“Shouldn’t be accepted in any sport”

The scorching situation was seen in the semifinals of the Finnish Ice Hockey Bandylä League on Sunday, when the Pori Narukerän Tuomas Antikainen kicked Akilles in Porvoo Denis Sadakovia with the blade of his skate.

The incident can be seen in Achilles head coach Jari Hyttinen published video. The jury did not impose any penalties for the situation.

– First with a blade to the ankle and then another kick to the head. Such pigs should not be accepted in any sport, Hyttinen wrote in connection with his video.

So far, the situation has not been addressed in the discipline of the species. Head coach of Pori Narukerä Tuomas Erkkilä However, he tells Urheilu that the player is not in the bronze medal match of the Pori team against the Fighters.

– That’s not part of hockey in any way. I want to emphasize that the player is sorry about the situation, but I have decided not to include him in the line-up because I want to calm down the episode before the bronze match, Erkkilä says.

According to the rules of the band league, video checks proceeding to discipline always leave at the request of either the teams or the referee. However, the formal request should have been submitted the day after the match, ie Monday at 12 noon.

Chairman of the Refereeing Committee of the Ice Hockey Association Juha Vuorenmaa says he discussed the matter with the referees of the match. None of the referees noticed Antikainen’s activities.

– No one has noticed that situation. They noticed the fall and collision of Sadakov, but since then the gaze has already turned to the next situation.

The hands of discipline are also the chairman of the board Kimmo Suominen as no formal referee report or request for a video investigation has been submitted to the Disciplinary Board.

According to Suominen’s interpretation, the government of the Ice Hockey Association or other institutions also do not have the opportunity to take the matter forward for disciplinary action within the framework of the rules.

– The Disciplinary Committee handles matters brought to it according to the rules, and cannot be active on its own initiative in such cases, Suominen says.

Hyttinen says he did not notice the incident during the game. He focused on the struggle in the situation, which he said should have sentenced him to a penalty shot. Hyttinen also understands that it was difficult for the judges to see what happened in the fast-paced situation.

– The chief referee had noticed the crash and after that Narukerä played the ball away, and the gaze turned elsewhere as I probably did, Gyttinen says.

According to Hyttinen, his assistant coach noticed Antikainen’s kick, but the situation was not covered in the video in Akilles until Monday.

– The clip came to me from other team members who had watched the game on Monday. When it became public knowledge in our company and we saw what had happened, it was already over 12 o’clock, Hyttinen says.

The player did not squirt on his treatment either.

– He is a great player and one who practically never chooses anything. Once during the season, he was treated at the finish line so that he was injured, and even then he reported the matter two days afterwards. He didn’t talk about the situation, Hyttinen says.

Hyttinen wonders if Achilles would have sent a video review request, as the Porvoo residents have not drafted any of them in recent years.

– If we had noticed this earlier, we probably should have done it. That was such an excess for the player’s legal security that he should have been able to handle it in time, Hyttinen says.

Hyttinen praises Narukerä’s reaction to the matter. The club apologized to Hyttinen and told how the matter had been handled in Narukera. The residents of Pori announced on Tuesday that they would start an internal investigation into the situation and said that the player’s actions did not correspond in any way to the club’s values.

– I think they react outright. They did not wait for the union to possibly do something about it, but made their own decision and informed about it, Hyttinen says.

The referee of the match also apologized for this from his own point of view. According to the referee, there had been too much line in the match.

– That’s why the grips also hardened towards the end. As the grips harden and there is a more permissive line, then there is a greater risk that excesses will also occur.

– Ice hockey is a sport where there are very few excesses. This is a gentleman’s sport and a lot of stylish players on the field. It is unfortunate that this time it happened.

Akilles from Porvoo advanced 4–2 times to the final of the Bandyliiga. Achilles has won the Finnish championship for two years in a row.