Video footage: 20-year Nicholas Pezzetta receives 13-month suspension after brutally assaulting referee
20-year old Nicholas Pezzetta suspended for over a year following an incident where he assaulted a hockey league referee.
During a IHL matchup (Italian Hockey League) Nicholas Pezzetta assaulted a referee with his stick following a completion of a faceoff, and he is now being forced to face the consequences of his outrageous acts.
Officially ruling from the Italian Ice Hockey Federation
The official ruling lands Pezzetta being suspended from the league for thirteen months, and according to their investigation report, Pezzetta's intent was to injure the referee.
Hockey Worldwide breaks the situation down:
Pezzetta reportedly «approached [the referee] with the intention of injuring him and hit him from behind at calf height with his stick.» The referee fell to the ground «in pain» and Pezzetta was handed a 20-minute penalty.
The 20-year-old defender has scored 3 (0+3) points in 9 games in the Italian Hockey League this season."
The video can be seen in the following video below:
The 20-year old is very lucky he didn't face any off-ice discipline, such as an assault charge due to his intent to injure the referee by assaulting him, and only received the punishment he did.
Despite the video not being the clearest and making it hard to see if it was an accidental incident or not, but fans will have to trust the leagues final decision. Which was ultimately deemed intentional and resulted in a 13 month suspension.
