HULL Stingrays captain Matt Suderman has quit the club – citing fans' criticism and the standard of officiating in the Elite League as prime reasons for his decision.
The Canadian leaves immediately, meaning Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Sheffield and last night's 4-3 penalty-shot win over Braehead were his last in Stingrays' colours.
Suderman said: "Things just did not work out for me basically.
"It's kind of personal, I'm not really having fun.
"Some of the fans are the worst I've played in front of. They think they are knowledgeable, but they aren't.
"Some send me personal messages and all sorts of stuff. There's a lot of reasons for my decision, but those are the main ones."
The final straw appears to have come against Cardiff last weekend.
An initial 10-minute misconduct call was upgraded to a "travesty of the game", after Suderman smashed his stick against the penalty box glass, and on his way back to the dressing room.
It meant he was suspended for the trip to Edinburgh 24 hours later.
Suderman said: "Against Cardiff I was trying to make their guy answer for what he had done. I got a penalty I didn't feel I deserved.
"I flew off the handle, then the fans were chirping at me when I left the ice, and that was it for me here."
However, it appears it wasn't just last Saturday that miffed Suderman, he had been pondering his future for a while.
Never a "dirty" player and not afraid to stand up for team-mates, he had already totted up 170 penalty minutes this season, many for "chirping" to the officials.
And the defenceman revealed, apart from Tom Darnell, he believes the general standard of officiating is not up to scratch.
Asked if he regretted returning to Britain after a two-year absence while he battled against a medical condition, Suderman said: "I do, but only due to the state of the Elite League as the officiating has got much worse, to the point where I am embarrassed to be a part of it.
"I feel the officiating could stop the league being considered one of the top ones in Europe.
"If we had five or six Tom Darnells officiating I would be fine."
Suderman is keen to stress he has no other team lined up to join, in fact he may retire from the sport.
Short-term, though, he is returning home to Banff in Alberta.
"I can ski three days a week at home," he said. "I have to figure it out, and not rush into anything.
"I'm pretty sure I'll be done ice hockey-wise, but something could come up that I'd have to consider, but I've nothing planned right now.
"I have a bit of time, I don't have to rush into anything, I'm going skiing to get my head straight."
Asked if he thought fans might feel he was leaving the team in the lurch, Suderman said: "Probably, but I don't really care what they say.
"My team-mates know what I am about. So far, I've had support, and not had any negativity, and that's all that matters.
"The 20 guys in the room is what I care about. It's not easy to leave, but it's something I have to do."
Coach Sylvain Cloutier must now fill two holes on the Rapid Solicitors Stingrays import roster, with Suderman following sacked forward Derek Campbell out of the door.
He hopes to have at least one new face in the line-up ahead of this weekend's trip to Scotland, although it is believed two of his targets have played in Hull before.
In Suderman's swansong weekend, Carl Lauzon's goal put Stingrays 1-0 up against Sheffield on Saturday, but the Steelers won thanks to goals from Rob Sirianni and Drew Fata.
Last night, Chris Frank put Braehead in front after five minutes.
Two goals from Lauzon and Guillaume Doucet turned the tables for 2-1 Stingrays, but Joe Cullen levelled for 2-2 at the first break.
Neil Trimm netted the middle period's only goal and Lauzon the third's to send the game into overtime and then penalty shots, with Lauzon and Doucet on target, and only Cullen netting for Clan.
Cloutier said: "The win against Clan was massive. Hopefully, we can bring a new guy in before the weekend."
