Youth hockey tournaments attract spectators primarily because of the excitement with which novice professionals play. However, because of this fuse, scandals often arise at tournaments – athletes are not always able to restrain their emotions at the right time. Four years ago, our team’s opponent also crossed the border of what is allowed at the World Championships.
The captain of the Canadian national team refused to remove his helmet during the Russian anthem and put the team hard. His feat was not appreciated even at home.
IIHF
scandalous debut
In the first match of MFM-2019, the Russian team inflicted a crushing defeat with a score of 6:0 on the main favorites of the tournament – the Canadians. It became the largest in the history of the confrontation, but the result could hardly have been such if the opponents of our team had not literally met with defeat.
The scandalous episode occurred at the beginning of the meeting, during the ceremony of the national anthems. Canadian team captain Barret Hayton kept his helmet on during the Russian national anthem. It seemed to everyone that this happened due to inattention, but even after this was pointed out to the player, nothing changed.
The Russians did not put up with the blatant disrespect and immediately after the formation attacked the captain. However, Hayton managed to get off easy: the judges with difficulty, but they still separated the boys.
This was not enough for the Canadians – they continued to intimidate our team. Throughout the meeting, the “maple leaves” played dirty, regularly taking off and, with every slight push from the opponents, tried to beg the judge for a fine.
But in vain did foreigners believe that such a style of play would demoralize the Russian team. For their antics, the Canadians paid with a humiliating defeat, exposing themselves not only as rude, but also as cowards.
IIHF
The offender had to apologize
“We have great respect for the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, its players, coaches and officials. We expect our athletes and staff to show the same respect,” snorted the Canadian Ice Hockey Federation for the player.
With one action, the athlete turned everyone against him – Barrett got it not only from Russians, but also from Canadian hockey fans. On social networks, the representatives of both countries did not skimp on insults, and the word “idiot” was traced in almost all the comments below the player’s posts. Adult hockey players weren’t overlooked either: Legendary forward Devin Setoguchi called the act one of the most embarrassing things he had ever seen in hockey and called for Barrett to be removed from the game.
RIA News
In fairness, either the player himself realized that he was wrong, or the federation pushed him to repentance. In addition to the officials’ statement, a recording was attached where Barrett Hayton apologized and promised not to repeat this.
