Stig Wetzell (born October 7, 1945 in

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

) is a retired professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

player who played in the

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. He played for HJK and

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

Playing career

Stig Wetzell started his SM-liiga career in 1967. He played in SM-liiga for 16 years before retiring in 1983. Wetzell won the SM-liiga Championship twice, in 1974 and 1983. On both occasions he played for HIFK, which was his team for most of his career.

1974 Doping Controversy

Wetzell was caught

doping Doping may refer to: * Doping, adding a dopant to something * Doping (semiconductor), intentionally introducing impurities into an extremely pure semiconductor to change its electrical properties * Aircraft dope, a lacquer that is applied to fabr ...

during the 1974 Ice Hockey World Championship tournament in Finland. Testers found illegal amounts of

Ephedrine Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is often used to prevent low blood pressure during anesthesia. It has also been used for asthma, narcolepsy, and obesity but is not the preferred treatment. It is of unclear benefit in n ...

in his urine sample. Wetzell's positive A- and B-samples caused Finland's 5-2 win over Czechoslovakia to be reversed to a 5-0 loss to the Czechs. It is still debated if Wetzell was intentionally using illegal substances. If Finland's 5-2 victory over Czechoslovakia had stood, Finland would have won bronze medals in the tournament. Wetzell received an International Competition ban due to his doping in the 1974 Championship Tournament. Later, Wetzell received an apology from the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, and he was inducted into the

Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame The Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame is housed in and administered by the ('Finnish Ice Hockey Museum'), a part of the Vapriikki Museum Centre, in Tampere, Finland. The was founded in 1979 with the mission to record, document, and exhibit objects ...

in 2004.

References

External links

Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame bio
1945 births Living people Doping cases in ice hockey Finnish sportspeople in doping cases HIFK (ice hockey) players Ice hockey players with retired numbers Sportspeople from Vaasa Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish ice hockey goaltenders {{Finland-icehockey-goaltender-stub