STOCKHOLM – The Disciplinary Panel of the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship has suspended Norway’s Ole-Kristian Tollefsen for one game after slashing incident in Wednesday’s game against Sweden. He will miss Norway’s game vs Belarus on Saturday, May 11.

The infraction occurred with the score Sweden-Norway 5-1 at 58:37. Play had just been stopped when Tollefsen, who had placed his stick between the legs of Sweden’s forward Calle Järnkrok, with two hands on his stick forcefully drove the shaft of his stick up into the groin area of his opponent.

Järnkrok fell to the ice in pain appearing to be injured on the play. The referee assessed Tollefsen a minor penalty for slashing under rule 537a. Following the conclusion of the game the Disciplinary Panel reviewed this particular incident according to rule 510.

After reviewing the video evidence, the respective reports including the referee supervisor report and the hearing with the player, the Disciplinary Panel decided to suspend the player for one game.

In the opinion of the Disciplinary Panel, Tollefsen’s decision to drive his stick with excessive force up and into the groin area of Järnkrok was in total disregard of his opponent’s safety.

Given the circumstances which include the infraction taking place after a stoppage in play, the time left in the game and the score at the time, Tollefsen not only endangered the health of Järnkrok, but also showed a flagrant disregard for the rules of the game and for this he must be held accountable.