"Fans will be able to see almost all the strongest players in the world": how Russia reacted to the decision of the NHL to go to the Olympic Games-2022

The saga of the possible arrival of National Hockey League players for the 2022 Beijing Olympics has officially ended.

The International Ice Hockey Federation reported that representatives of the strongest championship on the planet will go to competitions in China.

“I know the following I can say on behalf of hockey fans around the world: we welcome the decision to return a hockey tournament with the best participation to the Olympics. We had a lot of constructive discussions. A lot of hard work has been put in so that we can achieve this within the time frame we have set. I want to thank all interested parties for their support and commitment, ”the IIHF press service quotes Fasel.

The question of the NHL's participation in the Olympics has become particularly acute in the past five years.

In the spring of 2017, it became known that the North American League would not allow its representatives to compete at the Games in South Korean Pyeongchang.

Then, the reason was the unwillingness of clubs to stop the championship and lose income, as well as risk the health of athletes.

Indeed, in the event of injury, they risked missing not only the key segment of the regular season, but also the playoffs.

Many players did not like this decision, and the leader and captain of the Washington Capitals, Alexander Ovechkin, spoke out more actively than others.

At one point, he even promised to go to Pyeongchang, despite sanctions from the NHL, but in the end he was forced to reconsider his decision.

“We understand the passion with which NHL players feel about being able to represent and compete for their countries.

We are very pleased that we were able to reach agreements that will allow them to continue to compete in the best versus best format in the Olympic arena, ”said Bill Daly, Deputy Commissioner for the NHL.

Thus, the Beijing Olympics will be the sixth in history in which NHL hockey players will perform.

This happened for the first time in 1998 at the Games in Nagano, in the final of which the national teams of Russia and the Czech Republic met.

The national team lost 0: 1, and the main hero of the match was at that time the goalkeeper of the Buffalo Sabers, Dominik Hasek, who saved 20 shots on goal.

Subsequently, the NHL allowed its athletes to defend the colors of their countries at tournaments in Salt Lake City, Turin, Vancouver and Sochi, and the series was interrupted only in 2018.

Then the league, IIHF and the IOC could not reach a consensus and ensure the arrival of athletes in South Korean Pyeongchang.

The intention of the NHL to go to the capital of China was also greeted by the International Olympic Committee - its sports director Keith McConnell noted that all parties involved in the negotiations deserve praise for the achieved result.

And NHLPA General Counselor Don Zavelo said the hockey players themselves are looking forward to playing for their states again.

“Representing their countries at the Olympics is very important for players, even in this time of uncertainty.

Hockey players are looking forward to donning their national teams' jerseys and competing for gold at the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, ”Zanelo said.

It is worth noting that the NHL was reinsured and reserved the right to urgently refuse to travel to the Games in Beijing if the epidemiological situation deteriorates sharply and participation in the Olympic tournament becomes "impractical and unsafe."

Thus, it is too early to say unequivocally that Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid, David Pastrnyak and Auston Matthews will have a chance to debut at the championship.

In Russia, they were also pleased with the achievement of an agreement with the overseas league.

President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) Vladislav Tretyak said that he supports this decision, but plans to keep in mind a possible refusal to come to the competition due to the coronavirus.

“We are delighted with this decision by the NHL.

Fans will be able to see almost all the strongest players in the world.

For the Russian national team, as well as for any participating country, the upcoming tournament will be a serious challenge.

And we are fully prepared for it.

At the same time, given that the NHL may change its mind and refuse to participate in the Games, we will continue to prepare two national team squads for participation in the Games: with and without NHL players.

We will move step by step, fight to repeat the success of 2018, ”RIA Novosti quotes Tretyak as saying.

As the vice-president of the FHR Roman Rotenberg said, the organization learned a little earlier about the intention of the NHL. According to him, the captain of "Washington" personally informed him about this.

“Alexander Ovechkin, one of the leading players of the Russian national team, called me and said that the league would soon announce this. All the time, while the NHL was making a decision, we had our finger on the pulse, consulted with IIHF. We have everything to participate in the Olympics - a well-coordinated staff, qualified personnel and, of course, excellent players. January 10 is a key date for us. In our work, we will also build on it. Before and after it, we have to solve many technical problems directly related to the preparation for the matches. These are common organizational things, as well as things that we have not yet encountered - for example, the mandatory vaccination of participants. Of course, now we are vaccinated with the Russian vaccine. We have no problems with the preparation, but there is a lot of work, "- quotes Rotenberg" Championship ".

Two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov also expressed the opinion that the presence of foreign players from the overseas league will positively affect both the level of the tournament itself and the interest of fans in it.

"This is great.

The strongest players will be able to participate in the Games.

And this applies not only to the top teams.

We often forget about Switzerland and Germany, which are represented by several star hockey players in the NHL.

But it is not worth talking about their arrival in Beijing in advance.

There was information that the NHL may refuse to travel to the Olympics a month before the start if the epidemiological situation worsens, ”said RT Kozhevnikov.

At the same time, he believes that the NHL will not give up on a trip to the Games at the last moment, and one of the reasons will be the desire of overseas countries to take revenge after the failure in Pyeongchang.

Then the Canadians were only third, and the Americans were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

“I think the NHL will still send its athletes to Beijing.

In 2018, the Russian national team won, it is natural that other teams want to rehabilitate themselves.

In particular, we are talking about Canada, ”said Kozhevnikov.

At the same time, he agreed that the national team would be on hand if the players of the National Hockey League did not come to an agreement with the IOC and IIHF again.

“If the NHL refuses to travel to the Games, then the Russian national team will have more chances to win gold and repeat the result four years ago.

Therefore, such a development of events would be beneficial for us.

On the other hand, with the arrival of the legionnaires from the North American League, both the competition and the attention of the fans increase.

One way or another, the decision of the National Hockey League will not affect the prestige of the competition.

The title of Olympic champion is at stake, no one can take it away.

Therefore, the absence of legionnaires is a plus for us, ”concluded the former Spartak striker.

In turn, the former head coach of the Russian national team Vyacheslav Bykov, although he positively assessed the decision of the NHL, spoke extremely negatively about the activities of the organization.

According to him, the attitude of the leaders of this organization to the hockey community makes him angry.

“The quality and spectacularity of the Olympics may, to some extent, increase from this, but the Olympics itself, outside all leagues, is the biggest sports festival in the world. Therefore, even if the NHL does not eventually release its players, the quality of the holiday will not deteriorate from this, "Bykov told TASS.