MOSCOW, April 11 (R-Sport) - Russia coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov has called six Ak Bars Kazan players into his national squad to warm up for May's world hockey championships.
The two-time champion was eliminated from the playoffs at the Eastern Conference finals stage last week, suffering a 4-3 comeback defeat to Traktor Chelyabinsk.
Bilyaletdinov has sent for netminder Konstantin Barulin, defenders Ilya Nikulin, Yevgeny Medvedev, Konstantin Korneev and forwards Alexei Tereshchenko and Kirill Petrov for two games against Norway on April 19 and 20.
Those games are part of a broader warm-up series for Russia's defense of its world championship title in Finland and Sweden on May 3-19.
Russia faces Denmark in two games on Friday and Saturday.
