Ovechkin Sits For Two

Washington Capitals star winger Alex Ovechkin has been suspended two games for his Sunday hit on Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Brian Campbell.

Campbell is expected to miss the rest of the season with a broken collarbone after being boarded in the first period by Ovechkin, who received a major and game misconduct on the play.

It's the second suspension of the season for the NHL's leading scorer, who was also suspended two games last fall for kneeing Tim Gleason of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The incident came a week after a controversial blindside hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke on Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins that left Savard concussed and possibly out for the season. Cooke wasn't penalized or suspended on the play.

Last fall, Mike Richards of the Philadelphia Flyers was given a major and game misconduct for a blindside hit on Florida's David Booth. Booth was knocked out on the play and sidelined for four months, while Richards was also not suspended.

On the Campbell hit, Ovechkin roared into the Chicago zone and shoved Campbell violently in the back of the shoulders at the end line, catapulting the smaller defenceman into the end boards.

Comments

[Tony]

Ovechkin gets 2 games and Matt Cooke gets zip ... if you can figure that one out there is obviously a spot for you in the NHL front office. Might be time to start watching another league - one that actually has some common sense. Although you know what they say about common sense - it's not that common. Enough said.

[Tim]

Two games is a joke. He should have to sit as long as the other guy.
Or is that just for guys with lead hands?

[Ulysses54]

Maxim Lapierre got 4 games (justified). Ovechkin gets two. Different player status, different suspensions. I am not speaking about Richards and Cooke who escaped from far more vicious hits.
This league is ridiculous.

[stan lesk]

what the nhl should do is suspend the player exactly the length of time it takes for the injured player to get back into the line-up.that would eliminate this kind of nonsense real fast. so the player dishing it out recieves the same as the injury.

[Doug Collins]

When are they going to get a right! A simple solution is for the offender to sit out as many games as the person injured. Why should Ovechkin come back and play in 2 games if Campbell is gone for the season? You have to know that if Ovechkin thought that he might be gone for the season he would not have made that play.

Easy solution, it's not rocket science...

[Daniel]

Seems like the NHL is gutless and are afraid to really take charge and suspend a good player. It's now open season on anyone and I am sure people will not be happy with this minor suspension for such a terrible outcome to the player.

Daniel ............... Toronto
http://my.opera.com/dandmb50toronto/blog/

[Mike Hill]

Two games is not enough. Ovechkin may be a premier player but he must show respect for his fellow players. It might be tough to give him more in light of the Cooke travesty. Might be time to bring the goon back to teach these gutless wonders some respect. Go Cherry!!

[Matt B]

Deserved.

I would say that it certainly didn't look like he was out to injure Campbell. i think Ovie mistimed what he was doing or didn't expect to make as much contact as he did on Campbell.

And i think that's why it should be separated from the head shot debate; If you are going after a player's head, there is no doubt you are out to injure. Its the must vulnerable part of any athlete, and the most important. Sadly, Ovie's push/hit will only infuriate the horrible Don Cherry and give life to his misguided no-touch icing crusade (and he'll probably blame Ovie's country of origin as part of the problem too).

[B. M.]

First time watching the hit, after listening to all the controversy in the media. Was this boarding in the traditional sense? Yes. Suspendable offence...not sure about that. It was a shove.

Campbell knew Ovie was behind him, in fact took a second look just before the hit. He in no way prepared himself to be hit (or even shoved?), which seems to be commonplace these days in the NHL. There was a time in hockey when D-men would 'lunge' towards incoming hits with their shoulder, mitigating much of the impact.

Campbell just assumed Ovie wouldn't hit him and fell into the boards like a piece of spaghetti.

Are we really going to remove all responsibility from players who have the puck in terms of awareness? Can you hit anyone anymore?

[Sick of the NHL]

2 games...thats it? This league is a joke. I am starting to get fed up with all this double standards in this league. Someone give me Collin Cambell's number...he needs a good blasting. Him and bobble-head Bettman.

[Matti Lilleberg]

Unfortunately some high profile NHL will get seriously injured or killed before some serious action will happen.

[Darnelious]

What good is a two-game suspension...? If the reason behind suspending a player is to discourage the exhibited conduct, two games is not going to send a particularly strong message. You can argue whether or not Ove intended to injure Campbell, but in whatever light you look at it, Campbell is probably done for the season while Ove gets to rest up for two games.

If it can be determined there was an intent to injure, the offending player should sit out as long as the victim is injured, or at least until he is medically cleared to resume play. If there is no intent to injure, and this was just a particularly hard hit and Campbell fell awkwardly (which I have trouble believing) why bother suspending the player in the first place. Beyond sense how Cooke gets no supplementary discipline and Ove gets two games. Clear intent to injure with Cooke, and the fact that he is a repeat offender should be punishable in and of itself but alas... NHL needs to stop sending mixed signals and get their ducks in a row before someone gets seriously hurt or worse...

[Ritter]

Mattb. I was with you until your started in on Don Cherry. I think Cherry's no icing campaign makes sense. You shouldn't really put words in his mouth either. About the suspension though. I didn't think the hit looked too bad. It didn't look like there was any intent to injure. I can't understand the mixed signals from the league office. Cooke should miss at least 10 games.

[Al]

It's so hard to tell what's legal and what's not these days. So often, it seems, these injuries are just cases of bad luck. If Campbell hadn't been injured, nobody's even talking about this.

[Fred]

This suspension is a big joke. It is a suspension depending upon who the player is and not what the individual has done to the other individual. Just a plain joke.

[Alecpetroff]

This suspension is a big joke. The suspension was based on the NHL player and not on the action that this individual did to the other individual. If it had been any other player other than a star player, the penalty would have been more than 2 games. On the other hand, Cooke got zero games and he should have been suspended at least 2 games if not more.. The NHL is so inconsistent with suspension

[Leo]

I'm so sick of all the whining. "He should have got more", "He should have got less", "If he did that on the street who would be arrested"... It's a violent game by nature. These players are getting payed millions, event the lowest payed get in the half million range. The risk comes with the territory. And frankly, Ovechckin is the most entertaining, and far from anywhere close to vicious a player in the NHL. This is not basketball. It's also not boxing. I'm happy with the head shot rule they're implementing. Stop whining and just enjoy, or stop watching, period.

[Gord Steadman]

It was a clean and legal hit under the NHL's rules. That doesn't mean the rules are written correctly though. Just a couple of weeks ago Lapierre gets 4 games for boarding Nichol in a very similar manner. If they are going to penalize these hits, they at least have to make them equitable, especially so when it is a repeat offender like Ovechkin. For Ovechkin to get two games and Lapierre to get four games makes the league look bush.

[Gord Steadman]

One other thing for those that believe the suspension should be for as long as the injured player is out. Say Ovechkin injures a 4th line player from a playoff bound team late in the season, do you think that team will ever clear the 4th liner to play again that season? Suspensions should be cumulative, you get say 2 games the first time, 4 games the second time, 8 games the third time etc etc. Most suspended players aren't repeat offenders, but in Ovechkin's case, he is a repeat offender who plays on the edge and needs to pay the price for his indescretions.

[motor city smitty]

I don't see how he can be viewed as anything but reckless. This is the 2nd year in a row that he has seriously injured an elite offensive d-man (Gonchar last year) on a rival Stanley Cup contending team. Let's see what the Caps would have to say if something similar happened to Green. Also, as has been mentioned on another hockey blog, this would have been an automatic suspension if the incident occurred just 1 game sooner under NHL rules but for some reason after 41 games any previous boarding penalties that result in a game misconduct are expunged from the player's record.