Wings’ Datsyuk, Zetterberg labouring in Sochi

Pavel Datsyuk. (Bruce Bennett/Getty)

SOCHI, Russia – The Olympic hockey games outside of Team Canada’s must also be carrying a lot of stress for Mike Babcock and Ken Holland.

It was only moments after Pavel Datsyuk played at somewhere less than 100 per cent in Russia’s 5-2 tournament-opening victory over Slovenia on Thursday when news broke that Swedish captain Henrik Zetterberg is day-to-day with a herniated disc. Foes at the Olympics, Datsyuk and Zetterberg are two of the most important members of the Detroit Red Wings back home.

In a perfect world, neither would likely be playing at all right now. That is certainly part of the argument you’ve heard the NHL push against continuing to release its players for Olympic competition. Of course, there is a long, proud history of players putting their countries ahead of their employers – including the decision by Steve Yzerman, another former Red Wings star, to play on a wobbly knee at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

That worked out well for everyone involved. Yzerman contributed to Canada’s historic Olympic gold, rehabbed the injury and returned for a playoff run where he captained the Red Wings to a Stanley Cup.

Zetterberg’s availability for the remainder of the tournament is in serious doubt. A herniated disc is not truly a “day to day” injury – at least not under normal circumstances – and the veteran centre skipped the team’s official photo on Thursday after playing in a 4-2 win over the Czechs a night earlier.

“He started here without any symptoms,” said Swedish doctor Bjorn Waldenberg. “We would of course not risk anything.”

Datsyuk has been dealing with a lower-body injury (believed to be his knee) since the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 and played just his third game since then on Thursday. He’s basically decided to act like the injury doesn’t exist when speaking with reporters at the Olympics, but his play against Slovenia said something else.

There were times when he appeared to be laboring in a charged-up atmosphere at the Bolshoy Ice Dome. Even Russian head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov acknowledged that fact afterwards: “Pavel is having a difficult time, still.”

The only thing more difficult than playing through pain would be the pain of missing an Olympics on home soil. This is a monumental event for the people here and it showed during an opener for Russia that was surprisingly tight.

The hosts held just a 3-2 lead over Slovenia entering the third period. Datsyuk said there was “tension” on the Russian bench. That gave way to pure joy with a couple more goals in the final 20 minutes that ensured the team would get off to a winning start in its quest to make this a Golden Games like Canada did four years ago.

Fans wore hockey sweaters and chanted throughout the game – at least when they weren’t blowing horns. Many held up Russian flags with the name of their hometown written across the middle. It was loud. Really loud.

“Unbelievable,” said Datsyuk. “I would like to say thank you to our fans, they helped us. We need it. They love hockey.”

They love it just as much as Babcock and Holland, who have also travelled to Russia to try and win a gold medal for Canada here. Back in Detroit, wearing different hats, they wouldn’t want Zetterberg or Datsyuk near the ice. But in this environment they are in no position to take that opportunity away from two of their best players.

Especially since Team Canada might have to go through Russia and Sweden to win a gold medal of its own.

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