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The 37-year-old veteran of the Russian hockey, two-time Stanley Cup winner talked to Sport Express ahead of the Olympic Games after he has not been included even to preliminary roster of the Russian national team.
"You know, I am not worried about the fate of the Russian team in Vancouver", said Kozlov. "Everybody knows that we will have our strongest players, who will produce a formidable performance at the Olympics".
"NHL regular championship is the tournament, where everything could happen every day, for example players could get injured".
"But the head coach of the Russian side has a lot of candidates to the post number one. I am sure that our goalkeepers’ line will be very strong anyway".
"Alexandr Ovechkin fights in every game and I think that layers should always do their best on the ice, no matter in which competition – the Olympic Games or regular season".
"I am not ready to say that Russian and Canada will meet in the final match, since one game could decide everything. Of course I would like to see Russia in the final, but who knows maybe Canada won’t reach the final. A lot of strong teams will compete in Vancouver and all of them have chances for victory. Canada has many good goalkeepers, and Brodeur and Luongo".
"Antero Niittymaki is the main candidate to be the first-choice goalkeeper of Finnish team in Vancouver. He outplayed Russian side fur years ago in Torino and beat Atlanta 15 times in a row".
"All goalkeepers have their weak sides, and I think that if Finland has Kari Lehtonen in the goal, it would have be the reason for concern".
"I like big goalies, and Lehtonen is stronger and bigger than Niittymaki, so I don’t see any serious threat to the Russian players from the side of this goaltender".
"Atlanta main goalie Ondrej Pavelec is number three candidate for a place in the goal of Czech team. He is young and it’s his first season in NHL. Now he plays successfully, but experience is very important at the Olympic Games, because everything could happen there".
"I saw many times how goalkeepers make mistakes at the crucial moments of the games. So I want to wish him good luck".
