The exclusion of Russia and Belarus from international ice hockey operations wasn't even official when René Fasel jumped straight to the side of his old friends: "It's a sad moment in the history of the IIHF," said the former president of the World Ice Hockey Federation the Russian sports portal championat.com: "Even in such a tense situation as today, sport must convey the message of peace and international understanding."

Peace and international understanding – Fasel rarely does that.

For 27 years, the self-proclaimed “Friend of the Russians” sat on the ice hockey throne and saw himself as a “bridge builder” between the worlds.

Which meant above all: No criticism of autocrats like Vladimir Putin or Alexandr Lukashenko, instead there were warm hugs for old companions and reassurances to the outside world.

Be it the Russian state doping or the violent crackdown on the Belarusian opposition – Fasel smiled at everything.

And when Putin and Lukashenko were on the ice themselves for charity games, the former referee was of course at the whistle.

Since September he has only been honorary president of the IIHF, since then the French Canadian Luc Tardif has been running the business in Zurich.

And on Monday evening after the meeting of the IIHF Council, it sounded very different from its predecessor: "We were incredibly shocked when we saw the pictures from Ukraine." The result: exclusion for Russia and Belarus from all international tournaments.

This also applies to the men's World Championships in Finland in May, and the IIHF withdrew the Russians from hosting the prestigious U-20 World Championships at the turn of the year.

Consistently among the best in the world

The IIHF did not have much leeway, other sports had long since preceded it, and various ice hockey associations had also called for sanctions, including the German Ice Hockey Federation: "As long as this incredible war does not stop, sport cannot simply continue," said President Franz Reindl.

And yet this is a hard blow for the Russians, since ice hockey is considered Putin's favorite sport and a political pawn.

There is also no other major team sport in which Russians are so consistently at the top of the world, in which they have so much influence as string pullers and financiers.

This is still the case even in times of war: The IIHF did not say a word about the Men's World Championship 2023 in St. Petersburg.

The demand of some national associations to block officials from Russia and Belarus did not go through either.

This did not prevent the Russian federation from expressing its outrage in a statement that the exclusion was "discriminatory and contrary to the spirit of the sport".

Teams withdraw

There had already been bad news at the weekend, Jokerit Helsinki and Dinamo Riga withdrew from the Continental Hockey League season after protests from fans and sponsors.

The KHL has existed since 2008 and is more than an ice hockey league, it is a domestic and geopolitical project.

On the one hand, the KHL was supposed to bring back the home stars who had gone west after the end of the Soviet Union.

On the other hand, it should become a pan-European league in competition with the North American NHL.

Under Russian leadership, of course.

Halls were built for this, NHL stars were hired, talent was kept at home and teams were installed in western countries - often with Russian money from state companies or oligarchs.

That worked in Prague, Bratislava, Helsinki or Riga, but in Sweden, Switzerland or Germany it always failed because of money or resistance from national associations.

Rather, the Russian expansion plans brought the Western European clubs closer together, they formed a union and revitalized the Champions League - in both of which the Russians are left out.

Not much is left of their plans for the KHL: the stars are gone again, as are the teams from Prague and Bratislava, now Helsinki and Riga are also withdrawing.

If this is permanent, the KHL – apart from the team in Beijing that represented China at the Olympics – is just a kind of old Soviet league.

She is miles away from claiming to replace the NHL as the world's number one.

Even the next Russian generation has long gone to North America.

And there are discords from there, too.

On Monday, the NHL announced that it would suspend its business ties with Russia, and plans to host games there at some point were off the table.

Russia's hockey is more isolated than ever.

At least for now.

René Fasel and his old friends will try to change that again.