Italy’s Cristiano Digiacinto suspended for an illegal head check

The Olympic Winter Games disciplinary panel suspended Italy’s Cristiano Digiacinto for one game after an illegal check against Slovakia’s Martin Fehervary. The incident occurred at 8:05 of the second period during the countries’ men’s tournament match on 13 February.

The panel found that the principal contact was with Fehervary’s head and that the contact could have been avoided through a different approach. It considered the action a violation of IIHF rule forty-eight, which governs illegal checks to the head or neck.

Although the panel did not find that Digiacinto had deliberately targeted the head, it concluded that his approach endangered the opponent. The suspension applied specifically to Italy’s following game against Finland on 14 February, rather than an unspecified future appearance.