Report: Hockey Canada asks KHL to release players for Olympics

The governing body of Canadian hockey is taking the KHL's threat seriously.

Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney sent a letter to the league asking it to allow its players to take part in the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the organization confirmed to CBC Sports.

The Czech, Finnish, and Swedish hockey federations co-signed the letter, Sportsnet's Chris Johnston reports.

Earlier this month, KHL president Dmitry Chernyshenko threatened to "respond accordingly" by prohibiting the league's players from going to the Olympics if the entire Russian delegation is barred from competing as punishment in the IOC's ongoing doping investigation regarding the 2016 Games in Sochi.

That decision will be made Dec. 5.

IIHF president Rene Fasel has said numerous times that the KHL is not allowed to prevent its players from participating in the Olympics, and that the international governing body would be forced to apply sanctions should the league not comply.

"(The) KHL, being a member of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, has to follow the statutes and bylaws of the IIHF and they have to release foreign players and the national team players from other countries to play in the Olympics," Fasel reiterated to Russian news agency TASS on Monday.

An IOC ban on Russian athletes in Pyeongchang would affect athletes in many sports, while the KHL's threatened response could impact players from many countries.