The head coach of Columbus, former head coach of the Canadian national team, who is to go to Vancouver as head coach assistant, Ken Hitchcock gave an interview to russian sport press.
"Thank heaven I live in America," said Hitchcock. "Here one cannot feel fully what is going on in Canada at the moment. Journalists would not let me alone around the clock. But I know how the matters stand there."
"Again, you, European journalists start talking about Canada being forced to prove again its power and dominance after recent losses."
"That is a new world, a new tournament. These are Olympics – and Olympics are quite a different matter."
"In Europe you pay too much attention to World Championships. But World Cups are only for those players who can go there. One cannot judge which country has the strongest national team according to these tournaments. All teams lack somebody."
"But if Canada is beaten at the Olympics than somebody will be able to boast about it."
"The Swedes are champions now. They won last Olympics and they are the best in the world now. Everything that happened between Turin and Vancouver is only tournaments among best of the rest."
"Olympics cannot be compared to any other competitions. Best against best – is a different level. And the tension is completely different – take World Cup and multiply by three."
"It was very hard when Russia beat us in Quebec. We were outplaying them 4:2 and one cannot possibly lose such an advantage in the final."
"But the best players of the Russian side showed their best. The entire team were charging from the energy of Ovechkin and Kovalchuk that day."
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