MAY 18, 2010 – GERMANY -- After their quarterfinal loss during the Olympic Games in Vancouver, Russia is trying to polish up its image by winning the 2010 World Championship.

Looking at the Russian roster, you see 12 players earning their money in the KHL and 13 in the NHL.

Three Russians competing at the Worlds went back to their roots in Russia after their NHL careers concluded, including Dmitri Kalinin, Sergei Fedorov and Victor Kozlov.

“I (played) 20 years in the NHL, (and) yeah, it´s a different style of hockey…but I had a great and successful time there,” Fedorov told Hockeytalk.biz, adding, “I would say that now you can earn more money in the Russian league.”

If one door closes another opens. A variety of Russian NHL greats from clubs already eliminated are at the World Championship.

The surprising arrivals of Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin from the Washington Capitals were great for the fans in Germany and Russia, but Capitals fans back home were shocked when their team fell to Montreal in seven games after surrendering a 3-1 series lead.

Pavel Datsyuk also came to support his country after his Detroit Red Wings lost to the San Jose Sharks in five games.  Datsyuk joked to Hockeytalk that he came to the Worlds, “To win at least one title.”

Penguins stars Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin followed their nation’s call, arriving in Cologne directly after they, like the Capitals, were booted from the playoffs by Montreal, again after a seven-game series.

Even before the recent additions of Gonchar and Malkin, Team Russia was dominating its opponents, toppling Slovakia 3-1, Kazakhstan 4-1, Belarus 3-1 and Germany 3-2. In the qualifying round, they topped the surprising team of Denmark 6-1.  The victory over the Danes was been Russia´s 23^rd win in a row at the Worlds with no end in sight.

The Russian forward lines are dangerous.  Ilya Kovalchuk (3 assists), Malkin (1-2-3) and Datsyuk (3-1-4) collected 10 points and the “GR8” Ovechkin, on a line with with Fedorov and Semin, scored his fifth goal in the first five games of the tournament.

The other lines include Alexei Tereshchenko (KHL Champion Ak Bars Kazan), Alexander Frolov (LA Kings) and Kozlov (Salavat Ufa).  Another trio includes Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs), Artyom Anisimov (New York Rangers) and Thrashers forward Maxim Afinogenov. 

The wealth of talent makes it difficult to discern which is the “first” line and which is the “fourth,” since all are capable of finding the net.

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Ivo Jaschick reports on hockey from Germany and across Europe.

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