With a single shot, Ilya Kovalchuk silenced the home crowd and brought an end to the Russian national team’s 15-year championship drought. Russia took the gold over Canada today in a wild 5-4 OT victory.
The Washington Capitals’ Russian contingent were by far the most dominant scorers on the team, totaling 37 points in just 9 games:
- Ovechkin: 6G, 6A, +11
- Semin: 6G, 7A, +11
- Fedorov: 5G, 7A, +10
Alexander Semin practically lived on the ice, leading the team with 164:52 played in the tournament (followed by Fedorov’s 157:34). Ovechkin, playing in his fifth World Championship, finished tied for second-most goals in the tournament, as did Alex Semin — eclipsed only by Dany Heatley’s record-setting 12-goal performance.
Congratulations to Alex, Alex, and Sergei on a hard-fought victory, and to both teams for wrapping up the World Championships in fine fashion.
CANADA: Commemorating the inaugural Canada Cup, the sons of the Great White North will be sporting the split-leaf jersey from 1976. The retro sweater game is May 6th against the United States.
RUSSIA: This one could not have been an easy decision with the all the success the Russians have enjoyed. Fedorov, Ovechkin, and Semin will be rocking the red in the retro threads from 1956 commomorating Russia’s first Olympic gold. The sweater will be “modern retro” with Rossiya replacing CCCP. Since the 1956 Olympics were held in Italy, the retro sweater game will be on May 2nd versus Italy.
UNITED STATES: Naturally, the US is going back to the miracle on ice. Though it’s the first one in 1960 that occurred in Squaw Valley, California. The US game is on May 2nd with Latvia.
