There was not enough evidence for the claims made about the junior coach.
Illustration image. Jaakko Stenroos/AOP
The preliminary investigation regarding the junior coach of the Helsinki hockey club has been closed. The matter will be confirmed to Iltalehti by the head of the investigation Crista Granroth from the Helsinki police.
The coach was suspected of inappropriate behavior towards two players. Originally, Granroth had estimated that the possible crimes could be defamation or coercion.
According to IL’s information, the coach works for the Jokers.
The interviewees told IL that the coach had a practice in the team according to which the boys were punished with push-ups for cursing. According to the claims, push-ups were also done naked in the shower in front of others.
Before the criminal reports, the relationship between the coach and the players’ parents had become strained.
The coach strongly denied the claims and described them as crazy. According to him, push-ups were a game rule agreed upon by the team, not forced. The naked push-up coach completely denied. He got the support of the club’s head of coaching in the matter.
The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation and the Finnish Sports Ethics Center (Suek) also made their own investigation into the incident.