Sure it is still four years away, but it appears another shot has been fired across the bow of the NHL as concerns the Sochi Olympics. Is it just coincidence that the newly named ambassador is beloved friend and former teammate of not only the most popular hockey player on earth but also the most vocal critic of a ban on NHL player participation in Sochi? h/t Sovietsky Sport
Moscow- 1 November- RIA Novosti. Well-known Russian hockey player, 3-time World Champion and 3-time Stanley Cup winner Sergei Fedorov has been named as the next ambassador to the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi.
At a press conference on Sunday, ‘Sochi-2014’ organizational committee member Igor Stolyarov presented Fedorov with his credentials as ambassador to the games.
‘A great many sportsman have been previous ambassadors—Alexander Ovechkin, figure skaters Oksana Domina and Maksim Shabalin, bobsledder Alexander Zubkov and others. Sergei personifies not only the skills of a Sportsman with a capital ‘S’, but Olympic values as well. It means a great deal that he is still playing, and his North American experience helps his ambassadorial status. It is a great honor for me to name him as ambassador to the games’, said Stolyarov at a press-conference announcing the start of the online game ‘Sochi-Vancouver Rally Raid’.