Tom Wilson speaks on Olympic fight, Team France banning their own player afterward
Photo credit: David W Cerny/Reuters via Imagn Images
When Tom Wilson and Pierre Crinon dropped their gloves in the Canada-France game, there was the expectation that both players would receive suspensions.
Under IIHF rules, there is a zero-tolerance policy for fighting.
Yet, when France's Crinon hit Canada's superstar Nathan MacKinnon, you had to expect a response from Wilson, regardless of the possible sanction.
No suspensions given after Wilson-Crinon fight
While both players were ejected with game misconducts during Canada's 10-2 victory, the IIHF determined that no further disciplinary action was necessary for either athlete.
WILSON: I think it was more just him understanding that there’s going to be an answer, we’re going to stick up for our teammates. I didn’t know that was necessarily going to be a fight, but it turned into that pretty quickly. More of a wrestling match, melee, and chaos. I wanted to make sure not to take it too far, thinking about the more important hockey coming up. I think they got the message that we’re going to stick together as a country.
RISHAUG: The decision was made that he wouldn’t continue in the tournament, what do you make of that?
WILSON: I don’t know. Probably a lot goes into that, I didn’t know the federation and their league. I’m focused on these guys, this group, them understanding I’ll do whatever it takes to win for this group. It was some big news this morning when that came out, but it’s not for me to really have an opinion.
RISHAUG: The decision was made that he wouldn’t continue in the tournament, what do you make of that?
WILSON: I don’t know. Probably a lot goes into that, I didn’t know the federation and their league. I’m focused on these guys, this group, them understanding I’ll do whatever it takes to win for this group. It was some big news this morning when that came out, but it’s not for me to really have an opinion.
It seems. however, that Team France took the incident a little farther and suspended Crinon regardless of the IIHF's ruling.
Canada's next game is February 18 against the winner of today's Slovakia vs Denamrk matchup.
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