The hockey player Nicholas Pezzetta suffered major consequences for his actions with a referee: the League handed him a 13-month suspension.
Nicholas Pezzetta, a 20-year-old defenseman playing for the Brixen/Bressanone HC Falcons (seemingly not related to Montreal Canadiens forward Michael Pezzetta), was punished by the Italian Ice Sports Federation (FISG), for exhibiting violent behavior towards a referee.
According to the FISG, Pezzetta struck a referee in the leg with his stick after a faceoff during a game. They stated that Pezzetta tried to injure the referee, and decided to suspend him for 13 months.
Watch a video of the incident here:
On Instagram, Hockey Worldwide shed light on more details:
"The Italian Ice Sports Federation (FISG) has issued a 13-month ‼️ suspension to HC Falcons Brixen/Bressanone captain 🇮🇹Nicholas Pezzetta for hitting a referee with his stick.
Pezzetta reportedly «approached [the referee] with the intention of injuring him and hit him from behind at calf height with his stick.» The referee fell to the ground «in pain» and Pezzetta was handed a 20-minute penalty.
The 20-year-old defender has scored 3 (0+3) points in 9 games in the Italian Hockey League this season."
In hockey, going after referees never gets you where you want. In this case, because of a small contact with the ref, a 20-year-old player will be kept away from the ice for over a year: a rough verdict considering that the referee wasn't severely injured. Forcing someone to stop doing something they love for a small stick hit seems absurd, but that decision isn't ours to take.
