URL:http://www2.torstar.com/sportswire/amhockey/HKY-Women-Oly-Field.html

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Late breaking SportsWire Story last updated on Mon Apr 7 2:40:15 EDT 1997 
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- The fourth women's world hockey championship is raising the
sport's profile but may have permanently damaged the game in one of
the world's most hockey-mad countries. 

Sweden's 3-1 victory over Russia in Sunday's fifth-place game gave
the Swedes the final berth in next year's Olympics and may have
sounded the death knell for women's hockey in Russia.

``Basically, nobody knows about the future,'' said Tim Rutkevich, a
liaison to the Russian team at the women's worlds. ``That was the
big fear - that if they don't qualify for the Olympics, the
federation of ice hockey in Russia won't keep paying their bills.

``The fear is that the federation wouldn't want to sponsor
something long-term, they have to invest more where they can get a
return.''

Swedish officials, on the other hand, were rejoicing. Their team
joins Canada, the United States, Japan, China and Finland in the
six-team Nagano Olympics tournament next year.

``This was a very important game for Swedish hockey, losing today
and ladies hockey would have almost busted out; now it will be a
boom instead,'' said coach Bengt Ohlson.

``I think it would be better if there were eight teams in Nagano,
it would help all the countries.''

However, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the
International Olympic Committee have decreed there'll be only six -
and eight in Salt Lake City in 2002.

That might be too far ahead for the Russian system - where there
are just six sponsored teams - to survive.

``In Russia, there's not enough money to go around,'' said
Rutkevich. ``The financial pressure on this team to qualify was
great.''

The Swedes, meanwhile, expect a windfall in sponsorship from their
federation and Olympic committee.

``This was one of my happiest victories,'' said Ohlson, who has
coached in the Swedish system for 20 years. ``It means so much for
hockey.''

KITCHENER, Ont. (CP)

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