Slovak league champs stripped of title after fan backlash

Slovak ExtraLiga, the highest level of professional hockey in Slovakia, has been forced to rescind an earlier decision that awarded this year's championship to Banska Bystrica. The Slovak Ice Hockey Association has decided it will award no championship for this season at all.

With Tuesday's decision came the ruling that HC 05 Banska Bystrica would be awarded the Dusan Pasek Cup for first overall in the league at the end of the regular season. The team has also earned the right to participate in the Champions Hockey League next season, a tournament that features the top teams from the first-tier leagues of countries across Europe. However, the decision to award the Vladimir Dzurilla Cup has been overturned. In its ruling, the SIHA stated the league's earlier decision to award the prize "violated the principle of equality."

""We accept the decision and are pleased that it has ended the traumatization, especially of the sports community, induced by the initial decision," said the team in an official statement on Facebook.

Slovak Extraliga ended its season on March 12th, the same day the NHL suspended games until further notice. The decision to award the championship caused huge backlash from fans of the league's teams. Should the NHL not return in time to hold the playoffs for the Stanley Cup for 2019-20, it will be interesting to see how the league will handle it. The last and only time the Cup was not awarded was in 1919. The final series between the Seattle Metropolitans and the Montreal Canadiens was cancelled after five games due to the Spanish Flu pandemic. While both teams are listed in the slot on the Stanley Cup for that year, it states "series not completed."

Source: Hokejportal.net

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