MOSCOW, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russia named 23-man hockey squad for the Vancouver Olympics on Friday with 14 NHL players being called up.

    Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk were among the 14 NHL players included in the squad.

    Forwards Pavel Datsyuk and Alexander Semin, defencemen Sergei Gonchar and Andrei Markov, plus goaltenders Evgeni Nabokov and Ilya Bryzgalov were also selected.

    Coach Vyacheslav Bykov said his team is strong enough to beat Canada, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic.

    As the current world champions, Russia last won Olympic gold at the 1992 Albertville Games.

    The squad will be finalized in February.