Fife Flyers call for review on flashpoint

It centres on NHL forward Jay Rosehill’s cross-check on Fife defenceman James Isaacs – and his subsequent hit to the back of the player as he lay on the ice.

Rosehill was thrown out on a game penalty for cross checking, and the department of Player Safety (DOPS), which assesses major incidents and determines any supplementary punishments, refused Flyers’ call for a review because the club didn’t submit it before the Monday evening deadline.

Now Flyers have criticised that stance and said the check ‘‘must be reviewed’’ in the interests of player safety.

The club outlined its stance in a statement issued this afternoon.

It said it ‘‘presumed’’ Rosehill’s actions would be automatically reviewed because, in their view, it ‘‘clearly showed a cross check to the head from behind’’

The penalty called by referee Neil Wilson was announced and recorded on the game sheet as a five plus game for cross-checking – one that isn’t the subject of an automatic review.

Flyers’ statement said the penalty ‘‘was incorrectly called.’’

They noted: ‘‘The penalty was originally called as a cross-checking penalty, however the video clip clearly shows a cross check to the head from behind which should be automatically reviewed

‘‘However, as the penalty was incorrectly called during the game and on the game sheet, this doesn’t carry an automatic review, even though the video evidence clearly shows the dangerous actions.’’

Flyers said it supplied a video clip by email to DOPS on Monday ‘‘as they apparently don’t currently have access to the online video sharing system two months in to the season ... which implies that they don’t have independent access to game footage for automatic review.’’

The statement added: ‘‘As this was a blatant cross check to the head from behind, Flyers presumed that this would be automatically reviewed, but emailed a clip of the incident to be certain.

The incident was widely shared on social media, highlighting the incident and provoking much negative comment.

‘‘It is extremely disappointing that, at this stage, no review has yet been carried out.

‘‘It is apparent from the comments, some of which are noted below, that this incident should be reviewed.’’

The club’s statement then includes a comment ‘‘an EIHL spokesperson said the following “The wrong call was made. Sad this has been missed, unless we change our rules going forward this could well happen again.” – but does not say who made it, or where it came from.

The club said the incident had been widely viewed and discussed on social media platforms and, therefor, ‘‘cannot now be ignored.’’

‘‘No rule can be used as an excuse for not properly addressing incidents such as this;’’ it stated. ‘‘Ice hockey is a tough physical sport, but this type of behaviour cannot be tolerated in any way, at any level of the sport.

‘‘In the interests of player safety, this incident must be reviewed and dealt with properly. Player safety is paramount.

‘‘This incident has been widely viewed across multiple public platforms and cannot now be ignored on the grounds of a disputed minor technicality.

‘‘Player safety is paramount at this club and in the sport of ice hockey, and we must endeavour as a sport to properly regulate this.’’