November 11, 2022

Hull Seahawks forward Emil Svec was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check to the head by the match officials in the Planet Ice NIHL National division game at Telford.

A video review was submitted by Hull in relation to the hit which saw Rhodes Mitchell-King leave the game. Following an independent review, the on ice penalty was deemed to be correct.

Svec was making a valid defensive play with an attempt to play the body of the opposing player with the intention to separate the player from the puck. However, due to the respective size and body position of the two players, as Svec lent into the hit his right shoulder makes contact with the right hand side of Mitchell-King’s face.

Leaning into the hit, Svec also drives upwards in the hit eventually leaving the ice surface due to this upwards motion, an action prevented if the player would have chosen to deliver a hip-check.

The panel considered whether Mitchell-King had his head in an upright position during the play. A comparison on body and head position to the Hull player in pursuit shows the difference between a head up and head down position. However, the extension upwards by Svec is also the determining factor in this action as noted in Rule 48.1.

The match penalty was confirmed and the discipline panel have determined this is a Tier 2 offence and the player is suspended for ten games. Hull were advised of the suspension on Wednesday evening.

On Saturday, Coventry NIHL Blaze player Arthur Brookes received a match penalty for an illegal check to the head in the NIHL North 2 game against Sutton Sting. This was determined as a Tier 1 offence and the player is suspended for seven games.

From last week’s discipline update, after communication between Streatham IHC and Discipline it has been confirmed that Ryan Watt only has nine penalty points and the additional two game suspension under totting up has been removed from the record.