Artemi Panarin (left) of Russia celebrates scoring the game-winning goal against Canada during the 2011 IIHF World U20 Championship gold medal game. Photograph by: Rick Stewart , Getty

Members of the Russian world junior hockey championship team, still high off their improbable comeback victory against Canada in Wednesday’s final, were brought back down to earth Thursday after they were kicked off a flight in Buffalo, New York for unruly behaviour.

The team, celebrating its come-from behind 5-3 win over Team Canada, were removed from a Delta Air Lines flight just before the plane took off at approximately 6:10 a.m.

“To ensure the safe operation of the flight, the crew of flight 1266 denied boarding to 30 passengers who were travelling together and displaying unruly behaviour,” said Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott in a statement. “The passengers are being rebooked on a future flight.”

The flight was scheduled to fly from Buffalo to Atlanta at 6:15 a.m.

“They were asked by the flight crew to calm down,” said Doug Hartmayer with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, which is in charge of security operations at the airport. “When they didn’t, that’s when they were asked to leave the plane. They left in an orderly manner.”

The team was forced to deboard the plane, retrieve its luggage and leave the terminal.

Hartmayer said an additional five or six police officers attended the terminal to assist in the escort.

Police at the airport said the players appeared to be intoxicated.

If the players were drunk, they would have been consuming alcohol illegally, since the legal drinking age in the state of New York is 21, and players on world junior teams must be 20 years of age and under.

Hartmayer wouldn’t confirm the players were inebriated but said the team’s behaviour “wasn’t consistent with what you want to find on an airplane.”

The team was reportedly staying in a Buffalo-area hotel until a new flight can be scheduled.

The young Russians had stayed at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo for the past 12 days and had checked out around 3 a.m. for the airport.

“We are looking into it but we did not have an occurrence with any incident here,” said hotel manager Jim Burke. “The team was well-behaved. They’re great kids.”

Burke said the players were in a private banquet room for a late-night dinner which ended at 1 a.m.

No alcohol was served by the hotel staff, he added.

Dave Fischer with USA Hockey, one of the organizers of the international tournament, said officials were just learning about the incident.

“It was a marvellous tournament. It was highly successful,” he said. “There are always things that don’t go 100 per cent. I don’t know exactly what happened and until I know all the facts, the severity of the facts, it would be inappropriate for me to comment.”

Not all of the players are heading back to Russia. Some were slated to return to teams in Canada.

Fischer said the organizers were no longer responsible for the team’s stay in the U.S.

“The organizers of the tournament have the obligation to get the team to the airport, that’s when our obligation ends,” he said. “The teams are responsible for their own behaviour.”

Fischer said it is now up to law enforcement to look into the matter to determine whether any illegal activity took place.

Media reports say the team was partying into the early morning hours Thursday at the hotel bar.

Buffalo police were still looking into the incident.

“Police were never called to the hotel last night,” said police spokesman Mike DeGeorge. “We need someone to complain and say ‘We saw kids drinking or something.’ Here’s the question now: by the time, they get onto a plane and go to Russia, what’s going to happen?”

linnguyen@postmedia.com

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