‘Check’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’
As I feared, Alex Ovechkin picked up a two game suspension for his (perfectly acceptable) hit on Brian Campbell. The Caps GM George McPhee said this afternoon: “We have no problem with the way Alex tried to finish his check. Unfortunately, an injury resulted. We are disappointed with the suspension but do not want to comment further.” While we wish Brian Campbell a speedy recovery, this should not have resulted in a suspension. You want a hit that should’ve been a suspension? Check out Cooke vs Savard. Hell, that didn’t even draw a penalty!
Ovi will forfeit $232,000 or so in salary, or approximately an Aston Martin DB9. Hell, any time that the head of NBC Hockey, a noted lover of Sidney Crosby, stands up for you against the call, that’s a sign that the refs made a bad call.
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Ovie’s hit was poor timing, even though he got most of it on Campbell’s side.
The confusing thing is that Ovie’s hit cost him 2 games, while a similar hit earlier this year by a Penguins player on Ovie got nothing. Add in the no-suspension of Cooke, and the latest by Downie and the NHL’s discipline office has shown they have no logical approach to giving out suspensions.