U.S. booed in Montreal

MONTREAL, March 21 (UPI) -- Opposition to the United States-led invasion of Iraq has filtered into the sports world.

Hockey fans at the Bell Centre in Montreal booed the American national anthem Thursday night.

The vocal protest by the sellout crowd of 21,273 occurred before the NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders. It rankled American-born members of the Islanders.

"The fans in Montreal don't show us any respect," said backup goaltender Rick DiPietro, who is from Massachusetts. "I was upset by the booing. A hockey game is no time to boo the United States. This really aggravates me. I am so embarrassed to be a hockey player. How low can these fans get to boo a song?"

Teammate Mark Parrish, who is from Minnesota, added, "I think if it wasn't for America, God knows what language they'd be speaking right now."

The NCAA Tournament started Thursday, and was moved to ESPN from its traditional broadcast home on CBS, which is committed to war coverage, but began the day Friday with game coverage.

Nearly all broadcast networks are providing wall-to-wall news coverage.

On Wednesday, CBS reached an agreement to move some the games to ESPN and ESPN2. That came one day after NCAA President Myles Brand announced the games would not be postponed, relocated, or otherwise altered in any way.