Six former players of the women’s national team claim the former head coach of the Women’s Lions Pasi Mustonen has behaved inappropriately towards them for years. According to the players, inappropriate behavior occurred numerous times between 2015 and 2022.
Mustonen, on the other hand, accuses the players of unfounded reporting and denies all the players’ claims of inappropriate behavior.
Urheilu has seen the statements sent to the disciplinary committee by both the players and the Mustonen Jääkieksoliito. Based on the documents seen by Urheilu, this is the case.
The processing of the case officially began in October 2022. In January of the same year, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association (SJRY) had submitted to the Ice Hockey Federation the anonymous reports of sixteen Women’s Lions players about Mustonen’s inappropriate behavior.
CEO of the Ice Hockey Association Sami Kauhanen presented the matter to the Finnish Sports Ethics Center (Suek) for investigation. In the end, the claims of six players about Mustonen’s inappropriate behavior came to be investigated by Suek.
The rest of the players did not want to reveal their identities. According to Urheilu’s information, this was due to the fact that some players were afraid of Mustonen’s reaction and jeopardizing their national team career, so they were left out of Suek’s investigation.
Suek proposed a mediation procedure led by an external mediator as a solution to the dispute between the six players and Mustonen. At first, both Mustonen and the players announced that they agreed to this, but the players nevertheless felt that mediation would not advance the investigation of the matter. The players wanted to find out thoroughly what kind of behavior is acceptable and what kind is not.
After this, Mustonen made his own announcement about the six players to Suek. According to Mustonen, the players had publicly humiliated and bullied him.
Suek completed his own report in February 2023, after which the matter was transferred to the Jääkieksliitto’s disciplinary committee.
Of the players in question only Nora Räty has told about some of the events publicly, Marika Lehton in the book written by The Lion Queen. In addition, Räty and Mustonen have commented on the dispute in the media.
The ice hockey association’s disciplinary committee will issue its decision on the matter on Friday, April 26.
The players say that they found Mustonen’s actions humiliating
Urheilu has seen the material submitted to the Jääkieksoliitto’s disciplinary committee, both the players’ and Mustonen’s statements.
According to six players, Mustonen has been guilty of inappropriate behavior for years, which according to them has included, for example, humiliating the players and violating their physical integrity.
The cases are scheduled for the years 2015–2022.
The players identify some of the cases in their utterances. They tell in detail about 42 situations in which, according to them, Mustonen was guilty of inappropriate behavior. Examples of alleged behavior include the following.
In January 2022, Mustonen is alleged to have hit one player in the crotch with a bat in training in a situation where Mustonen set an example of fighting. Mustonen is also alleged to have hit or elbowed another player in the stomach in training, causing him pain.
According to the players, Mustonen used excessive force in situations and violated the physical integrity of the players.
In the statement, it is said that Mustonen has ordered the players to train half fit. According to the players, this happened, for example, in May 2017 at the Olympic kick off camp, where Mustonen allegedly ordered some players recovering from injuries and surgeries to hike in the forest.
It is alleged that Mustonen defamed Noora Räty in October 2022 to Räty’s coach Jari Risku. According to the statement, Mustonen called Risku at the time and accused Räty of his (Mustonen’s) wife being sick. In February 2023, Mustonen allegedly called Risku during the playoffs and told him that if Rädy is allowed to play in the playoffs, the team’s reputation will be ruined.
Many of the situations identified by the players are related to the national team’s training and video meetings, where, according to the players, Mustonen has repeatedly barked at them and made them a laughing stock in front of the rest of the team. The players say that they experienced Mustonen’s actions as humiliating, even bullying.
According to the players, Mustonen has misused his position of power. Neither the players nor their representatives wanted to comment on the matter to Urheilu.
Mustonen blames the players for the destruction of his career
Urheilu reached out to Pasi Mustonen, but he did not want to comment on the players’ accusations at this stage.
In the statement he submitted to the disciplinary department, Mustonen responds to the players’ claims and claims that the players deliberately made a baseless report about him. Mustonen’s statement states that there has been no inappropriate behavior claimed by the players, and according to Mustonen, no support or evidence has been found for the claims in Suek’s investigation either.
Mustonen claims that there were only six, not sixteen, players who sent anonymous reports about Mustonen’s inappropriate behavior to the Ice Hockey Federation.
According to information confirmed by Urheilu from several sources, in January 2022, 16 players sent anonymous reports to the Players’ Association, which delivered them to the Jääkiekoliito. The players’ association was able to verify the identity of 15 players.
Mustonen accuses the players that, according to Mustonen, they have deliberately discussed the matter through the media.
Räty is the only one of the players in question who has commented on the matter in public and in the book written by Marika Lehto. The other five former players of the Women’s Lions have not wanted to comment publicly on the matter.
In the statement, Mustonen blames the players’ claims for causing the destruction of his career as well.
Pasi Mustonen coached Naisleijon between 2014 and 2022.