THE OLYMPICS WINTER GAMES AT ALBERTVILLE : No Love Lost as U.S. Ties : Hockey: Brown is hospitalized after being checked by Sweden’s Naslund. Peterson refuses to shake hands with opponents after Americans win top spot in pool.

MERIBEL, France —  Unbeaten but not unscarred, the U.S. Olympic hockey team ended preliminary-round play Monday by tieing Sweden, 3-3, and winning the championship of its six-team group. But what should have been a triumphant moment for the Americans was soured by a shaky third period and their coach’s refusal to shake hands with his Swedish counterparts.

Angered by what he called “a very dirty shot” by Swedish forward Mats Naslund in checking defenseman Greg Brown into the boards 2:04 into the game, U.S. Coach Dave Peterson refused to participate in the traditional on-ice handshaking ceremony with Swedish Coach Conny Evensson after the teams’ game before 6,100 at the Olympic Arena. Peterson later shunned the outstretched hand of assistant coach Curt Lundmark when the two shared a table in a postgame news conference.

“After the game you have to show good sportsmanship,” said Lundmark, whose team accused the United States of unnecessary roughness in a pre-Olympic exhibition Feb. 5 at Chamonix, France. “The coach did not. Let the players meet each other in the corridors (of their dormitory) or in the breakfast room and they say hello to each other.”

Peterson’s ire--which he also vented at referee Seppo Makela as the teams and officials walked off the ice--might have been better directed at his team, which will face France (2-3) today.

Sweden scored three times in the final period Monday, twice on power plays after needless penalties taken by American players. Sweden’s last goal came with 21 seconds to play and goalie Roger Nordstrom gone in favor of an extra attacker.

The first goal, a shot from the blue line by defenseman Tommy Sjodin after U.S. winger Steve Heinze had been sent off for roughing, ended goalie Ray LeBlanc’s shutout streak at 136 minutes 39 seconds.

“We were a little tired in the third, but it was more that we were a little bit lax,” forward C.J. Young said. “We’re as good conditioned a team as anyone in the tournament. It was just a matter of hesitancy, laying back. We didn’t do it deliberately. Then we took some penalties, and they were devastating on the power play. That cost us.”

The United States (4-0-1) finished atop Pool A by one point, 9-8. The tie gave the Swedes second place by one point over Finland and allowed them to avoid facing the Unified Team in their first playoff game. The Swedes will face Czechoslovakia on Wednesday.

“Of course we didn’t want to play the Russians because they have a very good team,” said right wing Hakan Loob, who scored 193 goals for the Calgary Flames in six NHL seasons. “And the Americans could have an easy game against the French.”

They might have had an easy time Monday had they been able to capitalize on the five-minute power play they gained when Naslund was ejected for injuring Brown.

Naslund, who spent eight seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1988 as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player, was pursuing the puck in the U.S. zone when he raised his left shoulder and rammed into Brown. The sound of Brown hitting the glass reverberated through the arena, and the two-time Olympian fell to the ice face first, blood spurting from a two-inch gash between his eyes. He also suffered a cut on his forehead and was taken to a hospital in nearby Moutiers for observation because of a possible concussion.

“I went after him when we dumped it in,” said Naslund, who never accumulated more than 19 penalty minutes in any of his NHL seasons, “and he hit his head on the bar (that separates the boards from the protective plexiglass). There could be 100 hits like that in the hockey game and that would not happen. I kept my elbows in. It’s questionable if I deserved a two-minute penalty. . . . I might have to give back the Lady Byng, yeah. It’s not that you are proud of it . . . . I’m not banging my chest and thinking I am Tarzan.”

The U.S. team, which had taken the lead when Clark Donatelli prodded home a pass slotted to him by Tim Sweeney 36 seconds into the game, had five minutes of power-play time to extend its lead, but did little. “I didn’t think we played the five-minute penalty wisely,” Peterson said.

The United States took a 2-0 lead at 7:18 of the second period when Ted Donato slipped the puck between Nordstrom’s pads. That lead grew to 3-0 when Marty McInnis lifted a shot over Nordstrom’s left shoulder.