In Belarus, you either get in line (or on a line with) with President (read: dictator) Alexander Lukashenko, or things will not go well for you.
In an incident that might seem strange to people not born in the former Soviet Union, former NHL standout Mikhail Grabovski, who is currently an assistant coach of HC Dinamo Minsk, Belarus' only team in the KHL, left Dinamo's match against Kunlun Red Star after two periods. The reason? He needed to be on time for the finals of Belarus' 16th Annual Christmas Tournament, where he represents his home country and plays on a line with Lukashenko.
The Christmas Tournament (Belarus celebrates Christmas by the Eastern Orthodox Tradition on January 7th) has been referred to as "World Championship for former players," although politicians and various government officials take part as well. Roman Rotenberg, one of the bigwigs of the Russian Hockey Federation, played for Team Russia. Others of note taking part in this tournament were Alexei Kovalev, Andrei Nikolishin, Alexey Zhitnik, and Dmitri Khristich.
The 35-year-old Grabovski announced his NHL retirement in June 2019 and was immediately hired by Dinamo as an assist to Craig Woodcroft. The German-born Belarus national was drafted by Montreal in 2004, and played 534 games in the NHL, splitting time between the Canadiens, Leafs, Capitals, and Islanders.
Dinamo, down 2-1 at the point of Grabovksi's departure, lost the game by a score of 5-1. Meanwhile, the Lukashenko-led Belarus beat Russia in the finals by a score of 4-1 to win their 13th trophy. Grabovski scored the game winning goal and was named the best forward of the tournament. Lukashenko was held off the scoreboard.
Source: https://by.tribuna.com/hockey
