KalPa has recently been subject to disciplinary action in the Ice Hockey Championship League for tackles on the head or neck area. Four players from Kuopio have been suspended for a total of 24 games.
The head coach Tommi Miettinen is amazed. He thinks it’s a coincidence. According to him, it’s only a matter of time before other teams will also be subject to discipline.
– I am really confused that so many cases have happened to us, Miettinen describes his feelings to Urheilu.
Miettinen explains how the SM league, sports directors, head coaches and referees had a discussion together in the summer about what kind of game they want to see in the SM league.
– The clear message, especially from the head coaches, has been since the summer that they wanted a tougher game in the SM league, so that the series would keep up with the international pace and fighting game, says Miettinen.
– The judges have cooperated really well and a common line has been sought. I have been happy with the judging line this year. The judges have been good and listened to the authors and there has been good cooperation.
According to Miettinen, however, there has been a huge discrepancy in the final decisions of the referee line and disciplinary.
KalPa pack Hugo Gallet received a seven-match ban later as a result of Ilves’ processing request, although no penalty was awarded for the tackle in the game. Kai Kantola received a two-minute penalty in the game, which turned into a five-match ban in the disciplinary process.
– There is a terrible contradiction here. Our players in the SM league suffer from that. They don’t know the line, what can be done there. Players are afraid of bans and their huge fines, Miettinen says.
Chief Referee: “I’m relatively satisfied”
SM league referee director Jyri Rönn considers the summer discussion with sports directors and head coaches good. The club leaders wanted more “real fighting play” in the series, but emphasized that skill and speed are also elements that we want to see in league hockey.
There was also a discussion about the responsibilities of the tackler and the tackled. However, Rönn emphasizes that at no point has there been talk of changing the rules. If the Tackle hits the head, it is a head tackle.
– After the joint discussions, we showed video clips to the judges and also to the teams. We tried to find the interface, what is there. At no point have we started to change the rules.
On the whole, Rönn has been relatively satisfied with refereeing in head situations.
– We have a few misses in fast situations and we haven’t been able to correctly judge all of them live. However, there are very few big misses, and I am relatively satisfied, Rönn says.
Even noble criticism
Miettinen is not the only one who has criticized the SM league’s discipline during the early season. Lions head coach Jukka Jalonen has stated that the suspensions in the SM league have been unreasonably long.
According to him, not all Tackles on the head or neck area have been worth five matches, even though, in terms of organization, all suspensions have started from five matches. Only Tapparan Ben Thomas has survived a two-game suspension.
– Yes, everything should always be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Of course, not all incidents are automatically worth a five-game suspension. There you also have to evaluate the action of the tackler. Whether it goes completely up to the tackler or not. Players must be punished, but in a smart way, Jalonen comments according to IS (you switch to another service).
SM League announced below the season (you will switch to another service), that “a clear Tackle to the head will still be cited as a five-game suspension. Tackles aimed at the head can also be rated as lasting less than five matches, for example in situations where the strength of the contact or the reprehensibility of the actions of the player causing the hit is low.
Chairman of the disciplinary delegation of the SM League Sampo Liusjärvi does not consider the League bans to be unreasonably harsh. He is content to state that there have been long bans due to, among other things, the players’ disciplinary history.
– Five games is a long punishment in itself and in a few situations there have been these players with a disciplinary history. They have continued to have odds where the five-game suspension has become higher. In this way, they become severe punishments, especially if they are repeated for the same players.
However, he admits that even the five-person disciplinary delegation does not always agree on decisions.
– There is no single truth in these decisions. This season too, there have been, let’s say, easy situations to deal with, where the five-member delegation is unanimous, but there are also difficult situations that divide opinions.
– Situations involve a lot of interpretation. There are usually two sides to them and how they play affects the outcome. It’s a matter of weighing, what kind of responsibility is given to the tackler or the target of the tackle and how to emphasize them, says Liusjärvi.
Liusjärvi states that when evaluating the judgments between the disciplinary delegation and the judges, it must be taken into account that the situation on the field is seen only once, and the line of sight is not necessarily optimal.
He sees that the current system, in which the situation room reports the situations it deems appropriate, recognizes that the judges miss things.
The human eye makes mistakes
The head referee Rönn reminds that the rulebook would give the possibility to check the big penalties on video. He finds it unfortunate that video review is not used in the SM league.
However, according to Rönni, this is the direction to go. Referees are fallible, and situations can decide matches at worst. On the other hand, it is also about the legal protection of the player, that a big penalty is not judged on too light grounds.
However, KalPa, who received several suspensions in the SM league, has already been named In Ilta-Sanom, as the “pig team” of the series (you will switch to another service).
What do you think about this, Tommi Miettinen?
– If someone thinks we are a big bad KalPa, then we are. I bet that if you ask other clubs, we’re usually not known for really playing hard. On the contrary, we have quite a lot of young and small players.
– I wouldn’t really comment on raffle headlines in any way. We should be able to talk more about the game in the series. About a good game and the level of the SM league, which is good and competitive. You can twist really well every night if you want to fight for the win. I would like to talk about that, and not about individual click stories, what headlines you see.