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Report: NHL players have contingency plans if violence strikes Olympic Games

Views Of Sochi Ahead Olympic Games

Views around the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on January 25, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Richard Heathcote

Security is a major concern going into the Olympic Games in Sochi and the NHL and NHLPA are prepared in case the worst happens.

According to Alan Maki of The Globe And Mail, the NHL and its players will reconsider going to Russia if there is a terrorist strike ahead of the Olympic Games. Maki adds that if there’s a significant attack during the Games, the Canadian men’s team will return home.

The United States has reportedly prepared similar plans to extract any citizens from Russia should problems arise.

Maki hears from NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly about the NHL’s participation in the games amid the safety worries.

“I don’t anticipate having to reconsider our decision to participate, but I’m also not in a position of knowing what the next 15 days will bring. We won’t put our athletes in a situation where it is obvious that their participation would subject them to an unreasonable risk of danger.”

Recent events in Russia, including two suicide bombings in Volgograd, have athletes from around the world concerned. American athletes were recently warned by the State Department to not wear American uniforms outside of the Olympic venues.

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