RUSSIA — Whatever the name, now that the NHL is out of the Beijing Olympics, the Russians will be the favourite for the gold medal.
After the NHL withdrew from the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday to save a league schedule ravaged by virus outbreaks on numerous teams, Europe-based players are set to dominate the Olympic men’s tournament.
That puts the Russians, competing in Beijing as ROC for Russian Olympic Committee, in a strong position to retain the gold medal it won in 2018 under the Olympic Athletes from Russia name. The name changes were required as part of Russia’s sanctions for various doping-related issues across multiple Olympic sports.
Just as it was four years ago, the Kontinental Hockey League remains the strongest league outside of the NHL. Russia has used the big-spending SKA St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow clubs to keep some talented younger Russians at home when they might otherwise have moved to North America.
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