Photo: @Ovi8
Alex Ovechkin‘s second full day of the Sochi Olympics was another busy one. Like Monday, Ovi did a whole lot of press, speaking with the media in a press conference with Team Russia. Unlike Monday, he actually got to take in the sights as well, attending some figure skating with fiancee Maria Kirilenko and hobnobbing with other Russian sports royalty.
We’ve got your full recap right here.
Ovi puts on translating headphones. (Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Wilf)
The Russian men’s hockey team gave press time early in the day.
Tretiak says Russia "will treat every game like a final" – so that's not just a soccer cliche on this side of the world.
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) February 11, 2014
Former Caps beat writer and current NHL.com whiz Corey Masisak was there, getting the cliches straight from the horse’s mouth.
Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, 'Coach Bil,' Tretiak, Malkin, Varlamov, Datsyuk and friends. pic.twitter.com/1KcBLSBayY
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) February 11, 2014
Pumping up the hype to unbearably high levels, Ovechkin restated his intention for the tournament. “I hope we’ll play in the gold medal game,” Ovechkin told sports.ru, as translated by RMNB’s Fedor Fedin. “Our goal is to fight for the gold medals.”
So no surprise there.
Ovechkin then put Sochi in context. “In Turin, I was very young, it was my first big important tournament. In Vancouver, there was a lot of pressure on the whole team, the loss to Canadians was a huge blow.” Is there pressure now? Probably, by the media, but it’s tough to say how we handle it because we’re yet to play a game.”
It’s almost like he’s reading RMNB.
Then someone in the press corps asked a curiously timed question about the willingness of NHL players to participate in the 2018 Olympics to be held in PyeongChang, South Korea. Ovi was surprisingly politic in his response. Linemate Evgeni Malkin was not.
Ovechkin, the most outspoken player about NHL participation in Sochi, passes on 2018 question. Malkin gives the "we want to go" response.
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) February 11, 2014
The only real news we got out of the press conference was an affirmation that Pavel Datsyuk should play in the games.
After the event, Ovechkin took this neat pic with Ilya Kovalchuk, Vladislav Tretiak, and Coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov.
After a wardrobe change, Ovechkin met up with fiancee Maria Kirilenko to attend the pairs short program figure skating at Iceberg Skaring Palace.
Photo: Vladimir Pesnya/RIA Novosti
Russian TV cut to Ovi and Maria in the audience a few times during the broadcast, where they were taking photos for excited fans.
Sasha and Masha were sitting with Yana Rudkovskaya, wife of Evgeni Plushenko, the Russian superstar ice skater whom Ovi had recommended as the country’s flag-bearer. At one point, Ovi even took a selfie with Yana’s camera.
Photo: @rudkovskayaofficial
We should expect one more day of Ovi’s Russian vacation before he gets down to business. Russia’s first game is at 7:30 AM on Thursday morning against Slovenia.
