Kudos are in order for to the Washington Capitals' wing of the blogosphere for unearthing the Alex Semin story (here, here and here) ages before it showed up in the mainstream press up here today.

I only wish I'd have gotten a link up to their fine work yesterday when it was more timely.

As for what's going on with Team Russia these days, who on earth knows. Their program has been a mess for a while now, and it's really only been the world junior teams that have had any real international success. Russia has won just two medals, and no golds, at the past 13 world hockey championships.