"They don't have long": former Russian national team player humiliates Canada after winning the World Cup

Former Russian national team head coach Vladimir Krikunov mocked Canada's victory at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, after which it overtook the aggressor country in terms of the number of gold medals at the World Cup (including the USSR). The European Champions Cup winner added that the North American dominance "won't last long".

Krikunov said this in an interview with Sport24. He expressed confidence that Russian hockey is supposedly the future, although after the collapse of the USSR, the Russians won all five world championships, the last of which was in 2014, and Canada became the strongest on the planet nine times in the same period.

"Of course, it is not surprising that Canada has overtaken us in terms of the total number of world championships. This is a hockey country that is now dominating the world. We used to dominate, and now they are. But they don't have long, haha. Let us play, and then we will fight for the title of the best in the world. Our team could win this championship. Everyone understands that. The overall level of hockey in the world is growing. Latvia's third place and Germany's second place means that we will soon have to take these teams seriously. But still, the future is ours. Many years will pass, and Russia will still be the leading hockey country," said Krikunov.

Earlier, Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov called the 2023 World Cup the first court in the absence of Russia, and also spoke insultingly about Latvia. And hockey legend Vyacheslav Fetisov considers Russians discussing the 2023 World Cup to be criminals.

A week ago, Russia's main propaganda channel, Match TV, stopped broadcasting Latvia's matches at the World Ice Hockey Championship, excluding both live broadcasts and replays. The reason for this was the behaviour of Latvian fans who stretched a banner with a Ukrainian flag and the words "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!"

OBOZREVATEL also reported that the Canadian national team became the 2023 World Cup champion, defeating Germany, another sensation of the current World Cup, 5-2, in the final match. This is the Maple Leafs' 28th World Cup triumph.

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