In recent days there have been serious and unsportsmanlike stick strikes in both the Swedish SHL and the Canadian youth league OHL, which were severely sanctioned by the respective leagues. One of the affected players in the SHL was former VSV defender Frédéric Allard.
The incident in Sweden occurred in the game between Allard’s team, Luleå HF, and Djurgårdens IF. Immediately after Luleå scored a late equalizer, Djurgården player Emilio Petteresen hit defender Frédéric Allard badly in the head with his bat. Petteresen received a game misconduct penalty for this dangerous action, which enabled Luleå to use the resulting power play to score the winning goal in overtime.
A serious incident also occurred in Canada
An equally serious incident occurred in North America in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). There, Brampton Steelheads defenseman Luke Dragusica attacked his opponent, Oshawa Generals defenseman Brady Blaseg, with a two-handed stick strike directly to the head. The OHL responded to the seriousness of the offense and suspended Dragusica indefinitely pending a final hearing. This immediate and indefinite suspension foreshadows a very long ban for Dragusica, underscoring the league’s zero-tolerance policy towards such dangerous play.
Pic: VSV/Krammer
