Business as Usual for Russia at Home Ice Hockey Champs

(ATR) As scrutiny and investigation into alleged Russian state-sponsored doping at the Sochi 2014 Olympics escalate, Russia’s hockey team pursues gold at the home world championships in Moscow.

Considering that Russian hockey failed to win a medal at the Sochi Games and was also embarrassed by Canada in the final of last year’s IIHF World Championships in Prague, a tournament victory for Russian redemption seems critical.

"We only need gold, so the pressure is really high here," said Kontinental Hockey League TV reporter Maria Rogovskaya. "We have been preparing for this tournament for a long time, everything has been done for the [Russian] team and the fans hope we get revenge for Sochi."

Regarding her impressions on the mounting Sochi 2014 doping scandal, Rogovskaya said: "No idea really, I don’t follow it."

Finnish hockey journalist Ilari Savonen, who is in St. Petersburg covering the tournament, said: "There have been some stories on the sports channel about the scandal, but the world championships are a bigger topic here and they are focusing on that."

The 17-day tournament is being contested at Moscow’s new Ice Palace and St. Petersburg’s Yubileiny Arena.

Eight of 16 original teams remain in contention as the quarterfinal elimination round begins on Thursday. Russia hosts Germany, which has reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011, at the Ice Palace.

The second quarterfinal contest in the Russian capital pits Czech Republic and the United States, while Finland plays Denmark and Sweden faces defending champion Canada in St. Petersburg.

Finland has been the class of the tournament thus far claiming Group B with a perfect 7-0 record, while the Czechs were the surprise winners in Group A.

"There have been many fans from Finland here, because Saint Petersburg is so close to Finland," Savonen said. "But I think the atmosphere and energy has been good at all games."

Russia is seeking its third world title over the last five tournaments. The gold medal contest will be played Sunday night in Moscow at 20:45 local time.

IIHF Boss on PyeongChang 2018

International Ice Hockey Federation chief Rene Fasel says enticing the National Hockey League to allow its players to participate in PyeongChang 2018 will be "more difficult than before."

Fasel said there is a financial consideration at play, along with the consent of the NHL and NHLPA.

"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said clearly they would not pay player transportation and insurance," Fasel told reporters at a news conference in St. Petersburg. "In the budget that we have, we have to find $10 million to make this happen.

"We still have the challenge convincing the NHL and NHLPA to come. Now we have another challenge within our federation to convince people that we have to find the money so it is even more difficult than it was before.

"Not having the pros would definitely impact the value of the Winter Games."

The NHL and NHLPA still have not committed to making players available for the Olympics but many athletes have expressed their desire to participate at a sixth consecutive Games.

"I think we expect that the players they want to go and that is a very positive point. When I speak with the NHLPA there is a huge interest in going. We will work very hard to make this happen but it does not look very good."

The deadline for a decision is expected in January 2017.

International Media on Russian Experience

Members of the international media covering the tournament in St. Petersburg shared experiences, expressing mostly positive feedback.

"In Finland there is a saying ‘in Russia nothing works, but in the end everything will be Ok’ and that’s good," said Finnish hockey journalist Ilari Savonen, who writes for the website SuomiKiekko.com.

"There are little problems all the time with internet and fans are going into the media tribune (press area), but they try to do their best," Savonen told ATR.

"They don’t speak much English, but in the end, almost every time there is someone speaking English. There have not been problems here where everybody is angry."

American journalist Julie Robenhymer gave the Russian organizers higher marks than her Finnish colleague.

"Everything was properly planned for and that's not just my opinion," Robenhymer told ATR. "The organizers and the IIHF have been pleasantly surprised by how well everything has gone.

"The atmosphere and energy is great," she said. "The arena has been nearly full every game with exceptional representation by the Finnish, Belarusian, Slovakian and Hungarian fans."

Canadian journalist Derek O’Brien of ChampionsHockeyLeague.net said: "Some Canadian fans are here but not many. Lots of Hungarians came and their fans were amazing."

He added that the tournament is running "pretty smoothly" and the volunteers have been "very helpful and cheerful."

In both Moscow and St. Petersburg, two fan zones have been set up with large video screens to watch the games.In St. Petersburg, one is outside the arena and one in the city center.

"Both locations have been very well attended," Robenhymer noted.

IIHF Meetings, Asian Expansion, Olympic Qualifiers

On the sidelines of the tournament, the IIHF is conducting a Council meeting Wednesday (May 18), elections on Thursday and a Congress on Friday and Saturday.

In addition to electing the IIHF Council for a new four-year term, discussions on Olympic qualification and voting on future lower tier tournaments are on the agenda. The next four men’s world championships are already in place with the 2017 edition to be played in Cologne, Germany and Paris, France.

The 2021 edition will be determined next year, with Finland as the front-runner.

The IIHF is currently comprised of 74 member nations, but Fasel revealed that three new applications are being considered this week – Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines.

"We have 17 Asian federation members at this time," Fasel said. "We can see that more than half of the global population lives in Asia and I really hope the two Olympic Games in PyeongChang, Korea and Beijing, China will push the direction of our game into Asia."

For PyeongChang 2018 the top eight teams of the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Ranking – Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, USA, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia and host Korea – are already qualified and will be joined by three more nations.

Belarus, Latvia and Norway will each host four-team qualifying tournaments to determine the final three vacancies in September 2017.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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