Stick to the crotch leads to gruesome injury in the Finnish Elite League
A game Saturday between Ilves Tampere and Karpat of the Finnish Elite League produced a lot of controversy after a stick to the crotch. 19-year-old forward Antti Saarela was given a five minute major and booted from the game early after his stick got between the legs of Michal Kristof while the two were involved in a faceoff. Check it out:
Antti Saarela tämän aloitusepisodin päätteeksi aikaiseen suihkuun. 🚿
⛔️ 34:15 Mieho 2 min
⛔️ 34:19 Saarela 5+20 min#Ilves #Liiga @CMoreSportFi pic.twitter.com/CrDMuX96KE Tampereen Ilves (@ilveshockey) February 20, 2021
The reason behind the controversy is that some, including former Finnish Elite League player turned coach
Ismo Lehkonen, took to Twitter and accused Kristof of making the play seem much worse than it actually was. After the game, Kristoff insisted the pain was real, and told Is.fi there was blood in his urine during the intermission.
"Saarela certainly didn't do it on purpose, but it was damn painful," Kristof said following the game.
He added that he was being monitored by doctors to see if the blood would continue when he urinated. He did finish the game. Ilves defeated Kapat 2-1.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||