Milan Lucic was forced to sit out Monday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens because of a boarding penalty and game misconduct he received in the Bruins previous game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Lucic hit Flyers center Zac Rinaldo from behind in the game and was immediately ejected from the game.
On Monday morning, Lucic had a conference call with NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan to discuss the incident and Shanahan decided to suspend Lucic for a game. I have no problem with that. Lucic’s hit was bad and he has a history of walking a tight line between playing hard and dirty. What I have an issue with is Shanahan’s explanation for the suspension:
While this hit is not particularly egregious, it is illegal. However, the overriding factor in elevating this hit from behind from a penalty on the ice to a suspension is his history of similar infractions, warnings and a fine. We’ve taken into account that Rinaldo suffered no apparent injury as a result of this hit.
Emphasis is mine.
Why does Rinaldo’s injury, or lack there of, matter? It doesn’t change Lucic’s hit. It doesn’t change Lucic’s intentions. Whether or not Rinaldo is hurt should not have any affect on Shanahan’s decision. Yet, he says the exact opposite. Read more…
A Quick One:
There’s not much bad I can say about the Bruins right now. They’re up 10 points in the Northeast Division, lead the Eastern Conference and are 19-2-1 in their last 22 games. Even though they didn’t play their best against the Habs last night, a couple timely goals and a great performance by Tim Thomas led the B’s to a win over their arch-rivals. And this was with Milan Lucic suspended for the game. As I said, there’s not much to complain about with this team. Goal for the rest of the season: avoid injuries. And then we will see if it’s possible for any team to beat the Bruins in a seven-game series. Right now, it certainly doesn’t look that way.
Much has been made over the past week about the suspension following the “game” between the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. After a game filled with 346 penalty minutes and10 ejections, just three players were suspended.
The Islanders’ Trevor Gillies and Matt Martin were suspended for nine and four games, respectively, and Penguins’ forward Erik Godard was suspended for 10 games. The Islanders were also fined $100,000 as a team.
Martin sucker punched the Penguins’ Maxime Talbot early in the game in a classless move that was just the beginning. The punch and ensuing “fight” (Martin just pounded the shocked Talbot as he lay helpless on the ice) epitomized the game. How exactly does Martin only receive a four game suspension?!
This wasn’t just a tiny mistake. It was purposeful and premeditated and has no business in the sport. It should have been a minimum 20 game suspension and I would have liked to have seen Martin sitting out the rest of the year.
Gillies’s cheap shot was similar, but worse. In the 3rd period, Gillies ran after Eric Tangradi, struck him in the head with an elbow and continued mauling the forward as he lay on the ice. As Gillies skated away, he mocked the concussed Penguin. It was truly disgraceful.
But Gillies only received nine games!! He shouldn’t be playing hockey again this year whatsoever, but the NHL brass just can’t get anything right. Read more…
