[8] On January 8, Rulav Oddr also left the league, although it was announced that the club was renamed Kharkiv Berserkers.
[11] On September 26, 2021, Kremenchuk and Ukraine national hockey team forward Andri Deniskin made a racist gesture of eating a banana in front of Jalen Smereck.
Brown, Anthony Duclair, Georges Laraque and Akim Aliu came to Smereck's support, along with them at the time UHL general manager Yevgeni (Eugene) Kolychev also came to his aide.
This outraged many hockey fans, players and teams alike, and due to this Smereck stated that he wouldn't play in the UHL until Deniskin was given a heavier punishment.
[citation needed] On 16 November 2021, the Disciplinary Committee of the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine suspended seven players of HC Donbass and HC Kramatorsk, who left the location of the Ukraine national team, from participation in official matches.