Hockey is a strange sport in that two teams go out and beat each other up for 60 minutes before making nice and shaking hands afterwards. At least, that's how it normally goes. Tony Granato and Oleg Znarok, the head coaches of Team USA and the Olympic Athletes from Russia, respectively, decided to spurn tradition by not shaking hands after a 4-0 OAR win.
No handshake between Team USA and Russian hockey coaches following 4-0 Russia win at Olympics
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) February 17, 2018
It makes sense, mind you, that these two teams wouldn't be too keen on each other. Never mind the current political climate between USA and Russia, or the adventure that Russia has gone through just to play in these games (only to not even be playing for medals), Znarok kept his heavy hitters and goal scorers on the ice in an utter beat down -- something that Granato may have taken issue with.
The Russians basically closed the game out on a power play, and with Russia up 4-0, Znarok had his full strength penalty unit on the ice. Of course, the merits of playing your best unit throughout the game regardless of score may be up for debate, but apparently Granato took issue with the OAR showing up the USA on the biggest stage in the world.
