MOROZOV: KARJALA CUP – CANDIDATE SHOW FOR OLYMPICS

The captain of the Russian ice hockey national team Alexey Morozov gave an interview to Sport Express.

"There is much talk now that I have a guaranteed place in the national team," said the forward of Ak Bars. "And people say so not only about me."

"But managers speak now the following way that we must show good display in the coming matches and earn a place in the roster."

"I think that our coaches do not just say that they will take only those to Vancouver who are in better form now and thus can bring more benefit to the team and they are not going to count with past merits."

"Almost everybody who is going to Finland for the Karjala Cup is in the list highly probable to go to the Olympics. So I hope that since I am to go to Finland I have great chances to participate in the Winter Olympics-2010."

"In the last matches Ak Bars and I look better than at the beginning of the season. We are approaching the optimal conditions."

"The team looked well before the break in the championship having won two games on the road. And in both times we outplayed our rivals rather masterfully and that I can only be happy about this."

"I am also delighted with my own achievements. Against Sibir I scored four goals. A poker is a rare achievement in the career of a player."

"When it was not so smooth in Ak Bars the coaches decided to rotate the squad and Danis Zaripov and I were playing without Alexey Tereschenko. Though we are to play together in the national team and I hope we will perform well."

"Of course it is better to play with those guys you know well for it is easy to understand each other and thus achieve results. But it is the question for the coaching staff to decide who will be on the ice."

"I understand perfectly well that the two nearest stages - in Finland and in Moscow – are very responsible."

"A lot is spoken about it especially in the press. There the chances of candidates to go to Vancouver will be studied carefully. Every player with self-respect wants to go to the Olympics and that why the coming tournaments are not journeys for me."