NOTES

U.S. Olympic hockey Coach Dave Peterson wore a button on his suit jacket to honor the late Bob Johnson, former boss of USA Hockey and coach of the Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins. The button reads, “It’s a great day for hockey,” one of Johnson’s favorite sayings.

Team USA wore a shoulder patch embroidered with that phrase during its pre-Olympic schedule. However, Art Berglund, the team’s player personnel director, was doubtful Olympic officials would have permitted the team to wear that patch in Olympic play.

Team USA forward David Emma, the 1990-91 Hobey Baker Award winner as the top player in college hockey, sat out Sunday’s game because of sore ribs. Emma said the injury occurred during a pre-Olympic game against France. Peterson said team doctors advised him Emma would be completely fit if he did not play Sunday. . . . Peterson said he was pleased with the play of goaltender Ray LeBlanc, who stopped 20 of 23 shots, and would decide after today’s practice whether to have LeBlanc start against Germany Tuesday.

Canadian Coach Dave King said he gave his team a day off Sunday after surviving a scare against France in a 3-2 victory Saturday. Canada is seeded second in the tournament but struggled to hold off the 11th-seeded French. Canada faces Switzerland today in Group A play.

“You can’t play when you’re afraid to make mistakes, and we were,” he said. “We couldn’t get into a flow. I think we’ll be more relaxed (today).”

Senegalese ski racer Lamaine Gueye succeeded where champions such as Marc Girardelli and Leonhard Stock failed.

Gueye, founder and president of the Senegalese Ski Federation, was 45th among 45 finishers in the Olympic downhill, 22 seconds behind winner Patrick Ortlieb, but Gueye finished . Many didn’t.

“I couldn’t stay in the right line. On all the curves I was too wide,” he acknowledged.

Something was missing when Lyubov Egorova accepted her Olympic gold medal in 15-kilometer cross-country skiing Sunday night: her country.

“It was great to win the gold medal. It was something I didn’t expect. But it’s sad that we didn’t have our own flag and anthem,” the Russian skier said.

Olympic winners have traditionally been honored with their country’s flag and anthem at the awards ceremony. But Egorova’s old country, the Soviet Union, is gone and her new country, Russia, is represented by the new Unified Team. On the stand, she was serenaded by the Olympic hymn and watched the Olympic flag hoisted, rather than the Internationale, the Soviet anthem so often heard in the Winter Olympics, and the red flag.

Firemen at Moutiers were put on alert Saturday when a burning odor was detected at the International Broadcast Center.

A fire at the IBC is considered one of the major disasters that could befall the Winter Olympics, and the local organizing committee has insurance for up to $6 billion in case of it.

This one was a false alarm. It seems some Turner Broadcasting technicians had forgotten some popcorn in a microwave oven.

The comeback of Canadian skier Lucie Laroche may have ended Sunday.

Laroche, who is attempting to ski in the Olympics despite torn ligaments in her right knee, injured the knee in a fall in the afternoon training session and had to be carried down the course on a sled. She broke a ski in the fall.

The 23-year-old downhill and super-G skier has been competing with a knee brace since returning to the slopes last month. She tore the knee ligaments in December, but refused surgery so she could compete in the Olympics.