MALKIN: WE ARE EAGER TO WIN THE GOLD

Evgeniy Malkin and Sergey Gonchar Photo

Russian sport press correspondent talked to Russian hockey team leader Evgeniy Malkin.



This interview with the MVP of the previous Stanley Cup began in Canada Hockey Place after the last training session of the Russian team before the Olympic games opening match and ended in the Olympic Village.

Russian team grabbed two World Championships crowns while Evgeniy Malkin played in the final and then won Stanley Cup trophy. "Firstly, there are other players, who didn’t win the World Cup gold besides me [Datsyuk, Gonchar and Kozlov]", commented Malkin.

"Secondly, the World champion and Olympic champion are two different things. Maybe Russian team has no Olympic champions, so I think that all players are eager to win the Olympic gold, not only me".

"I played with my partners Ilya Kovalchuk and Maxim Afinogenov at the World championships, so we easily find mutual understanding on the ice. Of course we have little time for team-work, but other players are in the same conditions".

"I will play with the number 11 sweater in Vancouver, as I began playing hockey with this number in my childhood. Later I changed it for the 71 number, but it was occupied in the national team".

"The choice of number was very easy, because I had been playing with number 11 for a long time. I don’t think that number is important, but I hope it will bring me success".

"I forgot about my suspension at the end of Turin Olympics quarterfinal match against Canada. I don’t recall this episode, though it was really unpleasant".

"In my opinion my violation didn’t deserve suspension until the end of the match with further suspension in the Olympics’ quarterfinal game. I think that punishment was very strict and cruel".

"Of course I wanted to help my teammates in the semifinal match against Finland, when Russia lost. I don’t know if something depended on me in Turin if talking about result. I spent not much time in ice there, but I wanted to help my partners".