MOSCOW, July 30 (R-Sport) - Alexander Edler is set to miss Sweden's first two games of the Sochi Olympic hockey tournament after the International Ice Hockey Federation ruled that that the defenseman's suspension for a brutal hit at the world championships in May would extend to the 2014 Winter Games in Russia.
Edler, 27, collided with the Carolina Hurricanes' Eric Staal in the quarterfinals of the competition, causing a third-degree sprain of the Canadian captain's medial collateral ligament.
"The IIHF Disciplinary Committee decided to give Swedish defenseman Alexander Edler an additional two-game suspension for a knee-on-knee hit at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship," the organization said in a statement Tuesday.
The hit put Staal out of action for three months and led to a competition ban for Edler, who subsequently sat out the semifinal and gold medal match won by his teammates against Switzerland.
He deserved further punishment because the action was "reckless, dangerous and in disregard to the vulnerability of his opponent for which he must be held accountable," the IIHF said.
Edler, who has 206 points in 431 regular-season games over seven seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, will miss games against the Czech Republic on February 12 and Switzerland two days later.
