Gath was asked how he sees Tingsryd now demanding a replay before Kristianstad’s match against Västervik on Sunday (2–1 victory for Västervik).
— Yes, how do I see it? The match has been played, unfortunately it may not have been played as we wished. With the facts I have now, we wouldn’t have played the last 15 minutes like that, he told C More.
— Despite the “assassination attempt”, as they call it, they play with a full team today 36 hours later. And even though it was an “assassination attempt” they lined up with five men and then the rest stood filming and laughing in the booth. Despite promises and some talk on their part, they blow this up further. My regret is that we didn’t run them over in the last 15 minutes, that’s my only regret.
“No discomfort”
Grath believes the match should have been played out, just as it was.
— Of course, why not? The audience is exhausted, I spoke to Tingsrydsspelare, they had no discomfort those I spoke to, there were a handful plus a few more. My players suffered the same thing and they are playing 36 hours later.
It was just over five minutes into the third period on Friday, when Kristianstad was leading 5-1 against Tingsryd, that a hard shot was thrown onto the ice and a loud bang was heard. The referee broke the match, sent the players to the dressing room and a little later the arena was emptied of spectators.
Had a crisis meeting
The match was then played over, against Tingsryd’s wishes, and once play resumed the players just waited out time. Smålänningar’s coach Fredrik Glader called it an attempted murder in C More’s broadcast, and Tingsryd has subsequently contacted the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation’s disciplinary board, where they demand a replay.
Erik Ryman, the hockey allsvenskan’s sporting director, told TT last Saturday that the league, confederation and security had a crisis meeting and he answered the following when asked why the match was resumed – even though Tingsryd did not want to finish the game:
— The formality, which the referees followed, is that a new match time should be set when safety is assured. How it (the match) played out is unfortunate in that way. But in terms of security, it was a safe event.