At the end of last nights game Josh Nicholls gave Hunter Shinkaruk a 2 handed baseball swing chop to the back of the leg. He was given a 5 minute major and game misconduct, however as time had expired the penalty was moot.
Saskatoon Blades reporter DAniel Nugent-Bowman is reporting the whl has chosen not to suspend Josh Nicholls. https://twitter.com/DNBsports
If you recall last year the whl suspended Darren Deitz for a 2 handed whack on Emerson Etem that rode up his stick into his chest and somewhat accidental.
I cannot fathom why the whl thinks that Josh Nocholls act at the end of Tuesdays game doesn't represent a suspension of some kind, whereas the Darren Deitz suspension last year did. The baseball swing was not accidental, that type of incident doesn't belong in Junior hockey and it disgusts me that no supplementary discipline will come out of it.
MH News Article on What the League said
http://www.medicinehatnews.com/local-sports/league-said-shinkaruk-embellished-nicholls-slash.html
To sum up: The league said their was no suspension because they felt Shinkaruk embellished the play. While I agree with the embelish sentiment, I think no suspension is still a BS decision.
This decision does open up a topic of discussion.
IMO suspension length should be primarly about the intent and the force of the foul applied. I think if a player is injured or not should be taken into consideration but it shouldn't be the primary factor into the length of a suspension. Intent is the main focus.
I'm sorry WHL I've been a fan of this league since I was born but their is no justification you can make that says a 2 handed baseball swing slash that connects with another player should go unpunished.
7 comments:
As long as Shinkaruk is good to go for tonight, that's the important thing. The WHL is really rolling the dice though and if tonight's game is a blowout (either way), it could get really ugly in a hurry.
That's Bullshit. The whl was probably worried for his safety if he was a scratch sitting in the stands.
The non-suspension in this incident can lead to a real, real ugly retaliation by the Tigers if game gets out of hand by either team..
..Hopefully the officials march into the dressing rooms before game and says that anyone doing any crapola like that tonite gets 10 and a game from opening face-off to final bell....
...however yelling out tee times and swinging the stick like a Calloway 1 wood is permitted and hopefully is the order of the night
...wishing them the Blades the best with the 5-4 weeks of practise they get to endure until the O, Q and W champs can put more hurt on them.
The boys better put the foil on tonite Mcolgan,thrower,sutter and the rest of the armpits will be swinging when they get thrashed tonite
It's almost like the league is already embarrassed by the performance of their host team and don't want to weaken their line-up anymore than possible. There should have been a 5-minute major for running over Lanigan as well.
What a joke!! If Doty would have done that to nicholls he would have got a 10 game suspension minimum for this. How can i guy get a 5 and a game with 2 seconds left not get a suspension!!!!
they used a word called moot and wished it away
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