Canada in fresh Winter Olympic controversy as two athletes kicked out of event

Two Canadian Winter Olympic athletes were sanctioned after becoming embroiled in a brawl during the North American nation’s 10–2 win over France at the Milan-Cortina Games on Sunday (February 15).

Last week, the Canadian curling team had already made headlines after Sweden and Switzerland accused two-time Olympic medallist Marc Kennedy of double-touching the stone during their matches in Italy.

Players must release their grip on the handle before the thick green line on the ice – formerly the hog line. However, TV footage appeared to show that this was not the case.

Kennedy responded with an expletive rant towards Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson, which prompted the sport’s governing body, World Curling, to release a statement in which it said that the Canadian team had been issued a verbal warning regarding the use of inappropriate language.

Then on Sunday, the Canadian Olympic team were once again under the microscope, but this time because two hockey stars were ejected during the nation’s victory against France.

Canada’s Tom Wilson and France’s Pierre Crinon engaged in a fight during the third period after Wilson smashed the Frenchman up against the side of the ice rink. Crinon reacted furiously, which led to a full-blown physical altercation between the pair.

Crinon dragged his opponent to the ice before landing several blows as match officials attempted to intervene.

As reported by the New York Post, both men were given misconduct penalties alongside five-minute time-outs for fighting, as well as two minutes for roughing.

The outlet also claimed that Wilson’s reaction was related to the fact that Crinon had hit his teammate Nathan MacKinnon with his elbow earlier in the match.

Neither Wilson nor Crinon has addressed the incident, although MacKinnon leapt to his fellow Canadian’s defence.

“That guy obviously didn’t want to fight Tom,” MacKinnon said. “He just wanted to wrestle. I wouldn’t want to fight Tom either.

“He elbowed me in the face, and I was nowhere near the puck.”

Canada left winger Brandon Hagel added: “I don’t think we could go this tournament without seeing one [fight]. That was probably the talk about him coming to the tournament. That’s just what Willy does. He sticks up for teammates.”

As per International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) rules, fighting is “not part of international ice hockey’s DNA”.

Despite the fight, both hockey stars will be permitted to compete in the knockout rounds.