The Russian Hockey Federation managed to embarrass itself in a unique way today.
Before a game of the Channel One Cup between the Czech Republic and Sweden, taking place in Moscow, as the Czechs waited for their national anthem to be played, they were rewarded with the start of the national anthem of...Kazakhstan. The music was interrupted as the organizers searched, in vain, for the Czech anthem. Before they could find it and correct their error, the Czech fans in attendance sang the anthem a cappella. The Federation apologized to the Czechs afterwards.
The Cup dates back to 1967 and was previously known as the Izvestia Cup. From 1996, it is a regular part of the Euro Hockey Tour, usually taking place in December. For the past 20+ years, the tournament has been a round-robin format with four nations (Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, and Finland) as the regular participants.
The Czech team thanked their fans on Twitter after the incident for saving the day. The game was won by Sweden by a score of 3:1.
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