Pelicans’ Aatu Jämsen was injured on Tuesday in the SM league match, when HIFK’s Micke-Max Åsten tackled him. League discipline did not ban Åsten.
In the Ice Hockey Championship League, a tense situation was seen on Tuesday, when HIFK’s scrappy forward Micke-Max Åsten tackled a Pelicans attacker who was trying to enter HIFK’s defense area with the puck Aatu Jämsen.
Åsten hit Jämsen in the knee and head. Jämsen did not return to the match. The jury investigated the matter on video and finally sentenced Åsten to a two-minute penalty for the knee tackle.
Pelicans head coach Tommi Niemelä went on a rampage after the match at the press conference. Niemelä poured out that “the man’s brain is in check and it’s tiling over there”.
– You rarely see knee tackles turn out like that.
Niemelä couldn’t understand how the situation isn’t worth sending off when you “tackle directly to the head”, even though the judges can check the situations on video as well.
Pelicans Athletic Director Janne Laukkanen was on the same lines. The Pelicans submitted an investigation request to the SM League’s disciplinary department on Tuesday.
The SM league has now announced that the disciplinary delegation still does not see Åsten’s tackle as worthy of a ban.
– The disciplinary delegation states that in Åsten’s tackle, the greatest force is directed at Jämsen’s body and not his head. The disciplinary delegation considers that in a tackle situation, a situation according to the characteristics of rule 48 does not occur, where the force of the tackle would mostly be directed at the tackled player’s head. In addition, the disciplinary delegation considers that in the situation, there is no significant contact from Åsten’s arm to Jämsen’s head.
The league also said that “due to technical limitations of e-mails, Pelicans’ processing request application did not arrive”. Because of this, the CEO of the SM League had decided to exercise his right under Article 25 of the disciplinary rules and place Åsten’s tackle on the head for disciplinary proceedings as a suspected illegal tackle (rule 48).
You can read the reasons in more detail in the SM league from the website announcement.
Pelicans announced, that Jämsen will have to be ill possibly even longer. According to the club’s press release, Jämsen’s situation is monitored on a weekly basis (week-to-week).
After the SM League said that Åsten was not suspended, the Pelicans reacted violently to the matter on social media. The club released a video showing Åsten’s tackle. Then the judges go to look at the tackle on the videos, but the screens show the Elf Toljanteri.
The video, which is a clear sneer in the direction of the SC League jury and discipline, ends with the text: “Wake up”.
Story updated at 19:56. Added information about the Pelicans’ social media update.