Steve Downie who hasn’t played a single game in the NHL yet, has been suspended for 20 games for essentially charging.
From the rule book
Rule 43 – Charging
43.1 Charging – A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player or goalkeeper who skates or jumps into, or charges an opponent in any manner.
Charging shall mean the actions of a player or goalkeeper who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner. A “charge” may be the result of a check into the boards, into the goal frame or in open ice.
The video
Other long NHL suspensions.
I really don’t get it. Actually I do, the NHL found a guy with a shady reputation to make an example of. The suspension is all about setting a precedent.
And if the NHL is going enforce suspensions on these types of hits I suspect Hatcher wont make it a week before getting suspended.
The length of the suspension is crap. The hit was charging yes, but McAmmond shouldn’t haven’t been skating with his head down admiring his pass.
Well, if you really don’t get it, how about Rules 43.4 (match penalty) and 43.6 (fines and suspensions) under the charging rule?
The hit was clearly vicious, and he left his feet. That would put this under rule 21.1 for attempt to injure.
But having your head down doesn’t give anyone an excuse to jump into you.
I dont think the hit was that bad. Yes Downie left his feet, ok so he should be punished for that. The league went after him because of the way Dean McAmmond reacted. I think the same think happened with Bertuzzi. If they both got up after the hit neither would hae been suspened for as long. The hit was not late. He lined him up and McAmmond had his head down. You are taught very early in hockey hot to keep you head down. That was not Downie’s fault. How do you know if someone has the intent to injure. It looked like a fairly clean hit. He only went high on his head because he left his feet. The league had a player leave in a strecher and had to punish Downie to set an example. At most he should have got 1 game suspension.
I think 20 game suspension is really too much. It was purely an accident.
I don’t really have aproblem with suspending Downie. That hit was brutal. What bothers me is the length of the suspension. Twenty games seems a little bit excessive to me, and yes, I think it stinks of the NHL making an example out of him. Let’s take a quick look at some other big suspensions and se where this fits in:
Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks, for serious injuries sustained by Colorado’s Steve Moore when Bertuzzi jumped him from behind in March, 2004. – 20 games
Marty McSorley, for knocking out Vancouver’s Donald Brashear by swinging a stick at his head in March, 2000. – 23 games
Gordie Dwyer, for abusing officials and leaving the penalty box to fight in a pre-season game against the Washington Capitals in September, 2000. – 23 games
Dale Hunter of the Washington Capitals, for a hit on Pierre Turgeon of the New York Islanders while Turgeon celebrates a goal in the 1993 playoffs. – 21 games
Is the NHL really trying to tell me that Downie’s hit is as bad as the Bertuzzi or McSorley incidents? Or coming out of the box to fight a guy or hitting him during a goal celebration (which I think is kinda funny, to be honest)? At least Downie’s hit occured during the natural flow of the game. But of all of the big suspensions, the one that gets me is:
Matt Johnson, for deliberately injuring the New York Rangers’ Jeff Beukeboom in November, 1998. Beukeboom suffered a concussion and never played again.
And do you know how long he got for this? Not only deliberately injuring a guy, but ending his career? If Downie got 20 for a dirty hit, Johnson must have goten around thirty, right? Wrong. Johnson was suspended for a grand total of 12 games.
I’m not trying to say that Downie shouldn’t have been suspended. All I’m saying is that looking at past suspensions, 20 games doesn’t seem to fit. Of course that can be said of a bunch of these suspensions. There just doesn;t seem to be a rhyme or reason to the legnth of them, which makes me think that the league said “wow, that was a brutal hit, and he’s not a star, so let him hang.” That’s just not right.