Russians expect a ‘gold medal, nothing else’ at Olympics

By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer

BEIJING (AP) — The Russians go into another Olympics without NHL players as the favorite to win gold. They won in 2018 with a star-studded roster that included Kirill Kaprizov, Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk. None of those players or any of the goaltenders from Pyeongchang is on the team this time. In Beijing, the Russians will be relying heavily on captain and KHL leading scorer Vadim Shipachyov. Teammates and coaches say the 34-year-old has grown up and improved since an ill-fated NHL attempt in 2017 and a limited role at the last Olympics. Shipachyov was a healthy scratch for all but one game of that tournament.