It is not the first time that HK Nitra has complained about referees in Slovakia’s top competition. Most recently, the representatives of the reigning champions were outraged by the extension of Friday’s match of the 11th round of the extra league against Banská Bystrica.
Photo: TASR, Henrich Mišovič
The end of the match between Nitra and Banská Bystrica, Carlyle Wedman and Alex Cotton, pictured from the left, brought a controversial moment.
During extra time, the referees first recognized Nitra’s winning goal by Miloš Bubela at 3:2, but after more than five minutes of video review, they overturned the original decision and instructed the match to continue.
The guests from Banská Bystrica used the offered chance and at 64:21 Canadian defender Gabriel Chicoine decided on their victory for 2 points. The players from Banská Bystrica already had a three-point lead over the Nitra team and were in fourth place before Sunday’s continuation of the competition. The reigning champion is sixth.
“HK Nitra appeals to the SZĽH Referee Commission to take a position on the moment from yesterday’s Extraliga match between HK Nitra and HC MonacoBet B. Bystrica. During overtime, the players of Nitra scored a goal, which the head referee recognized directly on the ice, showed a gesture confirming the goal and reported the goal scorer and the assistants of the timekeepers’ box. Goalkeeper B. Bystrice did not complain about any clash with our player, nor did B. Bystrice’s players complain to the head referee about a foul on the goalkeeper or any other disagreement with the rules,” reads the opinion of HK Nitra.
After taking the coach’s challenge, the video was watched for more than five minutes, and the goal was not recognized by the referees.
“Probably because of the possible, but not exactly proven, minimum contact of player Nitra Cotton’s hockey stick with goalkeeper B. Bystrica’s concrete. HK Nitra appeals to the SZĽH Refereeing Commission to take a position on this situation not only for the professional, but also for the general hockey public,” the club stated.
The residents of Nitra are also demanding that the referees be punished if it is proven that they made a wrong decision. “If the situation was assessed correctly, it will serve as a basis for the subsequent assessment of similar situations. However, if it was assessed incorrectly, we ask for exemplary punishment of the main referees, including the video referee,” the club urged, adding that it had not yet punished referees for their misconduct in matches.
“We preferred to educate them and learn from their mistakes. During this season, however, there have already been many of them that were serious and influenced the outcome of the matches. Goals are the spice of hockey, and referees should not prioritize finding a way to disallow them. As it was unfortunately in this case. With similar decisions, we lower the level of our league and drive away spectators from the stadiums,” adds HK Nitra in an open letter to the SZĽH referees’ commission.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
