“I want to attach Nylander, he will like it”: the Russian national team held a training session before the match with Sweden at the 2019 World Cup

Russian hockey players appeared on the training ground at the Ondrei Nepel Arena around 11 am local time (12 am Moscow time). There, athletes were already awaited by members of the national team’s coaching staff - Aleksey Zhamnov and Aleksey Kudashov, who demonstrated to journalists that they still remember how to throw at goal. The first to join the mentors were defenders Dmitry Orlov and Nikita Nesterov, and later the rest of the team went on the ice.

After all 22 players of the national team were on the court, including goalkeepers Andrei Vasilevsky and Alexander Georgiev, it became clear that Ilya Vorobyov had not made a single change in combinations in comparison with the match against the Swiss national team. Kirill Kaprizov took a place in one of the three with Yevgeny Kuznetsov and Alexander Ovechkin, and Ivan Telegin made the company to Sergey Andronov and Ilya Kovalchuk.

After a short warm-up, during which Alexander Ovechkin personally talked with Yevgeny Malkin about something, and the Russians started to exercise the puck control exercises at the sides of the counterattack. During the lesson, three forwards were given a puck on the border of their zone and had to complete the offensive with an accurate throw, simultaneously dealing with two defenders.

A few minutes later, the athletes switched to working out long shots, which ended in a funny moment with the participation of Nikita Zadorov. So, the defender of the “Colorado Avalanche” so invested in his attempt that he broke the stick in two.

One of the final stages of the training of the Russian team was practicing the game in unequal compositions. So, the first combination of the majority was already the usual five - Nikita Kucherov, Nikita Gusev, Evgeny Malkin, Evgeny Dadonov and Mikhail Sergachev. The second included Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Yevgeny Kuznetsov, Kirill Kaprizov and Dinar Khafizullin.

“We need to look after ourselves”

After completing a half-hour workout for journalists, the head coach of the Russian team came out. Sparrow told who will take place at the gate in the match with Sweden, and also assessed the condition of his players before the final meeting of the group stage.

- Have you decided on a goalkeeper for a match with Sweden?

- Today Vasilevsky plays.

- After the match with the national team of Switzerland, the game combinations have not changed?

- As you can see.

- Was the game analysis of the Swedes?

- Of course, all this was, now we will hold a meeting.

- Two weeks ago, in the match of the final stage of Euro Hockey Tour, the teams demonstrated very open hockey. Today, this can happen again?

- It is not important. We are concerned that a very masterful team will play with us. We think about it.

- It seemed that on the eve of the Swedes wanted to get off with a little blood in the game with the Latvians, but in the end they had to turn on the maximum speed. Do you agree?

- In your opinion, to throw the puck into an empty net - it means to give everything? First of all, we need to look after ourselves. Of course, we noticed something from this meeting, but no more.

- Yesterday Latvia could guarantee the Russian team the first place, but missed in the end. Not upset?

- Everyone understood that in the last minutes they will release the sixth field instead of the goalkeeper, if by this point there will be a draw. We have nothing to be upset.

- In what emotional state did the team approach the decisive match of the group stage?

- Usually you are more interested in functional. In good - both emotional and physical. We are moving forward.

“Zaitsev is incredibly kind”

In addition to Vorobyov, on the eve of the most important meeting, the partners of Toronto Maple Leafs, Nikita Zaitsev and William Nylander, answered the questions of journalists. At the moment, the Russian defender shares fourth place in the number of goals among the defenders, and the Swedish forward leads the ranking of scorers and world championship assistants.

So, before the match, Zaitsev admitted that he was looking forward to meeting on the ice with his partner in Toronto.

“I want to attach Nylander a couple of times. Is he angry? No, he will like it. It will be good for him, ”HockeyNews quotes Zaitsev.

At the same time, the Swede himself spoke very warmly about his partner in the club, noting that he was not afraid to join in a power struggle with him.

“Zaitsev will try. Nikita is an incredibly kind person who works hard on the ice. It will be fun to play against him. Does he want to hit me? Yes, let's see, ”said Nylander.