|
 |
Men's hockey format to get overhaul before 2006 Games
By Tim Buckley Deseret News Olympic specialist
PROVO — Addressing the question of inequity in the 2002 men's Olympic hockey tournament, International Ice Hockey Federation officials did more dancing Tuesday night than Provo has seen in a long time.
"What we want to have," IIHF president Rene Fasel said, "is a fair tournament for everybody in Torino 2006."
That's the goal for the Winter Games four years from now in Italy.
It's too late, though, to salvage fairness in Salt Lake, resulting in a perception of embarrassment for the both the IIHF and the NHL.
"Maybe some teams didn't have a fair chance," Fasel conceded, after numerous pointed questions from international media, during a news conference at The Peaks Ice Arena in Provo.
At issue: participation of NHL players in the tourney's eight-team preliminary round, from which two teams qualify to join the so-called Super Six of Canada, Russia, the Czech Republic, the United States, Sweden and Finland in medal-round play.
The NHL does not halt its schedule for the Olympics until after its games tonight, so NHLers whose nations played earlier have been trying to squeeze Olympic action between NHL games. The NHL — inexplicably, according to Fasel — would not permit its stars to miss any league games but did allow lesser players, including Colorado Avalanche backup David Aebischer of Switzerland, to do just that.
Numerous problems resulted.
Carolina goalie Arturs Irbe sat on the bench for one Hurricanes game, but doing so meant missing a game for Latvia, which was eliminated, despite his presence, with Tuesday's loss to Germany. Slovakia's Ziggy Palffy made a surprise appearance Saturday, but the Los Angeles Kings found out and wouldn't let him play Sunday. Slovakia went several players short in its first game, leaving roster room for others arriving later — only to be eliminated from the tourney before they arrived.
Yet Fasel said the NHL and its Players Association did fulfill its contract with the IIHF, a clause in which calls only for the NHL to make its "best effort" to make players available for the prelims. The French-speaking IIHF president seemed flustered by his dealings with the NHL, saying North America hockey is "all about business, and we (Europeans) have more a sense of sport."
Hoping to avoid another embarrassment in Torino, Fasel vowed to reexamine the 14-nation tournament's format — and to work with the NHL, which still has not decided if it will let its players participate at all in the 2006 Games. Fasel desperately hopes the NHL goes to Italy.
"We have to speak to a lot of people to have a fair tournament and find a solution to have a fair tournament," he said, adding, "And we need to bring the best."
Meanwhile, he hopes international hockey's black eye will heal: "If we have a great tournament at the end (in Salt Lake)," Fasel said, "nobody will speak about what happened before."
E-: tbuckley@desnews.com
|
|
February 13, 2002
|
