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Svetlana Terenteva used a stimulant prohibited in competition. (Markku Ulander/Associated Press)

A female Russian hockey player was reprimanded Thursday but escaped a ban after testing positive for a stimulant in the first doping violation of the Vancouver Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee said Svetlana Terenteva tested positive in a pre-games control last Saturday for a “light stimulant” contained in a prescription cold medication.

The substance — tuaminoheptane — is banned during competition, but not out of competition. It is found in inhalers and nasal sprays.

Terenteva, a 26-year-ancient forward who has played in four world championships, told the IOC she used the drug Rhinofluimucil in Russia to treat a head cold last month.

The player said she stopped using the medication when she arrived in Vancouver on Feb. 3, a day before the Olympic drug-testing program started.

A three-man IOC disciplinary panel ruled that Terenteva committed a doping violation because the substance was found in her system.

Normally, an athlete testing positive at the Olympics is automatically disqualified and expelled from the Games.

But IOC vice-president Thomas Bach, who headed the panel, said this was a “special case” that necessitated leniency.

Terenteva remains eligible to compete at the Games. Russia’s first match is on Sunday.

The IOC said the Russian team doctor was aware that Terenteva had been taking the medication and the player was “really open and co-operative” with the investigation.

The IOC also noted it was the first violation in a long career.

The IOC told the Russian national Olympic committee to ensure “by all means’ that its athletes and officials comply with all anti-doping rules.

More than a half-dozen Russian biathletes and cross-country skiers have been suspended in the past year for using blood-boosting drugs. IOC president Jacques Rogge said this week that he urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other officials to crack down on cheaters.

Terenteva’s case is the first violation of the most rigorous anti-doping program in Winter Games history.

The IOC is conducting more than 2,000 urine and blood tests in Vancouver, compared with 1,200 in Turin four years ago. Athletes can be tested out-of-competition at any time and any place.

As of Wednesday, the IOC said it had collected 634 doping samples since the opening of the athletes’ village on Feb. 4.

World Anti-Doping Agency president John Fahey said Thursday that more than 30 athletes had been excluded from coming to Vancouver for breaking anti-doping rules in recent months. He declined to give any other details.

There was only one positive test during the 2006 Torino Games — Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was stripped of a silver medal for use of a stimulant. She is back with the Russian team for the Vancouver Games under her new married name of Olga Medvedtseva.

Italian police raided the lodgings of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country ski teams during the Turin Games, seizing blood doping equipment. The Austrian athletes did not test positive at the time, but six were later banned by the IOC for involvement in the scandal.

Dominic Moore is headed back to a Canadian club after Thursday’s trade to the Montreal Canadiens. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The Montreal Canadiens announced on Thursday night the acquisition of forward Dominic Moore in exchange for a second-round draft pick.

Moore, 29, will join his fourth NHL team in less than a year. He achieved career highs with 13 goals and 32 assists in a 2008-09, a season in which he was dealt at the trade deadline from Toronto to Buffalo after being unable to come to terms on a new contract with the Maple Leafs.

The centre signed with Florida as a free agent in the off-season and has eight goals and nine assists in 48 games this season. The Thornhill, Ont., native has two power-play goals and a small-handed marker.

Moore has played 353 NHL games in a career that has also included turns with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh and Minnesota. He’s scored 43 goals and 74 assists, with 235 penalty minutes.

Montreal has been hit by the injury bug lately, forcing the call-up of players from the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League.

The club announced earlier in the day that defenceman P.K. Subban, a former member of Canada’s world junior team, had been recalled from Hamilton. Subban has yet to play in the NHL.

Didier Cuche of Switzerland takes a turn during official downhill training in Whistler, B.C., on Thursday. (Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images)

The weather wasn’t perfect and the course was shorter than it will be on race day, but officials heaved a sigh of relief Thursday when the men finished their Olympic downhill training session plagued by snow and fog.

Weather worries mean there’s still no guarantee one of the first marquee events of the Games can go ahead Saturday. But managing one official training run makes it simpler to stage the race if the weather co-operates.

“Now we can race,” said Calgary’s Jan Hudec, who posted a respectable 13th-place end in his practice run. “The next choice to race will be under the best conditions possible.”

Veteran Michael Walchhofer of Austria had the best time on the Dave Murray Men’s Olympic Downhill course, named after one of the original Crazy Canucks. Canadians Robbie Dixon and Erik Guay were hot on his trail, finishing second and third.

Dixon warned that things would be different when medals are up for grabs.

“Training runs are training runs,” said Dixon, who calls Whistler, B.C., his hometown and has four top-10 finishes in what has been a breakout World Cup season.

“It all comes down to race day. That’s the day that counts. It’s nice to get the confidence from skiing in the training runs … but you can’t get all psyched about that.”

Walchhofer, the downhill silver medallist from the 2006 Games in Turin was timed in one minute 34.46 seconds. Dixon was a scant .09 of a second behind while Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was third in 1:34.68. Guay declined to be interviewed.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Invermere, B.C., picked for a podium end by many, finished 22nd in 1:35.91.

“I had to stop before the end line because I couldn’t see any gates or the end line,” he said.

Earlier results showed Switzerland’s Didier Cuche with the fastest time, but he was disqualified for missing a gate on the course.

Officials with the International Ski Federation were so nervous to have a men’s training session they held it simultaneously with a women’s session.

A blanket of fog and heavy snow forced cancellation of the women’s training, but the men could ski because their course finished above the fog. Had it been any other day, the FIS might have scrapped the session, but Olympic rules say there must be at least one official downhill training run before a race can be held.

“They really needed it,” said Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein. “That’s why they pushed so hard. If they had a training (session) yesterday, they would have said, ‘Today, take the day off.”‘

Wednesday’s training was scrubbed after only 42 of 87 races. To be official, all the skiers must at least start.

Cuche said it was a excellent thought to hold the two training sessions at the same time. Originally, the women were supposed to start at 10 a.m. and the men at noon.

“They tried to do the best to bring everybody in the end and have an official training run so we can have the race,” said the 35-year-ancient, who is trying to become the oldest man to win a gold medal in Olympic skiing.

Walchhofer said he felt more confident skiing the course Thursday. “I am really looking forward to the race.”

Hudec said his time of 1:35.49 helped mend his confidence, which has been in tatters this season.

“I was pleased my time was that close to the top guys,” said Hudec, who is battling his way back from his fifth knee surgery. “It was probably one of the largest confidence boosts I’ve had in the last couple of weeks.”

Racers like Switzerland’s Didier Defago are still battling to adapt to the snow conditions on Canada’s West Coast.

“It’s a small bit too warm for me,” said Defago, who was fifth in 1:34.81. “It’s spring conditions here. I like it when it’s a small more cold (and) the snow is more aggressive.”

Austria’s Benjamin Raich, who won the gold in both slalom and giant slalom in 2006, said he’s had enough training to race, although “if I have more, it would be better.”

Among the other Canadians were Louis-Pierre Helie of Berthierville, Que., who placed 46th in 1:37.36; Tyler Nella of Burlington, Ont., 54th in 1:38.22; Ryan Semple of Montreal, 55th in 1:38.33; and Michael Janyk of Whistler, 72nd in 1:42.19.

The men’s downhill is scheduled for Saturday and the women’s for Wednesday. The women have a super combined event on Sunday.