Jacques Rogge: The Worst Person in the World

BOULDER, Colorado -- This may or may not be my final post about the Beijing Olympics. I make no promises. Or rather, unlike the Beijing organizers and their stooges at the International Olympic Committee, I will not make promises and then blatantly break them with no foreseeable consequences.

The president of the IOC, Belgian apologist and sailing enthusiast Jacques Rogge, has criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for his display of exuberance after (and during) his stunning 100-meter victory.

"That's not the way we perceive being a champion," Rogge told Associated Press, the BBC reported, adding that Bolt should "not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters."

"He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was 'catch me if you can.' You don't do that. But he'll learn. He's still a young man."

I hope to God that Mr. Bolt does not learn anything from Rogge and the bastards of his ilk. His 100- and 200-meter victories were the truly transcendent events of these Olympics, eclipsing even the astounding accomplishments of Michael Phelps, in my opinion.

Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post skewers this nitwit for his paternalistic comments and his long record of hypocrisy and deceit. Jim Caple over at ESPN.com summed up my own excitement about this phenom quite well.

I hope the transgressions of the Chinese authorities put the final nail in the coffin of the moribund Olympic "movement," but I know that is not going to happen. But should this be the final chapter, then there is no better image to close the Games than Usain Bolt's exuberant swagger into the history books.

NBC Continues to Keep Usain Bolt's Brilliance from the World, At Least Until Primetime

BOULDER, Colorado -- NBC's Olympics webpage does not have any video footage of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt's world record-breaking 200 meter dash, even though the historic race took place several hours ago.

Bolt again demolished the field, clocking in at 19.30 seconds. This time, we can thank the Dutch for providing this video footage so you won't have to wait through hours of NBC's drivel this evening to see it.

Konstantin Savchenko Named Baikal-Energia's New Captain

BOULDER, Colorado -- After the tragic departure of their captain Nikolai Kadakin this off-season to the hated Dynamo Moscow, Baikal-Energia Irkutsk had to find themselves a new emotional and offensive leader. They found one in midfielder Konstantin Savchenko.

The 31-year-old Savchenko has played seven of the last eight seasons in Irkutsk, spending the 2005-06 season with now-defunct SKA-Zabaikalets Chita. He has 291 career games to his name, 191 those with either Baikal-Energia or the Sibskana, and 131 goals, 84 of them in an Irkutsk uniform.

It has long been a tradition in the Irkutsk club that the players vote for their captain by secret ballot. Savchenko received 17 votes, while goaltender Alexei Negrun - who has played for Irkutsk since 1990, back when the team was called Lokomotiv, making him the longest-tenured member - finished second with 14. The voting was done August 7 soon after the team completed their training camp in the nearby city of Baikalsk.

Kemerovo Governor's Cup to Start Next Week

BOULDER, Colorado -- Five clubs are set to face off in Kemerovo's brand new enclosed Khimik Stadium for the Kemerovo Governor's Cup, also known as the Kuzbass Cup, starting August 31.

Russian clubs Sibselmash Novosibirsk, Uralsky Trubnik Pervouralsk and hosts Kuzbass Kemerovo will be joined by Swedish elite league teams Vasteras SK and Vetlanda BK for the one-week tournament.

The Kuzbass Cup will be the first major matches played at Khimik, one of several enclosed stadiums to open this season in the Russian Bandy League.

The tournament schedule (in Russian) can be found here.

Olympic Boycott Lifted, Immediately Reimposed

BOULDER, Colorado -- I was willing to lift the ban on the Beijing Olympics that I have imposed in my own home for one person and one person only. No, not Michael Phelps - the inimitable Usain Bolt.

Last night in a bar I caught a glimpse of the Jamaican's quarterfinal heat, and he was so magnificent I decided I had to see him run the men's 100 meter final. By midmorning I had already learned the result - Bolt shattered his own world record with an electrifying 9.69-second run - so I decided I would tune in to NBC's primetime coverage to catch the race.

After three hours of the women's marathon and a dozen or so swimming races, I still had not seen the final, which had taken place more than 12 hours earlier in China. I was getting sick of waiting. But when I went to NBCOlympics.com, there was not a single highlight to be found of Bolt's historic run. That currently remains the case close to 15 hours after the race - all NBC has bothered to put online is a recap and some still photos.

Rafat Ali of the Washington Post also made note of this glaring omission by NBC here.

NBC has long been touting how they will have the most hours of coverage of any Olympics ever, due in large part to their internet content. I do appreciate the ability to watch fencing online (though only a fencer could actually appreciate it because fencing is a rather complicated sport with arcane rules and scoring, and like many other fringe sports, it is shown online without any commentary), but the 1oo meter dash is one of the marquee events of any summer games, and NBC should probably offer some footage.

Apparently they would rather show you beach volleyball cheerleading, Bela Karolyi shouting, and a Hungarian weightlifter breaking his elbow in a rather grotesque fashion - these are currently some of the top highlights on the NBC site.

So I gave the Olympics a look-in, and it was a total waste of my time. Hopefully you sports fans who are not trapped in NBC's Olympic vortex have been given slightly better coverage.

And here's a little screw you to the folks over at 30 Rockefeller Plaza - footage of the race from French TV:

USAIN BOLT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Uploaded by fifilix

The Team May Be Gone, But the Hat Persists

BOULDER, Colorado -- As soon as the temperature starts to approach freezing, I dig into my closet and dig out something that has become the most ubiquitous part of my winter wardrobe for the past six years - my Sibskana hat.

It's starting to look a little worse for wear, and I have thought about perhaps trading it in for a newer blue model. The team has not been called "Sibskana" for several years now, but after the name was changed to "Baikal-Energia," angry fans began shouting one of my favorite cheers to voice their displeasure:

"Байкал - это отдых, Сибскана - хоккей!
Верните нам нашу команду скорее!"

["Baikal is vacation, Sibskana is hockey!
Give us our team back quick!"]

I don't think fans shout this quite so much anymore, but scarfs and hats emblazoned with the old green and white logo are still a common sight at games in Irkutsk. And I'm proud to hang onto mine.

Sibskana really was a wonderful name, as it spoke to the roots of the sport. It was a thoughtful name that showed respect for the game and avoided associations both with old Soviet-style club titles and with commercial sponsorships. "Sib" stood for Siberia, a region that boasts some of the best bandy talent in the world, and "Skana" was short for Scandinavia, the other hotbed of the game. These are also two places with special importance for me personally; one was my adopted home, while the other is the home of my ancestors. Two regions with long traditions and very different styles of play, commemorated in the name of the club.

But now the hat has gained new meaning for me.


As I noted in a recent post, the winter months are still a long way off, but I decided recently to dig out the hat a bit earlier this year when someone very special to me mentioned it. The hat often becomes a conversation piece, especially if I happen to meet someone with a knowledge of Russian. Even to a native speaker, the word is a bit difficult to decipher, as it has absolutely no meaning to anyone unfamiliar with bandy. So I inevitably have to explain what the word is, where the hat came from, and what the hell this odd sport is that I play on a giant sheet of ice. This usually devolves into me singing various Russian songs and shouting the names of my favorite players (most of whom have now departed).

I had such an encounter a few months ago, and thankfully, that conversation has turned into something very special. That person just said to me, "I am so grateful to your Russian hat for introducing us. Thank him for me, okay?"

So, here's my thanks to a hat that has accompanied me to a lot of places, and will continue to do so for a long time to come. I just hope that I can take it back to Irkutsk sometime soon to cheer on the team that will always be "Sibskana" to me.

Condolences to the Community of Mayerthorpe, Alta.

BOULDER, Colorado -- The small community of Mayerthorpe, Alberta suffered a tragic loss Tuesday as the town's hockey rink burned to the ground.

A small town of just under 1,500 people located 75 miles northwest of Edmonton, the Mayerthorpe arena was home to an annual memorial hockey game to commemorate the four Royal Canadian Mounted Policemen who were killed there on March 3, 2005.

The four mounties were killed by James Roszco during a property seizure raid. Mr. Roszco ambushed the officers during a raid on his farm with an assault rifle, killing police constables Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, Lionide Johnston, and Brock Myrol. After radio contact with the four officers was lost, the Canadian Forces Edmonton Garrison responded to the scene with armored vehicles. Roszco ended the standoff by turning his gun on himself.

The incident was the largest single-day loss of life by the RCMP in over 100 years. The officers' deaths were commemorated on national television soon after the tragedy, and Queen Elizabeth II paid her respects just two weeks later during a visit to Regina, Saskatchewan. Just one month ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially opened a memorial park in Mayerthorpe in honor of the fallen officers.

The CBC article about the fire can be found here, while a profile of each of the officers killed is here, as well as a documentary about the tragic incident.

Our hearts go out to this community, and we here at Bandy Central are sure the good people of Mayerthorpe will find a way to remember these fallen mounties, even without their arena.

KHL Upholds Radulov's Contract with Ufa, Makes Dumb Argument

BOULDER, Colorado -- From Ken Campbell at The Hockey News:

Despite the fact the NHL and the Kontinental League reached an agreement last week not to poach each other’s players under contract, the KHL has ruled it will uphold the three-year, $13 million contract Alexander Radulov of the Nashville Predators signed with Ufa Salavat. [more ...]

Baby, It's Cold Outside

BOULDER, Colorado -- Every year around this time, I start to get an itch. As much as I love the summertime, every July I start pining for winter. I miss the cold and the snow. All I want is for hockey season and ski season to start again. And I get especially excited for Christmas. Luckily, we have the interminable NHL playoffs, followed by the entry draft and free agency, and now we have the start of bandy training to tide us over during these hot, hazy months. And soon it will be cold again.

To honor the long summer wait, here is a tribute to one of my favorite songs, Frank Loesser's hit, Baby, It's Cold Outside. So pour yourself a drink, and start dreaming of winter.

Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams performing the song in the 1948 film Neptune's Daughter, its first wide release:



Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell in Elf (2003):



And the story of how this song stirred the imagination of Sayyid Qutb, the founder of modern political Islam, during a visit to Greeley, Colorado in 1949, from the BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear:



(I recommend that you watch this entire documentary).

So, enjoy the warm weather while you can, but take solace in knowing that cold weather is just around the corner.

Radulov Signing with KHL Club Puts New Transfer Deal to Test

BOULDER, Colorado -- The NHL, the NHL Players Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the seven top hockey leagues in Europe reached a tentative peace over player contracts at a meeting July 10 in Zurich, agreeing in principle to a new transfer regime for the sport.

Though no formal transfer agreement was signed, all the leagues, including those from Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, and the newly-formed, Russian-based Continental Hockey League (KHL), agreed not to sign players currently under contract in other leagues.

Earlier this year, the European leagues all backed out of the IIHF-brokered transfer deal with the NHL, demanding an increase on the US$200,000 fee they receive when NHL clubs sign their out-of-contract players. Russia never signed that deal, which was reached three years ago, and this has created a great many legal battles over players moving from one league to another, most famously with Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin in 2006. Some teams were reportedly trying to lure the young star back to Russia, which is part of the reason why this meeting was held.

Nashville Predators forward Alexander Radulov has made the whole situation all the more confusing by signing a deal with KHL club Salavat Yulayev Ufa. Though Radulov still has one year remaining on his entry-level contract with the Predators, he signed a three-year deal with the Russian club worth a reported US$13 million.

It remains unclear whether the KHL will honor its new commitments to the NHL and quash the Radulov deal, but the 22-year-old remains determined to play in Russia next year for the reigning league champs. He is scheduled to earn $984,000 before performance bonuses next year in Nashville, according to The Hockey News. Were he to bolt to the KHL, he would be one of the top five highest-paid players in the league.

Emery Signs with Russian Club Altant Mytishchi

BOULDER, Colorado -- Former Ottawa Senators goaltender Ray Emery has signed a one-year deal reportedly worth US$2 million with Russian club Atlant Mytishchi, the CBC reported Wednesday.

Coming off an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals in 2007, Emery had signed a three-year, $9 million contract with the Senators last summer. But after an abysmal 2007-08 campaign in which he played in only 31 games due to various injuries and disciplinary problems, Ottawa decided to buy out the remainder of the 25-year-old's contract this summer.

Apparently there was very little interest in Emery's services from NHL clubs, so Russia appeared to be the best option. Undoubtedly, New York Times reporter Michael Schwirtz will chalk this up as a coup for Russian hockey, as another "star" has fled North America for the bright lights of the KHL.

Signing Emery is a significant investment for his new club, formerly known as Khimik, as the Russian league places heavy restrictions on signing foreign-born goaltenders. Teams are limited to only five foreigners on their roster, but goalies count double towards the quota. Additionally, during the regular season, foreign goalies are not allowed to play more than 50% of their team's minutes. There are no such restrictions on playing time during the playoffs.

Emery will be joining a team with several former NHLers, including defenseman Dmitry Bykov (formerly of the Detroit Red Wings), and forwards Alexander Korolyuk (San Jose Sharks) and Igor Korolev (four NHL clubs).

Jagr Returns to Avangard Omsk

BOULDER, Colorado -- Jaromir Jagr will be spending next season in the Russian city of Omsk, joining the same club he played with during the NHL lockout in 2004-05, Avangard.

The 36-year-old right winger could not reach a deal with the New York Rangers and decided to leave the NHL when he became an unrestricted free agent. Jagr spent the last four seasons with the Rangers and had just completed the final season of a seven-year, US$76 million contract.

This past season, Jagr had his lowest point total since the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, netting only 25 goals and 71 points. While playing for Avangard Omsk, Jagr led the league in scoring and helped his club capture the European Champions Cup.

The terms of Jagr's new deal were not disclosed by Avangard.

Red Wings Sign Hossa to 1-Year Deal; Bruins Land Ryder

BOULDER, Colorado -- The Marian Hossa sweepstakes are over, and the league's best team just got better as the Detroit Red Wings signed the right winger to a one-year, US$7.45 million contract Wednesday.

Hossa had earlier rejected an offer of six years and $45 million to stay with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had also drawn interest from the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, and New York Rangers.

I must say I am glad the Bruins did not saddle themselves with that millstone of a deal they were rumored to have offered Hossa, and I hope that New York Post report was nothing more than rumor. I am surprised that Hossa did not opt for a multi-year deal, and he got only a modest pay raise (he earned $7 million in 2007-08) from Detroit. But the short deal gives Detroit a great deal of flexibility to re-sign Henrik Zetterberg, who will becomes an unrestricted free agent after next season.

The Red Wings have proven over the years that they are willing to spend to hold onto their best players, and many players have taken pay cuts to stay in Detroit. There is a lot of loyalty in that organization (just look at the signings of Chris Osgood and Darren McCarty), and perhaps that appealed to Hossa. The chance to win a Stanley Cup also probably played a large role in his decision.

Without Hossa to worry about, the Penguins were able to lock up Evgeni Malkin for the next several years, signing the 22-year-old center to five-year, $43.5 million contract extension Wednesday. Malkin is entering the final year of his rookie contract, meaning the new deal takes effect in 2009-10 and lasts through 2013-14.

The Boston Bruins acquired unrestricted free agent right wing Michael Ryder from the Montreal Canadiens, signing him to a multi-year contract Tuesday. Details of the deal were not disclosed, as per team policy.

Ryder will be trying to put last season behind him, a dreadful campaign that saw him score only 14 goals and 31 points and ensured his exit from Montreal. Ryder had previously notched two consecutive 30-goal seasons for the Canadiens. During his rookie campaign in 2003-04, he led all rookies in goals (25), assists (38) and points (63) and finished second in Calder Trophy voting behind Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft.

For a full run-down of all the free agent signings, visit ESPN.com.

NHL Free Agent Rodeo Kicks off with Huge Deals

BOULDER, Colorado -- The NHL's free agent market officially opened at noon E.T. on Tuesday, and several teams were busy snapping up the most coveted commodities on the market.

But perhaps the most sought-after player, Pittsburgh forward Marian Hossa, remains unsigned. Reportedly the Rangers, Oilers and Bruins are interested in acquiring the 29-year-old Slovak's services.

The New York Post has reported that the Bruins are prepared to offer Hossa close to US$100 million over 12 years. Hossa has already rejected a six-year, $45 million offer from the Penguins.

Among the biggest signings were defenseman Brian Campbell's eight-year, $57 million dollar contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks also addressed some of their goaltending woes by signing 32-year-old Cristobal Huet away from the Washington Capitals for $22.5 million over four years.

Tampa Bay made some early noise, trading for the rights to negotiate with Pittsburgh forwards Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts and Minnesota's Brian Rolston before the market opened. They managed to lock up Malone on Monday, signing him for $31.5 million over seven years, while Roberts was signed to a one-year deal.

In addition, the Lightning brought back Vinny Prospal, who had been sent to the Flyers at the trade deadline. They also added another former Penguin, forward Adam Hall, and Phoenix' Radim Vrbata.

Tampa had recently bought out the contract of their former number one goalie, Marc Denis, and they signed long-time Washington backstop Olaf Kolzig to a one-year deal. Kolzig will likely backup Mike Smith next year, who had taken over the top spot from Kari Ramo at the end of the season.

The Lightning were unable, however, to lock up Rolston, who signed a four-year, $20 million deal with the club he broke into the NHL with, the New Jersey Devils.

Many of the Toronto Maple Leafs' castoffs found new homes on July 1. Darcy Tucker and Andrew Raycroft, who had both been bought out by the Leafs, were each signed by the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado was in need of goaltending help after losing starter Jose Theodore to Washington, where he signed for $9 million over two years.

Mats Sundin, meanwhile, was reportedly offered a two-year, $20 million deal from the Vancouver Canucks. The Leafs captain and unrestricted free agent is currently in Europe contemplating whether to return to the NHL or retire.

Other than the reported Hossa offer, the Boston Bruins have yet to make a move so far this offseason, choosing instead to lock up some core players from last season by re-signing defensemen Mark Stuart and Aaron Ward to multi-year deals. Goalie Alex Auld, who filled a key role for Boston last season after backup Manny Fernandez suffered a knee injury, was lost to Ottawa, where he signed for two years. Boston's only other unrestricted free angent, Glen Metropolit, has yet to sign anywhere.

This whole affair looks to just get crazier, so unless the Bruins sign Hossa to a Yashin-like contract, or the Leafs bring Doug Gilmour out of retirement (again), I'm not going to post about the free agent free-for-all anymore.

Michael Schwirtz Still Sucks at his Job

BOULDER, Colorado -- Some things really get my dander up, and one of them is lazy, stupid reporting. This latest bit of tripe from the New York Times describes a recent report by Human Rights Watch on the growth of violence in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, a region bordering Chechnya. The article was written by one of the Times' resident non-reporters in Moscow, Michael Schwirtz.

The first thing I have to take issue with is that this piece has no corroborating sources. All he did was go to the press conference and quote the one of the report's researchers and an official from the Ingushetian government.

This is most galling to me because several of my colleagues are engaged in research about the diffusion of violence across the North Caucasus region. No sensible person would ever claim that Ingushetia has "long been considered a relatively peaceful enclave in the North Caucasus"; violence has been growing there since the second Chechen War broke out in 1999, and has reached a fever pitch over the past three years. The center of insurgent violence has in fact been moving westward out of Chechnya and into Ingushetia over the past several years. So any claims that the findings of this report are new are either uninformed or disingenuous.

If you would like to find some real information about the distribution of violence in the North Caucasus, look at the research of Jason Lyall from Princeton or my advisor at the University of Colorado, John O'Loughlin. Don't read this garbage.

Swedish Star Patrik Nilsson Signs with Raketa Kazan

BOULDER, Colorado -- Patrik Nilsson, the top scorer of the Swedish bandy league the past two seasons, has signed with Russian club Raketa Kazan, the Swedish site Bandysverige.se reported Monday.

The details of the contract agreement have not been released, but negotiations to send Nilsson to the Russian club were first reported back in late May.

The 26-year-old forward has spent the last eight seasons with Sandvikens AIK. In 2007-08 he became the first player in the history of Swedish bandy to notch 100 goals in a season, scoring 114 (94 in the regular season, 20 in the playoffs).

Nilsson had begun negotiations about a possible move to Kazan a year ago, but Raketa's financial troubles put that deal on hold. He will become the fifth Swede on Raketa, joining Anders Ostling, Ulf Einarsson, Johan Andersson and Andreas Bergwall.

Russia Launches Continental Hockey League

BOULDER, Colorado -- Every summer I feel the need to get in my truck and drive a few thousand miles around this country. A road trip is great way to run away from your problems, at least temporarily, and you get a chance to visit friends in places you would normally just fly over traveling from one coast to another.

I had hoped to make a pilgrimage to Toronto to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame, but with the American dollar so weak, no free lodging in Ontario, and a carload of contraband fireworks, I thought it best not to risk an international border crossing. Though the trip was light on hockey, I did get in quite a bit of baseball, visiting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and catching minor league games on Coney Island and in flood-drenched Des Moines.

Some of the other highlights of the trip included a visit to Petersburg, KY's Creation Museum (you have no idea how crazy this place is until you have visited it - that's me to the right with a dinosaur with a saddle on it), Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary (prison museums are a hobby of mine), and the architectural wonders of Columbus, IN.

But now, onto the news ...

There has been some action on the Russian hockey front this summer. It appears as if Salavat Yulayev Ufa will be the last ever Superleague champions, as the top Russian circuit was dissolved at the conclusion of the season, to be replaced by a new 24-team league that will include teams from other former Soviet republics.

In April, new league president Alexander Medvedev, who is also the deputy chairman of Russian state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom and a member of the IIHF council, announced the creation of the Continental Hockey League (KHL).

The KHL will consist of 24 teams - 20 Russian clubs drawn from the Superleague, as well as Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg and Kazakhstan's Barys Astana, who both formerly played in the Russian Elite League, and Belorusian club Dynamo Misk, from the Belorusian Open Championship. The final club - Latvia's Dynamo Riga (logo pictured left) - was founded in April and will begin operations in the new league. The league championship trophy has been named the Gagarin Cup, after the famed Soviet cosmonaut.

The new league was created to challenge to NHL for both fans and players. "Our goal is to eventually become the best hockey league in the world," Medvedev said in an interview with the Russian paper Sovetsky Sport April 10. The new league president hopes that eventually the KHL will be able to attract top teams from Western European leagues as well.

Medvedev promised that the KHL would have much stricter rules regulating team finances and player transactions in order to prevent the instability and infighting that has plagued earlier incarnations of the Russian professional leagues.

The NHL has already entered into negotiations on a temporary agreement with the new league to prevent either league from poaching players. The initial proposal from the NHL falls short of a transfer agreement, something it has been unable to secure with the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF).

Medvedev has stated that his teams are free to sign whomever they like, whether they are under contract with an NHL club or not. But NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly claimed that he had assurances from the new league that there would be no poaching of contract players. "Mr. Medvedev, on behalf of the KHL, has already agreed to respect the valid and binding contractual obligations of players to NHL clubs," Daly said, as reported by the AP June 25.

Earlier this month, some Russian clubs caused quite a stir when they reportedly offered Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin roughly US$12.5 million per season to return to Russia. Malkin has chosen to stay in Pittsburgh in 2008-09, when he is scheduled to earn $3.8 million.

Malkin was at the center of the transfer agreement conflict when he left his Russian club, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, to join the Penguins in August 2006. Pittsburgh had drafted Malkin second overall in 2004, and a legal battle ensued between the clubs over his rights. Ultimately, US courts ruled that Malkin did not have to honor the final year of his contract with Metallurg, and that Pittsburgh had acquired his services legally.

This is the third major shakeup of Russian professional hockey since 2000, when the Professional Hockey League (PHL) was created as an umbrella organization for the country's top two leagues. Then in June 2006, RHF president Vladislav Tretiak dissolved the PHL and placed its teams under the direction of the federation.

The first proposal to create a regional hockey league to compete with the NHL was floated by Russian minister of sport and Hockey Hall of Famer Vyacheslav Fetisov in 2005. Fetisov proposed forming the Eurasion Hockey League (EAHL), which would include clubs from Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and Latvia. That proposal was never enacted but formed the basis for this new league.

[Right: does anything happen in Russia these days without this company's stamp of approval?]

Sergei Lomanov, Jr. Returns to Yenisei Krasnoyarsk

BOULDER, Colorado -- Fans of Yenisei Krasnoyarsk had been waiting with baited breath for the club's management to announce the roster for the upcoming season and the team's new sponsorship arrangements.

Head coach Sergei Lomanov, Sr. had big news for the fans Wednesday - not only is the team's financing guaranteed for the next three years, but his son, Dynamo Moscow star forward Sergei, would be returning to Krasnoyarsk, Bandynet.ru reported.

The announcement was supposed to come last week, and the delay was seen by some as a bad omen for the club's future. But with the addition of Lomanov, who fired 56 goals for Dynamo in 2007-08, Yenisei looks to improve on its 10th-place overall finish last season.

Dynamo had added two important players to its already impressive lineup in the past several weeks, snapping up Aleksandr Nasonov and Nikolai Kadakin from Baikal-Energia Irkutsk. Lomanov's move will likely not tip the balance of power back to the eastern division, but the return of one of the game's biggest stars to the east gives some hope for more parity in the coming season.

Among other off-season signings, Yenisei acquired 29-year-old goalie Aleksandr Yevtin. Yevtin played last season for Zorky Krasnogorsk and was a member of the Russian national team.

Russia Tops Canada in OT To Take World Championship

QUEBEC CITY -- Russia came into the final of the IIHF World Championships Sunday as the underdog to the home team Canadians, who entered the tournament as the defending champions. Russia meanwhile had not won the tournament in 15 years, medaling only three times in that span.

Russia is a shadow of the Soviet Union squad that won 22 world titles, including a string of nine in 1963-1971, a run of dominance unsurpassed in the sport. But Ilya Kovalchuk's goal early in overtime sent the Russians to a 5-4 victory and returned a glimmer of the side's former glory.

From the IIHF:

Ilya Kovalchuk’s goal at 2:42 of overtime broke a 4-4 tie and gave Russia an historic gold medal today at the Colisée in one of the most anticipated finals games in many years. Kovalchuk also scored the tying goal with five minutes left in the third period. [more ... ]

Baikal Captain Kadakin Leaves Team; Earth Ceases to Spin

BOULDER, Colorado -- Baikal-Energia Irkutsk's general manager Pavel Levitin announced Monday that team captain Nikolai Kadakin had left the team and was currently seeking a contract with another club as a free agent, Irkutsk newspaper Nasha Sibskana reported.

The reasons for Kadakin's departure remained unclear, but the club has granted him his unconditional release despite the fact that he was entering the second year of his three-year contract with Baikal. Levitin admitted in his conversation with Nasha Sibskana that Baikal would receive no compensation if the midfielder is signed by another club.

Baikal has reportedly signed a transfer agreement to send Kadakin to league champions Dynamo Moscow, though he still has the option to move to another club before the upcoming season.

Baikal is hoping that newly-signed Pavel Dubovik will be able to fill Kadakin's role as the team's principal center midfielder, Levitin said. Dubovik, however, is only 21 years old and scored only nine points last year (5 goals, 4 assists) for Mayak Krasnoturinsk, a far cry from Kadakin's eight goals and 23 assists in 2007-08.

In addition to the Dubovik signing, Baikal has also added forward Andrei Gerasimov, who, though only 20 years old, has tallied 24 goals each of the past two season for Mayak.