Does Herb Brooks have the Russians number again?
The good old days earlier this week — when Sergei Fedorov playfully sprayed Red Wings teammate Chris Chelios with a water bottle and then referred to Team USA coach Herb Brooks as “Herbie” — are long gone. The Russians are fuming, and the Americans better be ready for some nastiness in Friday’s medal-round semifinal at the E Center. Don’t assume that Russia’s threat to load up the Aeroflot and pull out of these Games has everything to do with skiing and nothing to do with hockey. Russian coach Slava Fetisov and his once-merry band of snipers were not happy with the officiating in yesterday’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory against the Czechs. The officials handed out 14 minutes in penalties to the Russians and only 6 to the Czechs. Then there was that two-man advantage — a relative rarity in international competition. Russian Olympic committee president Leonid Tyagachev was at that game, and Thursday he had some fighting words for the IOC and the NHL. Tyagachev suggested that judging in al
