Sour grapes from Slava

Fetisov claims officials wanted USA-Canada to play for gold

By Chris Stevenson, SLAM! Sports

SALT LAKE CITY -- Russian coach Slava Fetisov said the fix was in.

The Olympic hockey tournament was structured to result in a Canada-USA final, said Fetisov after his team lost 3-2 to the Americans Friday night. The Americans will now face Canada in the gold medal game Sunday afternoon.

So, what's your point, Slava?

The Russian team was furious with referee Bill McCreary for a couple of non-calls in the third period after the Russians had come back from a three-goal deficit to make it 3-2 before the third period was four minutes old.

Russian defenceman Danny Markov flipped out at the end of the game and was given a gross misconduct penalty for verbal abuse of an official. He will be suspended for the bronze medal game Saturday against Belarus.

"[The ref] didn't help us, that's for sure," said Fetisov. "They're professional people, those NHL referees. But they live here [in North America]. They are Americans and Canadians. They know the players. In crucial situations, they are going to have human reactions. They're not going to call a penalty. We played the whole third period in their zone and only got one power play.

"There's not much you can do right now. [The Olympics] was designed...it was designed before to have a Canada-US final and you've got that final."

Fetisov pointed to two non-calls: Chris Chelios hauling down Russian forward Sergei Samsonov and a high hit by Chelios on defenceman Igor Kravchuk.

"It was definitely a penalty on Chelios in the third period when he tackled down Sergei Samsonov. I think it was definitely a penalty for Igor Kravchuk in the second period. It was a deliberate hit to the head and is supposed to be penalized. The ref told me it was his shoulder [that hit Kravchuk]," said Fetisov, "but under international rules, a deliberate hit to the head must be penalized."

Russian goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who faced 49 shots, wasn't using the refereeing as an excuse.

"I think the refereeing all in all was pretty fair and we should try not to look for some fault with the refereeing," he said. "As far as the first and second periods are concerned, we did not do such a great job. For the third period, the game got better for us, but it was too late."

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