Parliamentary committee to look into hockey violence
Finnish lawmakers are to ask key ice hockey figures to appear before a committee looking into violence in the sport.
MPs on the Education and Culture committee, which handles sport issues, is to hear evidence from representatives of the Ice Hockey Association, the SM Liiga league and players.
The investigation was sparked by a European Trophy match between HIFK and Jokerit on 1 September, which saw several brawls.
SM Liiga eventually handed out lengthy bans to both head coaches and six players, including a record 18 games to Jokerit’s Semir Ben-Amor. Both clubs were fined and Jokerit also lost a sponsorship deal with Helsingin Sanomat as a result of the bad publicity.
Raija Vahasalo, committee chair and National Coalition party MP, said that several committee members had requested the issue be dealt with.
"The Jokerit-HIFK game was the spark, and members asked if it would be possible to hear evidence from people on the matter," said Vahasalo. "We want to ask them about violence in sports."
Vahasalo says that she did not know if the committee would make any decisions on the matter or issue a statement.
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