ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- The IMG/Primus Worldstars tour of Europe was organized as a gesture of goodwill, but not all fans at their 5-4 win against the Russian Stars on Sunday felt the same.
A fan twice threw a banana on the ice when Worldstars forward Anson Carter was playing, once during the first period and again during the third. Carter, who is black, told ESPN The Magazine's EJ Hradek that he noticed the racist act but did not alert game officials.
"It happens in the world. My parents always warned me about it," Carter, a forward with the Los Angeles Kings, told Hradek. "It happens in the world, why not the sports world? There are still backwards people out there."
The incidents went largely unnoticed by Carter's teammates because they happened by the Russian Stars' goal at the opposite end of the ice from Worldstars bench.
"By that time in the game (third period), I had two assists," Carter said. "I really wanted to score a goal then."
Carter said it was the first act of racism he has experienced while playing since he starred for Michigan State (1992-96) and an opponent called him a racist name.
The win gave the Worldstars a split in the two-game series. Because the aggregate score was tied -- the team of locked-out NHLers lost 5-4 in Moscow on Saturday -- the teams settled it with a shootout, which was won 2-1 by the Worldstars.
Mats Sundin and Luc Robitaille each scored for the Worldstars in the shootout. Sundin, John-Michael Liles, Mattias Norstrom, Ray Whitney and Glen Murray scored in regulation.
Dmitry Ryabykin, Ruslan Salei, Nikolay Kozlov and Sergei Krivokrasov scored for Russia. Dmitry Zatonsky had the only Russian goal in the shootout.
The Worldstars are 2-1 on their 10-game, seven-country tour. They still have stops in Bratislava, Slovakia; Bern, Switzerland; Karlstad, Jonkoping and Linkoping, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; and Katowice, Poland
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.