In other parts of society, a similar act is followed by a similar punishment. Ice hockey is apparently a separate island of its own, writes Jussi Paasi.
Jussi Paasi sports reporter
An old and well-worn saying says that in the hockey playoffs, the rules change. It refers to the umpire’s line, which is claimed to be more permissive than in regular season games.
As the saying goes, the striped shirts don’t want to decide games, but put the whistles in their pockets.
It’s complete bullshit. The referee line does not change. The game itself changes in the playoffs. It’s different than the regular season. The referees continue to whistle according to the rule book and the policies agreed before the season.
However, one thing seems to change in the playoffs.
The disciplinary line of the SM league.
of HIFK Leo Komarov received a three-match suspension from the disciplinary delegation. In the first match of the quarterfinals, Komarov went to the Pelicans, who were left defenseless on ice by Michal Jordan attack.
Those who follow the SM league will surely remember one similar situation from this season. The grounds for punishment in that case were included in the League’s disciplinary decision as follows:
1) The situation occurs after the end of the puck game situation
2) One-sided jump on the opponent
3) Hitting an opponent on the ice in the neck
4) Continuing to hit the opponent on the ice in the neck and head
That could be the description of Komarov’s outrageous act. Only the first point can be argued. It was a game situation in the sense that Komarov poked the puck first.
But after that, he only focused on punching Jordán, who didn’t do anything to the IFK striker. Komarov’s actions were in no way related to any hockey game situation.
The above-mentioned four points are from the SM league’s disciplinary decision last December. Flies Nick Ritchie committed a jump on the rink, the target of which was TPS Markus Nurmi. Ritchie was banned for eight games for his actions.
Reason cannot explain why Komarov’s sentence is no less than five matches shorter.
But now it’s not about reason. Now it’s all about the playoffs. As silly as it sounds.
The scale of punishment changes in the player games. This is not a new phenomenon. Apparently, the disciplinarians think that if the rules of the regular season also applied to the spring games, a player guilty of ugly moves would have to be sidelined from those famous real games for an unreasonably long time.
In other parts of society, a similar act is followed by a similar punishment. But hockey is apparently a separate, self-ruled island.
If you want to use a magnifying glass to look for differences between Ritchie’s and Komarov’s rants, you might find small differences. But not so much that one is banned for eight and the other only three matches.
The disciplinary department of the SM League performed in an exemplary manner during the regular season. But in the playoffs, the casting defect shows up, once again.
A six-match suspension for Komarov would have been exactly in line with normal sense of justice.
So it would be easier in all respects if the disciplinary delegation of the SM League announced publicly that the scale of punishments will change when the playoffs begin. Because that’s what happens in practice.
Let’s pick here one more description from that previous case.
– The disciplinary delegation states that Ritchie is guilty of one-sided, intentional and non-spontaneous violence with his actions described above.
So what was Komarov guilty of?