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Russia’s World Cup team boasts plenty of firepower and a star goaltender

Sep 23, 2016 | 2:15 PM

TORONTO — Evgeny Kuznetsov has fond memories of Russia’s last big national men’s team victory on Canadian ice.

He’ll get a chance to leave his own mark on the storied rivalry in Saturday’s semifinal at the World Cup of Hockey.

Kuznetsov was 16 when he watched Ilya Kovalchuk score the overtime winner in the final of the 2008 world hockey championship. The 5-4 victory over Canada at the Colisee in Quebec City gave Russia its first world title in 15 years.

“I saw the game when Kovalchuk scored in Quebec,” Kuznetsov said. “I was a little guy and I almost cried. That’s a good feeling.”

Forward Alex Ovechkin and defenceman Andrei Markov are the only Russian players on the 2016 World Cup roster who were on that world championship team.

“It was even (more) special to win here in Canada,” Markov said Friday after an optional practice.

Russia did not fare as well two years later at the Winter Olympics. Canada dumped Russia 7-3 in the quarter-finals en route to a gold medal in Vancouver.

“It’s a long time ago,” said Ovechkin. “You can’t think about what happened before. You have to think about what will happen in the future. Obviously it’s going to be a huge test for us.”

The 2014 Sochi Games were also a big disappointment for the Russians. They fell to Finland in the quarters while Canada defended its title with a victory over Sweden.

The Air Canada Centre showdown will be the 13th time that Canada has faced off against Russia or the Soviet Union in World Cup/Canada Cup history. The host side has a 7-3-2 edge in the all-time series.

“It’s two teams with a great history,” Ovechkin said. “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be hard because we’re going to play here in Canada. But it’s going to be a fun game.”

A big question mark for the Russian side is the status of forward Pavel Datsyuk, who’s nursing a minor injury. He will be re-evaluated Saturday.

Kuznetsov, now 24, has played in four of the last five world championships but did not play at the Olympics. He’s part of a powerful Russian offence that includes Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Russia is sturdy on the blue line and has a star goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky — a Vezina Trophy winner in 2013 with the Columbus Blue Jackets — who’s coming off a 3-0 shutout win over Finland on Thursday.

“We’re disciplined and we work very hard,” Bobrovsky said. “That’s what brought us to the semifinal.”

Canada defeated Russia 3-2 in a pre-tournament game Sept. 14 in Pittsburgh. Bobrovsky stopped 45 of 48 shots but gave up the overtime winner to Ryan Getzlaf.

“They’re a great hockey team,” Getzlaf said. “We have a lot of respect for them and what they can do with the puck. We’ve got to make sure that we’re ready to play our game and do the things that we do well tomorrow and see where it lies.”

Russia went 2-1-0 in the round robin to secure second place in Group B. Sweden and Team Europe will meet in the other semifinal Sunday with a berth in next week’s best-of-three final on the line.

“We still have work to do,” Markov said. “It’s going to be a really interesting game tomorrow.”

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Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press