No matter the sport, the second offender, whether it’s in retaliation or not, is usually always the one to be punished. Well, while the example here is a bit more egregious, something to that effect happened in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship, which is being co-hosted by Finland and Latvia, on Saturday.
In the clip below, Canadian ice hockey player Joseph Veleno of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, can be seen stomping on Nino Neiderreiter of Switzerland. He got away with it, but Neiderreiter, who plays for the Winnipeg Jets, didn’t forget about it. Neiderreiter let Veleno have it and was ultimately the recipient of a roughing penalty, even after the latter flopped onto the ice.
Steven Ellis, an associate editor and prospect analyst for Daily Faceoff, detailed how the Swiss fans were none too pleased with the call. And who could blame them? What Veleno did is a huge no-no in any sport, let alone hockey. Stomping on someone else’s ankle with a skate blade and the intent to injure is not only something that would incur a major penalty but surely an ejection and possible suspension.
“It does not belong to our sport,” Neiderreiter said about the attack, via Slovakian journalist Tomáš Prokop.
Those in the hockey world reacted to the dirty play on social media, and as Neiderreiter did, they let Veleno have it.
https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/1659968182373830657?s=20
Yeah can’t do that. Awful look. https://t.co/UNvEBE7zW4
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) May 20, 2023
That should be the end of the tournament for Veleno. Stomping someone's leg when you basically have a knife on your foot is absolute bush league. https://t.co/rQZQVs0wRz
— Lachlan Irvine (@LachInTheCrease) May 20, 2023
Stomping on someone’s ankle with your skate, he should be done for the tournament – especially since this is the IIHF https://t.co/CQpYxza8Gj
— Alex Baumgartner (@ABaumgartner91) May 20, 2023
should be suspended for the rest of the tournament, that’s so dangerous https://t.co/8ApPdL6VEE
— x – katie🧸 (@ange1hrts) May 20, 2023
Yikes. No room in the sport for that. Thankfully, a serious injury didn't occur as a result of that lapse of judgement. https://t.co/oE6eD8ZReE
— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) May 20, 2023
Yeah you know what Veleno needs to be done for the tournament here. Should be zero tolerance for this No excuse for this and dont blame the reaction from Neiderreiter here for this https://t.co/uawdKbL7th
— Darcy Armstrong (@DArm91) May 20, 2023
Yeah Veleno probably shouldn’t be playing in this tournament anymore. You can’t stomp on people with knife shoes. End of story. https://t.co/0vJ0oc56X9
— Tohn Javares (@_PyjamaBoy) May 20, 2023
It remains to be seen what IIHF decides on Veleno and his future at the World Championships. In any event, this is just not something that can happen in hockey, let alone any sport.
[Steven Ellis on Twitter; photo from Twitter]
