HELSINKI, FINLAND – HIFK and Pelicans have set a new record in the Finnish SM-Liiga in penalty minutes in one game. During the match a record 465 penalty minutes were dealt out and altogether 14 players were ejected from the game.
The skirmish started out after HIFK’s Siim Liivik and Pelicans’ Arttu Luttinen squared off following a two man hit on one of the Pelicans players. After things had calmed down from the initial fights, the players that were on the ice for a face off, squared off in an old fashioned line brawl. The video for the fight can be seen here .
The players involved in the fights and that were ejected from the game included: Ilari Mellart, Siim Liivik, Mikko Kurvinen, Niko Piiparinen, Petteri Wirtanen, Miikka Tuomainen and Eetu Poysti for HIFK and for Pelicans an early shower was ordered for Justin Hodgman, Arttu Luttinen, Joonas Jarvinen, Marko Poyhanen, Max Warn, Jyri Marttinen and Aaron Brocklehurst. Also both HIFK and Pelicans head coaches were ejected from the game.
What makes the situation more absurd is that few Finnish daily news papers tried to blow the fight out of proportion as they had sourced comments from Finnish president Tarja Halonen and Santa Claus himself. Both of whom did not condone the fight or the behaviour.
There have also been reports floating around that the police might launch an investigation into the fight, which adds even more absurdity to the whole situation.
After the game HIFK Captain, Ville Peltonen said “Sometimes emotions get the better of you and sometimes you have to stick up for your team mates.”
Additionally one of the Finnish hockey icons, Matti Hagman (father of Niklas Hagman of the Anaheim Ducks) said, “Hockey is a physical contact sport and sometimes things boil over. In my opinion the first fight was spontaneous, but what followed had to come from the head coaches. I have no firm information on this, but this is my opinion on how it happened.”
Esa Tikkanen said in a betting agency’s press release, “Everywhere I look I see huge headlines about the ‘terrible’ events. Calm down is what I’d say to everyone. Hockey is a contact sport where everyone plays with heart and passion. This is not the first fight we’ve seen and it won’t be the last. I don’t condone that kind of hockey, but fights such as these are so rare, so I don’t understand why make such a big deal out of it.”
The SM-Liiga disciplinary board has not yet decided on the penalties or bans that it will hand down and there is no news as of yet, whether the police investigation will lead into anything serious. One can only scratch their heads with this one. Many Finnish hockey influencers are saying the fight will bring disrepute to the game, but at the end of the day, fights happen in hockey and surely the police’s, the president’s and even Santa Claus’ involvement in the matter makes it even more farcical and brings more disrepute to the league than dealing with it in a professional manner.
Contact the author: Janne.Virtanen@prohockeynews.com
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