By Steve Keating
BEIJING (Reuters) – The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) men’s ice hockey team arrived in Beijing feeling good about their gold medal defence but without three key players who are back in Russia waiting to be cleared to travel after posting positive COVID-19 tests.
As the men’s teams roll into Beijing for the start of the Olympic tournament on Feb. 9 many teams are missing players due to positive COVID tests or are having athletes placed in isolation on arrival.
USA Hockey left one player Jake Sanderson back in the U.S. while two others Steven Kampfer and Andy Miele are in isolation in the athlete village.
The Swedish hockey federation also said three players Henrik Tommernes, Theodore Lennstrom and Sven Thomsson had tested positive on arrival.
The ROC held their first practice in Beijing on Friday but without Nikita Nesterov, Sergei Plotnikov and Artyom Anisimov who are in a holding pattern in Moscow awaiting the results of further tests.
“We are only waiting for Nesterov’s test results,” ROC general manager Ilya Kovalchuk was quoted as saying by Sport Express. The others all have negative tests.
“Nikita will have another test. Nesterov, Plotnikov and Anisimov are in Moscow now, they are flying to Beijing on Feb. 7.”
The ROC is scheduled to open play on Feb. 9 against Switzerland.
With the National Hockey League deciding not to send players to the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, Russia skated away with the gold medal and are again the favourites in Beijing after the NHL pulled out of Games in December after a surge in COVID-19 forced the postponement of over 100 games.
While the KHL also saw a surge in COVID-19 cases the league decided it would, as planned, shut down for the Olympic break freeing players to participate in the Beijing Games.
Six players who won gold at Pyeongchang Beijing are back for the ROC.
The team will also feature six players with NHL experience and the KHL’s leading scorer Vadim Shipachyov.
“We have a lot of experience and also a lot of new guys, it’s a lot pressure,” said forward Mikhail Grigorenko. “We are one of the favourites I would say, we have a lot of guys that have played in the NHL and at the national team level.”
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Beijing. Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
