Prior to the first game played by the Soviet Union national ice hockey team, star player Sergei Fedorov defected and signed a five-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings. Soviet administrator Yuri Korolev insisted that his player was stolen by premeditated actions and, rather than defecting on his own "under normal circumstances". He said that "having this happen on the eve of the goodwill games, is like a spoon of tar in a barrel of honey".
