KYIV (Reuters) – The Ukrainian ice hockey federation has withdrawn holders HC Donbass and Kramatorsk from this season’s national championship after they violated rules by fielding temporarily suspended players in matches, it said on Wednesday.
The disciplinary committee of the Hockey Federation of Ukraine said in a statement that both Donbass and Kramatorsk had violated the regulations three times this season.
Earlier this month, the federation had temporarily suspended several players from both the teams after they were withdrawn by their clubs from national duty at the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge without permission.
It said that the clubs had then named the players in their teams for matches ignoring warnings.
Donbass termed the decision illegal and said they would appeal to the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Donbass and Kramatorsk are second and fifth in the league after 19 games of the season.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Shrivathsa Sridhar)
