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...

Ovi Apologizes For Sochi Performance

((HT: CSNWashington))

Stand up guy...

That's all the HQ can say about Alexander Ovechkin as he came back to the States...

He did this for his home fans...


Some of the Team USA squad did the same thing, but the fan base can take count in the idea that USA at least made it to the medal round...

Oshie's Winner From A Different Perspective

((HT: OBS/IOC/Timothy Burke's vine))

Here's the Russian call of the Oshie game-winner...
And it's awesome...
Especially, the fade-out by the play-by-play guy...

Team Russia Hockey Sings For Sochi

((HT: Complete Hockey News))

Posting this little ditty just gives the HQ the chance to see Malkin, Kovy, and Ovi sing with some of the other legends of the sport- including Tretiak...

It's an effing riot...


This first came out back in November, but since the tournament is up and running, we figured we'd show it again...

Something Of A Hockey Preview

((HT: Sportsnet))

There is an amazing amount of pressure put on the home team to win a gold medal...

And the Russians will have an interesting chemistry issue to deal with. The KHL players on the squad all practiced together before the NHL players even arrived in Sochi, so there is almost two factions at play here...

The Kovalchuk/KHL faction and the Ovechkin/NHL faction and how they will interact will be an interesting subplot to the whole thing...

There are four teams (maybe five, if you include the Czechs) that will be fighting for the medal stand- USA, Canada, the Russians, and the Swedes...

The HQ believes in defense first when putting these squads together, so goaltending will keep teams in the medal race long before any other aspect of togetherness...

Thus, we look at Lundqvist and Miller over Fleury...

Hockey Central discusses...

US Ramping Up Plans If It Goes Sideways In Sochi

((HT: MSNBC))

The United States government is looking at their evacuation plans if terrorism rears its suspected head during the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has put up a security perimeter outside the town itself that takes nothing short of an act of Congress to access. The US military, in return, are having warships and aircraft within reach in case of necessary evacuations.

Richard Engel is watching from Moscow...
For now...


A video put up on Youtube by an alleged terror group from the Dagestan republic laid claim to recent blasts in Volgograd and claimed incidents were coming to Sochi as well...

CNN's Jim Sciutto centers around a "black widow" that the Russians are keeping their eyers on as a focus for possible violence...

USA-Russia WJC Quarters Ends In Monkey Gestures

((HT: TSN/IIHF))

Just when you thought the youth of the world were getting along in the sports world, and the idea that detente was a surviving model of diplomacy forgot to tell the Russian squad at the end of the World Juniors quarterfinal today in Sweden.

Here's the highlights from beginning to end, and the last minute or so are the cute gestures...


To recap, Team USA's Matt Grzelcyk blew a tire and it led to the open-net goal by Russia's Pavel Buchnevich.
Buchnevich decided to rub the USA's nose in it and Blackhawks draftee Ryan Hartman popped him...

Which was nice- although a just-as-violatory move in The Code as the Russian celebration...

And what was the whole "fire hose" move, anyway...???

We know... the HQ just wanted to know if you were paying attention...