Ice hockey player Jere Karalahti fired from Kärpät of Oulu

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Defenseman Jere Karalahti’s employment with the Oulu ice hockey team Kärpät ended yesterday, Wednesday.
      The former NHL star, who was held in custody for a month during the police investigation into his possible involvement in illegal drug trafficking, will not be seen on ice in the coming weeks representing any other Finnish Ice Hockey League team either.
     
The league’s governing body decided in its Wednesday meeting that Karalahti, 32, who is suspected of aggravated drugs offences, will be suspended from the league "until such time that there is a probated ruling on the matter".
      Hence the league government imposed a temporary suspension on Karalahti. The drugs case that Karalahti’s charges are linked with will presumably be handled by the Espoo District Court in February-March 2008.
     
The police apprehended Karalahti in the middle of a Kärpät training session at the beginning of November. Karalahti remained in pre-trial detention until last Friday.
      Karalahti would have been willing to return to work. He is unable to look for a job abroad either, because the District Court has imposed a ban on travel on him until the possible trial.
      The Kärpät of Oulu chairman Seppo Arponen is a member of the National Ice Hockey League government, but naturally was excluded from voting on the Karalahti incident.
     
“For the moment, Karalahti is unable to perform in the capacity expected when signing the contract. And this change of circumstances has taken place for reasons beyond the employer’s control”, Arponen said in justifying the team’s decision to sack Karalahti.
      “I do understand his desire to return to the ice. It is his profession”, Arponen added.
      “His comeback is not impossible. No-one can be doomed to eternal damnation. These are human situations, and there has to be a way to deal with them, once that time comes.”
     
According to the Ice Hockey League managing director Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen, the decision to suspend Karalahti was unanimous.
      At present Vuorinen sees little point in speculating whether or not Karalahti might be entitled to compensation from the league should the court find him not guilty.
      “If that happens we will deal with it then. Because of the severity of the accusations we felt that for the sake of the sport this was the right decision from the moral-ethical point of view.”
     
Karalahti, who has appeared more than 100 times in a Team Finland jersey, originally played for HIFK in Helsinki, and then joined the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators in the NHL before a six-month suspension prompted a return to Finland and HIFK.
      He joined Kärpät at the beginning of the current season, after HIFK terminated his contract following a row during the 2006/2007 season playoffs.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Hockey player Jere Karalahti released pending trial on drugs charges (10.12.2007)
  Hockey pro Jere Karalahti taken into custody on drug suspicions (8.11.2007)
  Jere Karalahti suspended for six months without pay from NHL (19.8.2002)

Links:
  Jere Karalahti (Wikipedia)

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