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Pavel Bure says Russia is ‘indisputable’ favorite for Olympic hockey gold

Pavel Bure

TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 11: Pavel Bure is presented with his Hall of Fame jacket by Jim Gregory prior to the Hockey Hall of Fame Legends Game at the Air Canada Centre on November 11, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. Bure will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the Hall on November 12. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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The Russian Rocket put out some bulletin-board material for the rest of the Olympic men’s hockey field Wednesday.

“Every team has chances, but the fact that we are the favorites is indisputable,” two-time Olympian Pavel Bure said, according to R-Sport. “We’ll have a very strong team in Sochi with a great coaching staff and several world stars. And this team is capable of taking the trophy.”

The retired forward Bure, 42, won Olympic silver and bronze with Russia in 1998 and 2002. He was the general manager of the Russian team that took fourth in 2006. Russia lost in the quarterfinals in 2010. The nation hasn’t won gold in men’s hockey at the Olympics since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Unified Team’s triumph in 1992.

But home ice always helps, as Canada learned in 2010 on its way to gold.

The Olympic prediction service Infostrada has Russia winning men’s hockey gold, followed by Finland and the Czech Republic. It has neither Canada nor the U.S. winning men’s hockey medals. A North American nation hasn’t medaled at non-North American Olympics since the 1994 Lillehammer Games before the influx of NHL superstars in 1998.

Bure was just as impressive as an Olympian as he was for the Vancouver Canucks during his Hall of Fame career. He scored five goals in the 1998 semifinals before Russia was shut down by Czech goalie Dominik Hasek in the Nagano final. Bure tallied nine goals overall in the 1998 tournament.

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