Hockey players sent home in disgrace

Coach Ralph Krueger (right) told journalists he had to lay down the law swissinfo.ch

The Swiss ice hockey association has sent two of the country's most experienced players home from the Winter Olympics after the pair went out on all-night drinking spree.

Former Swiss captain Reto von Arx and team-mate Marcel Jenni hit the bars of Salt Lake City on Monday night following the humiliating 5-2 defeat against Ukraine which had ended Switzerland’s chances of making the Olympic quarter-finals.

The pair seemed to have no difficulty finding a drink in the Mormon state capital, returning to the Olympic village at around seven in the morning.

Just hours before the two men had attended a team meeting in which coach Ralph Krueger asked his players to show a positive reaction in their two remaining matches.

“Unacceptable”

“There are times as the team leader when I have to lay down the law,” Krueger said on Wednesday, “and this was one of those times. I could not accept the unsporting behaviour of these players towards the team.”

With 146 international appearances to his name, Jenni is the second most experienced player in the current Swiss squad. Von Arx has also played a regular part in Krueger’s plans with 101 international matches behind him.

Despite their expulsion from the team, it was not immediately clear whether von Arx and Jenni had actually followed the instruction to head home. The Swiss Olympic association arranged for the two players to be driven to the airport on Wednesday morning but neither of them turned up.

It was later reported that the players had actually left the Olympic village under their own steam in the early hours of the morning.

The ice hockey association ruled out any additional fines for von Arx and Jenni.

“The two have been punished enough with the expulsion,” said national team director Peter Zahner.

Team celebrate first win

In the absence of the two disgraced players, the remainder of the Swiss squad finally came up with the positive reaction that their coach had asked of them, celebrating their first win of the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Belarus.

Even before sending two of his forwards home, Krueger had said that he wanted to take a more defensive approach to Wednesday’s match and the change of style certainly seemed to work. Goals from Patrick Fischer and Jean-Jacques Aeschlimann were enough to see off Belarus and help Switzerland avoid the embarassment of finishing their Olympic campaign in last position.

Instead the team will now play off against Krueger’s former side Austria on Thursday in a match to determine places 11 and 12.

swissinfo with agencies