Konsta Helenius’ ice was fatal for Leijon in the World Hockey Championships. The punishment has spoken volumes. SM League referee boss Jyri Rönn would not have blown the whistle.
The Finnish men’s national ice hockey team’s road to this spring’s World Cup was cut short when Sweden beat Leijonat 2–1 in the quarterfinals. Joel Eriksson Ek directed the winning goal with superiority.
The winning goal was preceded by much excitement Konsta Helenius stop hooking. The lions Jukka Jalonen told the Finnish media about the situation. According to him, Helenius did not act in the situation worthy of the ice.
Former vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF Kalervo Kummola took a strong stand in X Helenius got frozen on Thursday evening. He wrote that “Sweden needed the help of the referees to bring down the reborn Lions. A great game, which was ruined by amateur referees from Latvia and the USA.”
Kummola was still on the same lines on Friday.
– The threshold for blowing the whistle should be really high, Kummola said on Friday to Ilta-Sanom.
SM league referee director Jyri Rönn wouldn’t have whistled a penalty for the situation himself.
– The starting situation is that Helenius is a bit behind the Swedish player. After that, he starts playing the racket from under the lower hand. I think that’s the only thing he can do about it, that he doesn’t commit a crime worthy of ice, Rönn explains to Urheilu.
Of course, Rönn reminds us that it’s easy for him to say this from the couch after watching the game and rewinding the slow motions.
– These are quick situations on the ice. Of course, it depends on how the judge ranks. The basic principle is that I wouldn’t blow the whistle if I saw the situation the same way I saw it on TV yesterday, says Rönn.
The referee who whistled for Jäähy was on a different side than Helenius. The line of sight was therefore not the best possible.
Rönn sees that blowing the whistle in overtime is easier when there are only six players on the ice instead of the normal ten. Of course, according to the referee boss, the mental side and toughness come to the fore in such a critical position.
– The most important thing is to clear the ice. At the same time, it is also important not to blow the whistle on bad ice. That requires stubbornness, says Rönn.
The Lions were now out of the medal games for the second time in a row. Damn it wrote in X, how Sweden might need a win more than Finland. Sweden had been out of the medal games six times in a row. They have the WC home games coming up next year. Stockholm shares the competitions with Denmark’s Hernining.
Kummola told Ilta-Sanomthat he is “still not very worried” about the situation in Finland, but the same cannot continue.
– Well, we haven’t won a medal in the youth and we haven’t had many first-round NHL bookings in recent years. It proves that the new president of the Ice Hockey Federation, an experienced hockey man Heikki Hietanenand (top sports director) Olli Salon you have to think about something.