MOSCOW (AP) — The Kontinental Hockey League may withdraw its players from the PyeongChang Olympics in protest at doping investigations into Russian athletes, the league president suggested Saturday.
The Moscow-based KHL, widely considered the strongest league outside the NHL, contains leading Russians but also many players who could represent the United States, Canada, and various European nations.
The stars include former NHL All-Stars Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk of Russia. Plus American Ryan Zapolski, one of the league’s top goalies this season.
In a statement, KHL president Dmitry Chernyshenko said the International Olympic Committee “is destroying the existing world order in sports” by pursuing doping cases against Russians in other sports who are suspected of using banned substances around the time of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.