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Head coach Viktor Krutov brings 15 women to Halifax who played at Salt Lake and two others who have previous experience at the world championships. The team that defeated Germany 5-0 to finish in fifth place at those Olympics comes to this tournament with confidence that they can do as well or better than that showing. In goal will be Irina Gachennikova who has been a mainstay in the nets for Russia since 1995. Her backup will be Irina Votintseva, and the third goalie is 18-year-old rookie Nadezhda Alexandrova. The defence consists of returnees Maria Barykina, Alena Khomitch, Elena Bobrova, Olga Permyakova, and Zhanna Shchelchkova. But the problem with the backline is that it accounted for not a single goal in Salt Lake. Svetlana Kazakova, a veteran of the WWC in 1997 and 2000, but who didn’t play at the Olympics, is back with the team this year. Newcomers to the blueline corps include Larisa Martynkova, Alexandra Kapustina, Oxana Lyskova, Evgeniya Tsoraeva, and Olga Volkova. Up front, returnees are led by Tatiana Burina, who topped the team with four goals at Salt Lake, but missing are other scorers Ekaterina Pachkevitch and Tatiana Tsareva. The other forwards for Halifax include Olympians Larisa Michina, Tatiana Sotnikova, Yulia Gladysheva, Ekaterina Smolentseva, Svetlana Terentieva, Elena Byalkovskaya, and Oxana Tretiakova. The remaining players on the roster include Anastasia Vedernikova, Viktoria Volobueva, Ekaterina Dil and rookies Galina Skiba, Marina Borisova, Yulia Silaeva, and Iya Gavrilova.
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