Attempts to restore the ice that lasted almost two hours were unsuccessful. Tomi Natri / AOP
The first leg of the playoffs of the Ice Hockey Champions League, or CHL, between Pelicans and Vitkovice had to be stopped at 11:02 a.m., when the score was still 0–0.
Next Tuesday in Ostrava, the Lahti players had a lot to worry about in the second leg, because according to the CHL rules, the Pelicans were judged to have lost with 0-3 goals. Total goals decide which team advances to the quarterfinals.
Pelicans CEO Lauri Pöyhönen commented on Lahti’s CHL fiasco to Iltalehti with disappointment.
How do you sum up what happened?
– The game was canceled due to bad conditions. The ice was not in such condition that it would have been possible to play on it, states Pöyhönen.
What caused it?
– It will be the end result of a precise analysis, when it can be completed in time.
– It has been two days to make ice. On Sunday evening at 11 p.m., the last ice shift has ended. After that, the ice has been immediately started to be made for the CHL game, so that there is as much time as possible to make the ice in good condition in all respects.
After various repair attempts, there was a break of more than an hour, during which the CHL advertisements were removed and the playing field was frozen again. Why didn’t that help?
– Apparently there was a fault in the ice somewhere else, and quality deviations were still found in the ice. It’s a miracle in itself, when there are two ice machines in the house, which could have been used quite efficiently.
Whose responsibility is this?
– The liability issues will probably be resolved a little later, but the first issue is safety.
The audience, which had been there for more than two hours, naturally left disappointed. How is their ticket money doing?
– Of course we are sorry, and we do have to have a dialogue with them about all compensation and other things.
– I must say that sometimes there have been lighter working days, Pöyhonen sighs.
– All kinds of things happen along the way, and this is one of the most annoying episodes. There is nothing we can do about it at this moment.