GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — The Russians are here, and they look every bit like the gold-medal favorites everyone thinks they are.
They’re stocked with NHL talent from Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk and Slava Voynov to Kontinental Hockey League star Nikita Gusev and are fresh off an 8-1 drubbing of host South Korea in exhibition play. Asked to describe the Russian team, Nikita Nesterov said it is a “red machine.”
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“We’ll just play well and play Russian hockey,” Nesterov said Sunday as the Russians arrived at Gangneung Hockey Centre.