The Russian Hockey Federation released their preliminary Olympic Roster today. 35 players were named as potential competitors for the 2014 games in Sochi, and it looks like we’re going to be rooting for more than a few Blue Jackets, no matter what form the final roster takes.
Not surprisingly, Sergei Bobrovsky is one of the goaltenders under consideration, while Fedor Tyutin seems like a virtual lock given his appearances in Turin and Vancouver.
Artem Anisimov and Nikita Nikitin have also been named to the preliminary roster, the first time either player has been selected by Team Russia since their World Juniors performances.
With some of the other names on the list, it’s a long shot for all four to make the Olympic squad, but wouldn’t that be something neat to see?
Here’s the translation of the official annoucement:
The coaching staff of the national team, led by Zinetula Bilyaletdinov announced the main candidates for the Russian Olympic hockey team, who are invited to gather in Sochi on August 23-24. 35 players were called – five goalkeepers, 12 defenders and 18 forwards.
Goalkeepers : Konstantin Barulin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Semyon Varlamov, Vasily Koshechkin, Evgeni Nabokov.
Defenders : Evgeny Biryukov, Vyacheslav Voinov, Anton Volchenkov, Sergei Gonchar, Denis Denisov, Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov, Evgeny Medvedev, Nikita Nikitin, Ilya Nikulin, Eugene Ryasensky, Fedor Tyutin.
Forwards : Artem Anisimov, Michael Varnakov, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Denis Kokarev, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nikolai Kulemin, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Perezhogin, Alexander Popov, Alexander Radulov, Alexander Semin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Tereshchenko, Viktor Tikhonov, Vadim Shipachev, Nail Yakupov.