experienced legendary hockey players such
as Alexander Yakushev and Zenatula Bilyaletdinov and waited for success. After a
little patience, now comes the great success. The Baltic Cup once again belongs to Russia
as in the old days. It is twice pleasant to realize the fact before the start of the 2000
World Championships in St. Petersburg.
Team Russia won the game against Canada 8-2. Second, it
looked great against Finland 3-2, played in a tie with the team of Chech Republic 1-1, and
finally team Sweden was beaten by the Reds (Russians) 7-5.
The legendary veteran of team USSR comments on the play of the
Russian team, "Do you mean that only now team Russia was born? I don’t agree
with you. Russia has always had its great national team!
The legendary veteran of team Dynamo Moscow, Vitalie Davydov,
comments on the play of Russian team, "It makes me nostalic for the old days. Have a
look at the stands and there is a sellout without any doubt. Everybody in the street is
looking for tickets to attend the game. It means that hockey is immensely popular with
fans. As for the game itself, forwards looked stronger than defensemen, though four of
them are demonstrating great reliable play. Among them are Andrei Markov, Alexander
Khavanov, Sergei Tertyshny and Yevgeny Petrochinin. As for forwards we have two good
scoring lines: Kuvaldin-Prokopyev-Kharitonov, Karpov-Bets-Gusmanov. I believe in the
future success of our team."
BALTIC CUP TOURNAMENT STANDING:
PS: It is so sad to realize that next year Andrei Markov, Alexander
Khavanov, Dimitri Vlasenkov, Alexander Zevakhin, Denis Arkhipov and Pavel Datsuk will
leave to play for NHL teams. It will be a great loss for Russian hockey. Anyway we are
proud of them.
Go Russia go!!! Go Russia go!!!
Denis Neznanov
HockeyZone's Russian Correspondent
