Leniency Sought for Ohlund

The NHL Players’ Assn. and Swedish Olympic officials have asked the International Ice Hockey Federation to show leniency toward Vancouver Canuck defenseman Mattias Ohlund, who tested positive for the banned drug acetazolamide and could lose his spot on the Swedish Olympic hockey team at the Salt Lake City Winter Games.

As part of his treatment after undergoing eye surgery Dec. 3, Ohlund received from his surgeon the drug Diamox, which contains acetazolamide. Ohlund nearly lost an eye two years ago after being struck by a puck in an exhibition game, and the procedure last month cleared scar tissue that had developed.

Acetazolamide is not a performance-enhancing drug, but it can be used to mask steroids and is on the International Olympic Committee’s list of banned substances. Ohlund submitted a urine sample during a random, no-advance-notice test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Dec. 11, but he did not tell WADA officials he had taken the drug and said he didn’t know it contained a banned substance.

The NHL Players’ Assn. resisted efforts to subject players to random, no-advance-notice testing before the Games, almost jeopardizing NHL players’ participation. However, it eventually agreed to allow such tests to be done after players were educated about banned substances and told to avoid such potential dangers as food supplements.

The IIHF is expected to meet this weekend to review Ohlund’s situation.

“We don’t consider this a doping case, at least not with the information we have now,” said Bjorn Folin, a spokesman for the Swedish Olympic Committee. “It was a mistake by him.”

Anders Hedberg, a former World Hockey Assn. and NHL standout who is general manager of Team Sweden, said he anticipates Ohlund will be allowed to compete at Salt Lake City.

“If you look into the circumstances in Mattias’ case, I’m counting on him playing for us,” Hedberg said.

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Helene Elliott