ZURICH (iihf.com) - Olympic bronze medalist from Salt Lake City Russia today announced the 23-man roster for the XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Due to the elections of the Russian NOC on Thursday, the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia was granted the permission to publicly announce their roster one day past the December 22 deadline. However, the roster was filed in due time to the IIHF on December 22.
Evgeni Malkin
Nineteen-year old forward Evgeni Malkin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk) was named to the Russian team for Turin-2006. Malkin, whom Metallurg coach and Olympic veteran Dave King calls "the best player in the Russian Superleague, is one of 11 first-time Olympic participants on roster otherwise filled with seasoned veterans of international hockey.
Five players remain from the team which won gold at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville as Commonwealth of Independent States (it was later reverted to Russia in IIHF historical files); goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin (did not dress in 1992), defensemen Alexei Zhitnik (NY Islanders), Darius Kasparaitis (NY Rangers) and forwards Alexei Kovalev (Montreal) and Alexei Zhamnov (Boston).
Zhitnik, Kasparaitis, Zhamnov and also defensemen Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh) and forward Alexei Yashin (NY Islanders) remain from the team which won the silver medal in Nagano1998. Eleven players remain from the bronze medal team from Salt Lake City-02.
Kasparaitis and Zhamnov are on course to participate in their fourth Olympics as they are the only ones on the roster who have played in 1992, 1998 and 2002.
Former Kazakhstan oaltender Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose) will participate in his first tournament for Russia. Nabokov was one of the first players who took advantage of the new IIHF national eligibility regulations, which were passed two years ago (and permitted a nationality change under specified conditions) as he decided to represent Russiain future international competition.
National team and Dynamo Moscow coach Vladimir Krikunov selected three players from his Dynamo club; defenseman Dmitri Bykov and forwards Maxim Sushinsky and Alexander Kharitonov. 13 players on the 2006 roster also played for Russiain the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
The Italian national team was also announced. Forty-year old forward Lucio Topatigh makes a comeback after he retired from international hockey in 2002. Topatigh, a veteran of 14 IIHF World Championships, is one of the few players who is on course to play in his fourth Olympics after representing Italy in 1992, 1994 and 1998.
Italy, with nine Canadian-born and two US-born players on the roster, plays its opening game on February 15 against defending Olympic champion Canada.
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