WEST VALLEY, Utah -- It was the game that should ease some of the criticism of the Canadian men's hockey team, and should boost some of its fans.

It should, that is, if anyone is still talking about Canada's 3-3 tie with the Czech Republic following an extraordinary postgame outburst by Wayne Gretzky, the executive director of the Canadian team.

	Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky boiled over after Canada's 3-3 draw vs. the Czech Republic.

Incensed by some late-game incidents that he felt warranted severe action -- and, clearly, by the criticism of Canada's performance in its first two games -- Gretzky declared that "the whole world wants Canada to lose, except for Canada and Canada fans," and that there is widespread glee over the team's 1-1-1 start.

"Right now it's almost comical to listen to things that are being said," Gretzky said. "It almost sickens my stomach to turn the TV on because I'm such a proud Canadian ... It makes me ill to hear some of the things that are being said about us."

"Am I hot? Yeah," Gretzky told the Associated Press. "I'm tired of people taking shots at Canadian hockey. We're very proud, and I guarantee you we'll be standing tall at the end."

He called the criticism "American propaganda," saying, "they're loving us not doing well," and suggested that part of Canada's problem might be that "I don't think we dislike those other countries as much as they hate us. They don't like us, they want to see us fail, they love beating us. They may tell you something different, but when you're on the ice, that's what they say."

Actually, Czech forward Martin Rucinsky wasn't telling the media anything else.

"We don't worry about Canada at all," said Rucinsky. "We don't take them as the team to beat. I don't think they're one of the best teams, and the scores show it."

Along with the criticism of his team, Gretzky was incensed that no penalties were called late in the game when Canada's Theo Fleury was, he said, speared by one player and cross-checked by another, reportedly defenseman Roman Hamrlik.

"If a Canadian had done that, it would be a big story," Gretzky said. "But a Czech player did it, and it's OK. ... He should be suspended for the remainder of the tournament."

Both Gretzky and Canada's coach, Pat Quinn, suggested that there will be retribution.

"In the old days (of international play), we couldn't pay them back, so that's why we lost our tempers," said Gretzky. "Well now they've got to answer the fiddler in about a week (when NHL play resumes) and payback's going to be awful tough. It's not going to be pretty."

Quinn said, in the NHL, there would have been an immediate response.

"But it doesn't play in international rules, so we say you can't do it, you can't do it," said Quinn. "... But one week from now, we get all the payback we want."

As for the game, Canada rallied from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to tie, thanks to two goals by Mario Lemieux and Joe Nieuwendyk's tying goal with 3:24 remaining. Martin Havlat scored two goals for the Czechs; Jiri Dopita had the other.

The tie didn't change the seeding for the next round -- Canada finishes third in its pool and will play Finland, while the Czech Republic faces Russia in a matchup of the 1998 gold and silver medalist.

But it did change Canada's outlook.

"We played much better tonight, with much more emotion and much more desperation," said Gretzky. "... I thought Mario was tremendous. We're set up into a pretty good situation going into Wednesday."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.