Winner of last season’s points exchange of the Women’s Ice Hockey Championship League Michaela Pejzlova has found itself at the center of a surprising gaming license debate. Last Friday, it became clear that the star player of IFK Helsinki played his entire last season without a license.
The Czech striker’s lack of representation was first reported by the hockey website Overtime.
Competition Manager of the Ice Hockey Association Pirkka Antila states to Urheilu that the error in the case was made by IFK.
– Since it is a foreign player, the purchase of the game pass should have been the responsibility of HIFK. HIFK had bought Pejzlová a game pass for seasons 20–22.
– For some reason, HIFK had made Pejzlová get her game pass herself in the fall of 2022, and Pejzlová got the game pass by entering the Finnish personal identification number she received into the system, in which case she will be treated as a new Finnish player. In the system, you can and should choose if you are a foreigner, and this choice had not been made, Antila explains.
The disciplinary committee of the Ice Hockey Federation sentenced the club to a fine of 1,000 euros and a six-point penalty for the 2023–2024 season.
HIFK celebrated its first Finnish championship at the end of last season. The 26-year-old Pejzlová was a key member of the championship team, producing, for example, incredible performances in the regular season, 32+50=82.
Similar sanctions for HPK for a lesser offence
The leaders of Kiekko-Espoo and Hämeenlinna Pallokerho, who also play in the Women’s SM League, consider the incident a human error, but also wonder how this could have happened.
HIFK and HPK played against each other in the spring semifinals. In the first of them, Pejzlová scored both of HIFK’s goals as the Helsinki team won 2–0. In the final series, HIFK beat Kiekko-Espoo.
HPK’s manager Jorma Hassinen says that the team from Hämeenlinna had similar problems with the game pass for a foreign player years ago.
– It is worrying that there is still a similar gap in the system. Several years ago we had a game on a Saturday. We were able to pick up a player from the system. It was announced that the game license is valid the next day. He played one game for us, but he didn’t score a single point.
HPK was sentenced to lose the match, it lost three points and was fined 1,000 euros.
HPK received almost the same sanctions for one match as HIFK for the entire season.
– If compared to the punishment we received, this sanction is not appropriate.
Hassinen turns the criticism towards the union’s direction and system.
– Such a possibility should have been removed from the system. I thought it would have been fixed after our incident. It has to be such that you can’t pick a player who doesn’t have the game right.
– However, it is true that this is the club’s responsibility. No one can escape the fact that these must be checked.
Accurate in Kiekko-Espoo
Timo Timonen has been working as Kiekko-Espoo’s team manager since this year. One of Timonen’s most important tasks has been to find out the Polish player in the team Julia Zielinska game permits and transfer issues fixed.
– This year, Julia’s two-year transfer was closed, so as the new team manager I knew that it had to be fixed. The right of representation and transfer abroad must be in order.
– Those are things that need to be taken care of.
Timonen also thinks that the sanction received by HIFK was too light, although he wants to look ahead already.
– The sanction for the club is quite minimal, even though it has neglected such an important matter.
It is reported from HIFK that Pejzlová’s insurance was valid last season, so she could be added to the match lineup normally. However, he did not have the IIHF transfer card valid last season.