Smereck announces leave of absence and calls for player to be permanently suspended after racist gesture

Jalen Smereck, a black hockey player who spent time in the Arizona Coyotes organization and who was subjected to a racist gesture during a Ukrainian Hockey League game this past weekend has announced he is taking a personal leave of absence from his team and from professional hockey in general.

“These situations are very tough and I am a big believer in standing up for what is right,” Smereck wrote on Instagram earlier today. “I have been putting a lot of thought into what comes next for me in my career but as of right now I have decided that I will be taking a personal leave of absence from HC Donbass and I will not play another game in the [Ukrainian Hockey League] until Andrey Denyskin is suspended and removed from the league. Thank you.”

The incident, for those unawared, occurred during a game between HC Donbass, whom Smereck plays for, and HC Kremenchuk. between whistles, Smereck and Denyskin appeared to share words when Denyskin went way, way, waaaay over the line by miming unpeeling a banana and eating it. The intent, I suppose, was to compare the dark skinned Smereck to an ape.

Here's the gesture in question:

Denyskin was ejected from the game and given an unspecified suspension. Denyskin later apologized and did not hide from his hideous actions. He claimed he regrets making “a gesture that someone can consider as an insult in race” and that he allowed his emotions to get the best of him. Denyskin went on to claim he respects “all people regardless of race or nationality.” It's worth noting that he has since deleted the apology from his social media channels.

As for Smereck, he spoke with Ken Campbell (formerly of The Hockey News and now with Hockey Unfiltered) and said that he feels Denyskin should, at the very least, receive a season long suspension.

“I definitely think he should be done for the year,” he said. “For me, I would think his career is pretty much over…[he should be] suspended for this year [from the league] and get a suspension for the rest of his career from Team Ukraine. There’s no way to apologize for that. And even the apology he gave was really bad.”