Nick Ritchie defended himself in an interview with MTV.
Nick Ritchie punched Markus Nurme for what he wanted. Jaakko Stenroos/AOP
Nick Ritchie excited the Finnish puck audience at the turn of the year.
In the match played on December 28, Kärppi’s Canadian player completely lost his temper and began to forge Tepsi Markus Nurmea on the head after spilling this.
Ritchie, who received an eight-game suspension, scrolls MTV in the interview the reason for what happened is on Nurmi’s neck.
– He was annoying and a stick in the flesh throughout the match. Constantly obstructed puckless players and made cheap and cowardly tricks. It ended in a very cowardly move and that’s the kind of player he is, a man of almost 500 NHL games is looking into the background of his action.
Ritchie says he tries to play fairly fair and square. He doesn’t base it on the style of turf.
– I heard later that he has a reputation for being an irritant who gets under the skin. That’s apparently his thing. It’s a bit dangerous and should have no place in any league. But that’s how he plays, and he’s probably not going to stop.
“So much noise”
Ritchie won’t be able to return to the field until the end of January. He is surprised that the one-sided attack that spawned the suspension got so much attention not only in Finland but also in North America.
– It was a bit surprising that it became such a big deal on social media and otherwise. It was surprising that something so small could cause such a big commotion.
Ritchie, 28, moved to Kärpp at the end of November. In ten matches, the attacker has achieved 1+4 goals. There are 70 ice cream minutes in total.