Russian men's hockey team arrives in Sochi under media spotlight

Russian men's hockey team captain Ilya Kovalchuk is familiar with the pressure of representing his country at the Olympics and knows what to expect as he prepares to pursue gold on home ice.

“It’s my fourth Olympics and each time when we arrive people expect a lot from us and if God helps us, everything will turn out this time,” Kovalchuk told reporters after arriving in Sochi on Sunday. “It’s great pressure. We’ve seen how much Sochi changed from 2007, when we won the (right to hold the) Olympics.”

Kovalchuk and the rest of the Russian team is eager to erase the memory of 2010's disappointing quarter-final exit in Vancouver, but they will need to do so under the spotlight of the Russian media.

“On one hand, it’s fantastic. But on the other, so much attention,” goaltender Alexander Eremenko said. “When we trained in Kazan, the bleachers were empty. There were no journalists at all and now there is so much attention. We still can’t get used to it.”

Kovalchuk said the team knows what to expect and is looking forward to having the crowd on their side after the hostile environment of Canada in 2010. Team staff are doing everything possible to play up the home-ice advantage angle - something that is not lost on forward Viktor Tikhonov. 

"Today, on the ice, it was really nice seeing that we had pucks with all the cities of Russia written on them, and that kind gave you the feeling that the whole country is behind you, and it’s really a nice feeling," Tikhonov said. "It gets you right in the mix of things.”

In typical Russian style, most of the players are not interested in talking about what they need to do. They would rather get out on the ice and do it.

“Of course we feel that the country is looking at us,” Eremenko said. “We don’t want to say too much. We want to do things. It is pointless to draw conclusions now, to say something, it’s pointless. We should get out there and prove things.”