FASEL: ICE WAR HAS BEGUN

IIHF president Rene Fasel commented on the results of the negotiations with the president of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak and KHL president Alexandr Medvedev on the Olympic issues.


"I must comfort you, we have already discussed the question with the “list of 23” for the Olympics and substitutions," said Fasel packing his things. "And we discussed it not only with Tretyak but with your head coach Vyacheslav Bykov as well."

"Actually nothing changed drastically in comparison with the previous Olympics. We have an agreement with NHL and the union of the players of this League."

"According to this agreement the roster for the Olympics is to be announced about two months before the start of the tournament. This was the requirement of the union: its players should know in advance whether they are going to the Games or not."

"NHL will terminate the championship for two weeks, best players will go to Vancouver and others for a holiday. And we cannot forget about the interests of these others. And that is why the League insisted on the clause that there should be no unforeseen replacements of NHL players in the lists of 23."

"In other words any national team can make changes in its squad replacing any player not representing NHL. But NHL players are really a different matter. If for example Bykov decides to replace an NHL player he can do it only on the ground of an injury or other special circumstances that prevent a player from performing at the Olympics."

"The clause with special circumstances is not written down in the official documents in detail. But if we want to apply it to a player all the sides – NHL, the players’ union, IIHF and the national team staff – must share the same position on this player."

"Some personal reasons can become an obstacle but if a player has a headache or the coach stopped liking him it is not a reason for replacement."

"We called the 23-men list preliminary because coaches cannot make up the squad at once. To illustrate my point let us look at Switzerland. In any case both NHL players – Hiller and Streit will be in the Vancouver."

"But at the same time eight reserve players will be able to stay in Vancouver till 15 February. A coach must have some space for maneuver. God forbid if Streit for example get injured in the last match before the Olympics. And in this case he must be replaced."

"It is also possible to substitute an NHL player for an injured player. But in this situation the sub can say no, he has the right to decide whether he wants to go to the Olympics when originally he was not capped."

"I do not understand why people made a problem of this matter. Everything was written in the documents before. To my mind this is a part of pre-tournament psychological competition."

"One side tries to put coaches and players of the other side under pressure. Canadians complain about Russians and Russians in their turn complain about Canadians. The ice war has already begun and this is a part of the pre-tournament warm-up."