Wednesday it was reported that NHL legend Pavel Datsyuk was currently inside of a barricaded Russian monastery, which had been taken over by a ROGUE priest who thinks COVID-19 is a hoax.

That’s quite the headline and lede, and here are some details from the RT story:

“Former Detroit Red Wings star Datsyuk, 41, is said to be at Ekaterinburg’s Central Urals Monastery, where according to local media Shiigumen (father superior) Sergius has taken over after ousting the abbess of the convent.

The power grab comes after Sergius was reportedly banned from conducting religious duties because of his claims that the Covid-19 outbreak was a “pseudo-pandemic” and that it was being used as an excuse to microchip the public.

The priest is also said to have complained that the closure of churches in Russia during the coronavirus crisis was done under pressure from “the atheistic authorities.”’ 

Wow, what a story.

However, we had conflicting report, this coming from Keith Gave, who wrote the book The Russian Five about some of Detroit’s Russian players.

He said the story is not true:

Sure enough, this morning, RT followed up with a story clarifying that Datsyuk was not “holed up” inside the church, but instead just stopped by for a bit:

“However, Vsevolod Moguchev, a colleague of Father Sergius, the priest in question, refuted claims that the hockey star spent any significant time holed up with the rogue priest and said that the 41-year-old simply arrived with family members to pray and show his support to Sergius.

“He comes here to pray with his family. I sometimes bump into him at the places of worship. Datsyuk has a warm relationship with Father Sergius,” Moguchev was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

“The presence of priests here has great significance for [Datsyuk]. Father Sergius has a great number of spiritual children… they love and trust Father Sergius. I believe they will be with him whatever happens,” he added.”

For some context, the two-time Stanley Cup champion is playing for his hometown squad “Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg” in the KHL. The original RT story says the rogue priest is a former cop who spent 13 years in jail for murder. He reportedly is Datsyuk’s “confessor.”

Good morning.