 The Soviet coaches blamed the loss on the refereeing . Bobrov complained that the pair of American referees , Frank Larsen and Steve Dowling , let the Canadians get away with everything . After the game , the head of the USSR Hockey Federation , Andrei Starovoitov , charged the door of the officials ' dressing room and kicked chairs over . The pair of referees , scheduled to referee game four in Vancouver , were replaced by the pair who had refereed game one and game three , Gord Lee and Len Gagnon . Team Canada agreed to the request by the Soviets to change referees , apparently not aware of Starovoitov 's tantrum after game two . 
