While everyone is looking at the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs going down, another major tournament is currently happening in Czechia: the IIHF Men's World Championship.
A lot of key NHL players who aren't in the playoffs decided to represent their countries at the tournament.
Notably, fans can watch Connor Bedard, John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, Cole Caufield, Brady Tkachuk and many more facing off on the ice.
A major incident happened in a recent game between Latvia and Poland in that tournament: the Latvian player Rodrigo Abols accidentaly hit a referee right in the face during a scrum.
Watch the following video to see how it went down:
After the game, Abols shared his thoughts on the incident. He said that he thought an opponent was holding him, and when he tried to get free, hit the official. He also said that he apologised to the referee, as the move was not intentional:
Do you think the player would've been suspended if the incident had happened in the NHL?
Source: Blade of Steel - Player clocks official at World Championships and has instant regret
POLL | ||
MAI 13 | 84 ANSWERS Crazy scene at world championship: player punches referee in the face Do you think the player would've been suspended if the incident had happened in the NHL? | ||
Yes | 49 | 58.3 % |
No | 35 | 41.7 % |
LIST OF POLLS |
G | A | PTS | ||
Mitch Marner | 2 | - | 2 | |
Logan Cooley | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
William Nylander | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
Dylan Guenther | - | 1 | 1 | |
Michael Kesselring | - | 1 | 1 | |
Fraser Minten | - | 1 | 1 | |
Mikhail Sergachev | - | 1 | 1 | |
Chris Tanev | - | 1 | 1 | |
John Tavares | - | 1 | 1 | |
Simon Benoit | - | - | - | |
Nick Bjugstad | - | - | - | |
Michael Carcone | - | - | - | |
Ian Cole | - | - | - | |
Lawson Crouse | - | - | - | |
Connor Dewar | - | - | - | |
Oliver Ekman-Larsson | - | - | - | |
Nikita Grebenkin | - | - | - | |
Barrett Hayton | - | - | - | |
Pontus Holmberg | - | - | - | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
Conference | Cumulative |