Ukrainian league GM gets fired for speaking out against racism following Deniskin’s pathetic suspension

Another victim in this disgusting incident.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Ukrainian league GM gets fired for speaking out against racism following Deniskin’s pathetic suspension
Twitter

This is getting out of hand. Eugene Kolychev, general manager of the Ukrainian Hockey League, tweeted Thursday that he’s been fired for speaking out against racism in the wake of the Jalen Smereck incident. 

As you know, Smereck was the victime of a foul and disgusting gesture this week after Andriy Deniskin, a forward for HK Kremenchuk, mimed peeling and eating a banana at Smereck, a Black defenseman who plays for HC Donbass. The intent, I suppose, was to compare the dark skinned Smereck to an ape, which is unacceptable. 

This prompted Smereck, a player who spent time in the Arizona Coyotes organization to take a personal leave of absence from his team and from professional hockey in general as he awaited Denyskin to be punished. 

“I will not play another game in the [Ukrainian Hockey League] until Andrey Denyskin is suspended and removed from the league. Thank you.”

Denyskin has been suspended three games + 10 games ( however, he can come back after 3 suspended games if he pays a fine of ₴50 000, which equals around 1883 US$.). The decision was made by the Disciplinary Committee of the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine. 

Smereck later added his “heart dropped” when he learned of how light Deniskin’s discipline was.

Kolychev was just as outraged by the verdict and was vocal about it, and believes he was fired for speaking out against it. This is what he tweeted: 


He is going to appeal his dismissal to the IIHF.

If this is true, it is as ridiculous as the suspension itself. The GM is trying to make the world a better place and gets booted for it. Come on now! 

Source: Twitter