In the final round of the regular season of the SM league, we saw an exciting situation when Luko’s golden helmet, the Canadian pack Thomas Grégoire tackled KalPa’s attacker with force Jaakko Lanttaa.
Lantta was left lying on the ice for a long time until he was taken to the locker room. Grégoire, who spread his arms after the situation, received a match penalty for the obstruction.
KalPa’s head coach Tommi Miettinen got hot about the situation and yelled in exasperation in the direction of Luko’s changing room.
After the match at the press conference (you will switch to another service) Miettinen and Luko’s head coach Marko Virtanen strongly disagreed with what had happened.
– That tackle at the end, as pointless a tackle as can be. The player has been without the puck for two seconds, comes directly from the blind spot, hit the shoulder and the head. I hope it didn’t get any worse for Lanta, Miettinen started clearly frustrated.
– I do remember during this long season, what kind of suspensions we have received for such things. Now we will definitely measure the discipline in this moment, whether the line that has been the whole season will be maintained, Miettinen continued, referring to the long suspensions received by KalPa’s players.
Virtanen strongly disagreed even then. He intervened in the discussion at the press conference, although he was not asked about the tackle.
– You have to catch that tackle so much that the judges’ interpretation was “blind side” (from a blind corner). Grégoire comes from the front, and the young player is unfortunately not ready to accept the tackle. It didn’t take two seconds. We are talking about marginal time, tithes.
Virtanen considered the situation unfortunate, but did not agree with Grégoire’s dismissal.
– In the future, I would hope that the judges would be able to look at the situation as it really is. Always, if someone falls and is left lying on the ground, there is a reaction to it. I don’t think it’s the right style.
Miettinen replied that he agreed with that.
– I rewound the situation quite a few times, and I still stand by my position that Taklaus is really pointless and hits the shoulder and the head.
On Sunday, the SM League announced that Grégoire will not be suspended for his tackle.
According to the league’s interpretation, Grégoire tackled Lantta 0.36 seconds after Lantta had given up the puck. The disciplinary delegation stated that Lantta is a puck player in the situation at the time of the tackle, who can be tackled according to the rules.
Disciplinary also considered that Lanta has the opportunity to observe the development of the game situation during the transport of the puck. In addition, the delegation stated that Grégoire’s Tackle is technically clean, normal in relation to the game situation and part of the game, and that Taklaus does not target or hit Lanttaa in the head.
You can find the arguments of the SM league’s disciplinary delegation and a video of the tackle from here (you will switch to another service).
For Luko, who starts the quarter-finals against HIFK on Saturday, Grégoire is an extremely important player. He was the league’s third best (+23) in the regular season plus-minus statistic. He won Luko’s internal point exchange with 13+31=44.
Lock-out Virtanen was relieved that Grégoire did not receive a longer sanction in the SM league playoff info on Monday.
– It was a solid performance in terms of discipline. It would have been quite a miscarriage of justice if anything had come of it.
On the other hand, KalPan Miettinen was still exhausted and could not understand how Grégoire survived without a ban, says MTV (you switch to another service).
– That solution is not there at all if you think about what has happened during the season and what kind of suspensions we have received for such situations. I said after the game that the disciplinary line will be tested. Now, at the latest, we can say that there is no line there. This is not a surprise in itself. Where did that professionalism suddenly come from, if it hasn’t been there during the entire season, Miettinen thundered to MTV.
– Yes, this is a gross contradiction to similar situations that have resulted in bans, Miettinen continued.
KalPa starts the quarterfinals on Friday as a guest of Pelicans in Lahti.
The opening games of the ice hockey SM league playoffs will be played on Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. Puhe’s ice hockey tour starts at 6:15 p.m.