Ovechkin, like the rest of the NHL Olympians, arrived on Monday, then practiced immediately. Here are some other highlights of his afternoon:
— “The situation is simple: You have to enjoy your moment and enjoy your time."
— A win for Russian would "mean gold only cost $50 billion."
— On whether he's in the best shape of his life: "No. But will be in three days.”
— On jet lag: “The pressure is going to come 100% but right now we just have jet lag. We have a different time right now. I’m pretty sure you guys had the same thing for a couple days … Right now we just don’t realize what’s going on but I’m pretty sure (Tuesday) is going to be better.”
Also, his skates are rad.
As for actual hockey-specific stuff, Ovechkin started the day on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Semin. That's not bad. Here are the rest of Russia's initial combos minus captain Pavel Datsyuk, who is expected to play despite a groin injury.
Vladimir Tarasenko-Artem Anisimov-Nikolai Kulemin Alexander Radulov-Aleksandr Svitov-Ilya Kovalchuk Alexander Popov-Alexei Tereschenko-Viktor Tikhonov
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