Stanley Cup delivered to Moscow mayor's office

On Monday the Stanley Cup was delivered to Moscow mayor's office. The famed sport trophy was brought to Moscow by Russian ice hockey players who won it in the NHL season of 2001-2002 playing for "Detroit Red Wings".

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov welcomed Igor Larionov, Sergei Fyodorov, Maksim Kuznetsov and Pavel Datsyuk. The mayor thanked the players for the Stanley cup which they managed for the second time to bring to Russia and which would stay in the Moscow mayor's office for 5 days. At the same time he reminded that the last time the trophy was brought to the country in 1997. He stated that "he was not a hockey expert but he was sure that the Stanley cup was one of the most prestigious awards in the world of sport." Chairman of the State Sport Committee Vyacheslav Fetisov indicated that "Moscow had the country's biggest number of ice hockey teams and about 40 ice hockey rinks." At the same time Luzhkov acknowledged in his turn that "Russian ice hockey experienced certain problems", in particular, "mercenary spirit and bad refereeing." The mayor stated that "one should struggle against that" and added that "sport should be clean, only then it becomes interesting."