SALT LAKE CITY'The mere act of participation, supposedly the very essence of the Olympic Games, became a source of controversy Saturday when winger Ziggy Palffy of the Los Angeles Kings played against his NHL team's wishes in Slovakia's 3-0 loss to Germany in a men's hockey qualifying-round game on the first day of competition.
The NHL's 12-day Olympic break begins Thursday, but Slovakia is one of the eight countries that must play in a round-robin tournament during the first five days of the Games to earn a berth in the final round. None of those countries depends on NHL talent as heavily as Slovakia, which spent months convincing individual teams to release players while the league's regular season continued.
The Kings did not want Palffy to play on five consecutive days, so General Manager Dave Taylor agreed to let him join the Slovakian team with the understanding that Palffy would sit out the Germany game and play Sunday against Latvia. King defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was cleared to play for Slovakia in both games, but only on the power play Saturday.
Kings Coach Andy Murray wasn't watching the Olympics on TV and learned that Palffy was playing when a Los Angeles Times reporter called him on his cellular phone.
\You're kidding,' Murray said. ""I'm going to call Dave right now, and we're going to have to call up there and tell them he can't play tomorrow.'
Murray broke the news to Taylor.
""Our obligation is to put the best possible team on the ice Monday against Dallas. With that in mind, we've asked Slovakia not to dress Ziggy [Sunday],"" Taylor said.
In the Kings' 6-5 overtime loss at Phoenix on Friday, Palffy had a hat trick while playing 22 minutes and 53 seconds'his second-longest stint since returning to the lineup Jan. 2 after sitting out 14 games because of a broken rib.
Palffy said he awoke at 6 a.m. and left for his flight to Salt Lake City, where he arrived around 10:30 a.m.
Palffy was in uniform but did not play for the first period and half of the second.
After Germany scored on goals by Jurgen Rumrich and Jan Benda in the second period, Coach Jan Filc could not continue to let one of the NHL's top scorers sit idly.
""It was my decision, because we were behind,' Filc said. ""We wanted to use everybody to bring some new idea to the game. We hoped that Ziggy's ability to score would change the situation.""
Palffy was coy about whether he asked to go in or was sent in.
""No comment,' Palffy said.
He did sound genuinely torn about his commitments to both the Kings and Slovakia.
""I have to think about the Kings also,' he said in regard to his participation Sunday. ""This is not just Slovakia. I have to think about both sides.""
Slovakia's situation, however, just turned desperate. It can't afford another loss. After the Latvia game Sunday, Slovakia plays the fourth member of Group A, Austria, on Tuesday. Teams are awarded two points for a win and one point for a tie; the team with the most points will advance to the final round.
