Ice hockey | Ice hockey legends have had enough in Russia – a sternly worded letter to Vladimir Putin

Hockey arouses emotions in Russia, and especially the refereeing of the main series KHL has caused some viewers to resort to a rather extraordinary solution.

Sent by the Hockey Legends Council of St. Petersburg SKA of the Championat website according to the letter from the president to Vladimir Putin about the referees of a series of commercials. The last straw seems to have been SKA's 1-2 overtime loss to Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Sunday.

In addition to Putin, the letter is addressed to the president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation to Vladislav Tretjak and to the chairman of the KHL To Alexei Morozov.

“We are watching in pain what is happening in the KHL at the moment. The level of refereeing has dropped incredibly low this season. We were watching the match between SKA and Metallurg yesterday and were shocked by the low level of refereeing,” the letter states.

“There is no systematicity in the actions of the referees. In similar situations, it is very possible to end up with opposite solutions. Goals are accepted or rejected without any systematicity. Clear mistakes keep going through – like yesterday – and they decide matches.”

Metallurg's winning goal in overtime came after Igor Gerasky seemed to scramble the opponent before getting into the open scoring position.

The council also reprimands the KHL's referee managers who, in its opinion, prevent general discussion about refereeing. According to the council, the league fines coaches and players who appeal judgments, cares little about criticism and ignores valid complaints.

“We ask you to intervene and save our hockey from disaster. In our opinion, the selection and supervision of referees should be discussed with the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, and competent authorities should deal with the most blatant mistakes.”