Severe accusations of revenge in the league – the CEO called for disciplinary action
The league’s CEO Mikko Pulkkinen has decided to submit the events of the match played on Wednesday between Tappara and JYP to the league’s disciplinary committee.
– In the Tappara–JYP match played on February 18, 2026, there were three fights. Based on the third fight, Tappara’s Rikard Grönborg and JYP’s Petri Matikainen received penalties for misconduct. In the post-match press conference, a representative from JYP implied that it was a retaliation and reaction to events from a previous Tappara–JYP match, as stated in the league’s announcement.
– As the league’s CEO, I have on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 18:30, submitted the events of the Tappara–JYP match to the disciplinary delegation for review based on sections 6 and 25 of the league’s disciplinary regulations. The disciplinary delegation must assess the responsibility of both clubs and the head coach regarding the events, Pulkkinen states in the announcement.
The match on Wednesday heated up for the first time just 17 seconds into the game when Tappara’s Emil Sylvegård and JYP’s Antti Tyrväinen fought. Other fights were seen in the last minute. First, Tappara’s Juuso Nykänen and JYP’s Aaro Vidgren clashed, and later Tappara’s Ondrej Pavel and JYP’s Väinö Liikonen also faced off. After the third fight, the head coaches of both teams were also ejected from the game.
Tyrväinen and Sylvegård received two-game suspensions for their fight, while no additional sanctions were imposed on others.
In the post-match press conference, JYP’s assistant coach Santeri Heiskanen was heated. According to him, Tappara swore revenge for the events of the previous mutual match when Tyrväinen tackled Kristian Tanus.
– There, Tappara’s head coach has been shouting all week about revenge for what happened last time in Tampere when Tanus was tackled. That revenge is coming. How big the revenge will be, they were weighing that. Even in the warm-up, Sylvegård went to tell Tyrväinen that we’re going. And damn, we won’t take a step back. It doesn’t matter if we play against Tappara or someone else in Tampere or Jyväskylä, Heiskanen said.
– The Finnish ice hockey circles are quite small. Everyone knows in advance. The referees were aware of what was going to happen. Then it is like that, Heiskanen noted.
Tappara won the Wednesday match with a score of 4-1.
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