Ahead of the World Cup of Hockey, the Russian national team has been practicing together in St. Petersburg. On Thursday, Alex Ovechkin participated in Knowledge Day ceremonies, welcoming children back to school. Today, in that same vein, the Russian machine joined Evgeny Kuznetsov and Evgeni Malkin out on the ice to play hockey against children during the first intermission of the SKA/Lada Togliatti game.

The Russian superstars were dressed — I’m serious — as mascots.

Ovechkin looks to be a fox (???) while Kuznetsov maybe is a raccoon.

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Video

Невсегда такое увидишь 😄. Хвостатые #Малкин , #Овечкин , #Кузнецов на матче #СКА #hcSKA #SKA #hockey #malkin #ovechkin #kuznetsov #khl #nhlstars #звездыНХЛ #Питер #СПб #сборнаяРоссииПоХоккею #хоккей #живихоккеем #ХоккейГоловногоМозга #ЕвненийМалкин #ЕвгенийКузнецов #АлександрОвечкин

A video posted by Victoria Loves 💋 (@vi.loves) on Sep 2, 2016 at 2:12pm PDT

Additional Photos

Малкин, Овечкин и Кузнецов превратились в талисманов https://t.co/zCkF9iXZmD pic.twitter.com/WdJxueWmtT

— Спорт-Экспресс (@sportexpress) September 2, 2016

A photo posted by Anton (@anton051_) on Sep 2, 2016 at 11:04am PDT

A photo posted by Kosta Gusack (@gusack90) on Sep 2, 2016 at 10:45am PDT

A photo posted by Tanya (@kulebyachechka) on Sep 2, 2016 at 11:27am PDT

A photo posted by Sasha Shishkina (@sashishkina) on Sep 2, 2016 at 2:28pm PDT