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The Ukrainian Hockey League Is Chickenshit For Giving Ugly Racist Incident A Slap On The Wrist

Here is the English translation of the announcement.

"There's no place for this in sport or society...so here's the most severe punishment: a 13 game suspension and a fine." What a fucking joke. 

I wish I could say I'm shocked. But given the way other European sports foundations and leagues have handled ugly racist shit in the recent past, not to mention how much it still happens, I'm not surprised this is all that asshole Andrei Deniskin ended up getting for punishment. Here's what he did to Jalen Smereck, a Black player from Detroit, Michigan...

Fucking embarrassing. No player anywhere should have to deal with that shit.

(Source)--Smereck said he was calling to Deniskin to fight, an invitation which Deniskin declined.

"I don't know if he understood what I said. I don't know if he speaks English. It was just me telling him to fight me. And then he responded with that," Smereck said.

I also don't know how you think you can consider yourself a serious league if you're gonna let a guy pull that gross shit then give him a suspension of 13 games. There's no ambiguity here---we all know what Deniskin did. This should be zero tolerance territory. The disciplinary committee's (translated) words do not even come close to matching their actions. "no place in the game", "unacceptable", "morality", annnnnd "we'll see you in a few weeks." 

"Fuck outta here" is what they should have told Deniskin but didn't have the balls to. Instead, he'll now be the poster child for a league that will welcome you back 13 games after pulling this shit. Tough look. 

Smereck's team issued this statement and will appeal the soft-ass decision.

As Elliotte Friedman notes, the IIHF can issue its own discipline (i.e. international ban) in addition to the league's version of it. If the federation wants to show it truly takes this shit serious, it has a golden opportunity to send a message to any other players who would pull this moronic shit in this day and age.

Smereck has taken a leave of absence from the team and talked to Wyshynski earlier today...

(Source)--Smereck told ESPN on Wednesday that when he saw the suspension, "My heart just kind of dropped."

"I'm not even looking at this as a suspension. This can't be taken seriously," said Smereck, who is playing in his first season overseas. "You get more games for a cross-check or a stupid hit … for hockey plays. And this is completely un-hockey-like. It's just a bad thing all around."

When asked if he's played his last game in the Ukrainian league, Smereck said, "I'm not sure right now."

"I'm trying to figure out what the correct move would be. I'm just going to take a few days and think it over," Smereck said. "Once you leave Europe, it's hard to come back. Once you leave the States, it's hard to get back. It's a tough situation. I'm going to take as much time as I can to think it over, and make the best move that I can."

And now because of some asshole and a league that hardly had his back, Smereck's career gets thrown into disarray. Fucking brutal.