Hand Jive Gets Russian Coach Suspended For Final (UPDATED: They Found A Way Around It)

((HT: LVHighlights))

Let's face it...

Russian head coach Oleg Znarok and Swedish head coach Rikard Gronborg had issues with each other in the World Championships and how they were handling their teams in Minsk.

They let each other know it through sign and song...


The outbursts got Znarok a one-game suspension, but the suspension was for today's final game against Finland.

Mikael Backlund's hit against Sergei Plotnikov in the final seconds of the semifinal set both of them off. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) banned Znarok for the throat-slashing gesture seen in the video.

Znarok said after the game that "the Swedish forward was out of order." Gronborg was also suspended for the bronze medal game against the Czechs for "directing foul and profane language" at Znarok.

Ah, coaching...
Especially, on the international level...

SUNDAY UPDATE: It looks like Znarok either communicated with his bench assistant via either cell phone or walkie talkie and celebrated on the ice when the Russians won
((HT: Kukla's Corner))


So much for the enforcement of rules- especially in international competitions

Ovie Says He's Okay... BUT...

((HT: TSN BarDown))

This knee-on-knee almost broke Twitter earlier Sunday when Team Russia had this happen on the ice at the IIHF World Championships


There was talk of hospitals, pictures of ambulances, and a near revolt...

So, you know... the German player who hip checked and injured Ovechkin is Marcus Kink. When asked about the hit by Russian reporters, Kink stormed off in post-game interviews.

And Slava Malamud, through his Twitter feed, offered this bit of optimism:

Alex Ovechkin is back in the team hotel. Walking on his own, no crutches, but limping. Team doctor says it's "better than expected"

We'll see how Team Russia responds at the Worlds from this moment on...

Garth Snow Hot Over Tavares Injury...And He Has A Good Reason...

((HT: NHL))

And the HQ is in his corner on this one...

The Islanders GM, Garth Snow, is livid over the season-ending injury to star forward John Tavares at the hands of Latvian defenseman Arturs Kulda- even wondering if the IIHF and IOC wold pay his season ticket holders back since Tavares is done for the year...

“It’s a joke. They want all the benefits from NHL players in Olympics and don’t want to pay when our best player gets hurt,” Snow told Arthur Staple of Newsday. “It wouldn’t matter if we were 10 points up on a playoff spot or 10 points out. We lost our best player and he wasn’t playing for us.”

Snow now joins a small chorus of folks who aren't fans of the renewal of the agreement between the NHL and IIHF for the 2018 games in Korea. But that answer will come in the next six months or so...

Here's reaction from morning skate for the Islanders...


It's a meniscus tear and an MCL tear for Tavares' left knee and, separately, the chorus for the return of the World Cup of Hockey is returning...