February 18, 2022

The EIHA Discipline Section has had to consider two incidents from last weekend’s NIHL games which have been dealt with as supplementary discipline due to the serious nature of the events.

Clubs involved were given these decisions by email at 13.19 today, Friday February 18.

NOTTINGHAM LIONS v BLACKBURN HAWKS, NIHL NORTH 1, FEBRUARY 13 2022

Following incidents in the above game the following decisions have been reached.

Blackburn Hawks

#33 Reece Cairney-Witter – fighting an unwilling opponent
Player is suspended until 30 June 2022
Player is not eligible to sign for a NIHL club until 1 July 2024

#19 Calum Ruddick – fighting an unwilling opponent
Player is suspended until 30 June 2022
Player is not eligible to sign for a NIHL club until 1 July 2024

#2 Craig Lutkevitch – 5 fighting, 5+GM resisting an official
Penalties stand as called on the night.
Player is suspended for a further two games for resisting the referee.

Coach Oliver Lomax – failure to control his bench
Lomax is suspended from all ice hockey involvement until 30 June 2024.

The EIHA cannot accept an adult in a position of leadership to instigate and encourage a bench clearance. The EIHA, from an insurance and risk assessment perspective, cannot accept such behaviour from a coach in charge.

The EIHA is aware that coaches can change, and the EIHA would be willing to accept a plan to return to coaching from 1st July 2023. This would be conditional on the coach proactively contacting the EIHA Coaching and Education program in January 2023, meeting with a panel of his coaching peers and agreeing a series of coach education that demonstrate a change in the coach’s approach and mentality to the game.

Nottingham Lions

#23 Zachary Yokoyama – 5 fighting, 5+GM resisting an official
The penalties stand as called on the night, there is no suspension for this player.

BILLINGHAM STARS v WHITLEY WARRIORS, NIHL NORTH 1, FEBRUARY 13 2022

Whitley Warriors

Dean Holland – unsportsmanlike conduct, bringing the game into disrepute
Holland is currently serving a suspension from the sport and video footage clearly shows that he is involved in an incident between periods where he is shown to throw a player from Billingham to the floor. There is no excuse for a player who is suspended to become involved with any incident from the game. He is therefore suspended for a further four games.

Original Post: https://eiha.co.uk/nihl-supplementary-discipline-decisions-from-last-weekends-games/

Merchant policies