A controversial goal has had consequences in the KHL: The video judge of the game between SKA St. Petersburg and Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg on October 13th was suspended from his position for life after a serious mistake.
In the 46th minute of the game, Andrej Pedan supposedly gave SKA a 2-1 lead with a shot. But as it later turned out, the puck didn’t go over the goal line, but instead slipped through a hole in the goal net and into the goal net. Despite the league’s clear guidelines, the video referee in charge did not properly review the scene during the required 60-second break.
In an official statement, the KHL Referees Committee stated:
“In the 46th minute of the game, after the shot by defender Andrey Pedan, the puck did not cross the goal line. According to the procedure, the video judge in the ice arena should have made sure that the goal was scored correctly during the 60-second break and only after that should he have turned off the orange light. This specialist was banned from working at KHL games for life.”
The game ended in a win for SKA St. Petersburg, but the faux pas continues to spark debate around video surveillance and goal review in the KHL.
