Pronger gets a one game suspension
And I'm sure most people will be saying: "ONLY 1 GAME??!!" And that question may or may not be justified. Pronger struck Dean McAmmond in the head with an elbow last night as McAmmond was skating by him. An elbow that "Macho Man" Randy Savage would have been proud of. CBC cameras had a closeup of McAmmond's face, and he was clearly dazed, but not knocked out.
"This one took a lot of thought," Colin Campbell, the NHL's executive vice-president and director of hockey operations, said at a news conference. "It wasn't an easy one. It didn't jump out at us right away."Randy Carlyle must be breathing a sigh of relief:
"We accept the league's decision," said Carlyle. "We feel that the player did not attempt to hurt Dean McAmmond.I'm not sure how he can possibly think that Pronger wasn't trying to hurt him.
"We have to live by the league's decision."
I can understand why Colin Campbell made this decision, and believe me, some of these reasons could be bullshit, but reality nonetheless.
1. It is believed that McAmmond did not suffer a concussion. Apparently he was watching the game from behind the bench somewhere, according to CBC. He may not miss Game 4.
2. And this is the worst one: McAmmond was not taken off the ice on a stretcher. He was helped off the ice by 2 of his teammates. So the 'visual' aspect was not there for a 'sympathy vote'. If someone on the team staff instructed him to lay there and fake it and wait for the stretcher, Pronger may have gotten a longer sentence, and the media would have jumped all over it, calling it a black eye on hockey all over again.
But hats off to McAmmond anyway. He got up. He acted like a warrior.
3. I don't really want to get into this too much again, but I still stand by the fact that Pronger's headshot on Holmstrom was less intentional than the press and most fans thought it was. Rob Niedermayer's contact on Holmstrom just prior to that created the problem. This lowers the 'repeat offender' case, in my opinion, and perhaps justifies the NHL's 1-game suspension.
I think I mostly stand alone on my opinion, but I won't waver. Feel free to add your opinions here.
I wonder if Pronger wears the hard plastic elbow pads.
Another thing, it wouldn't be such a bad idea for refs to video review this kind of incident and then call a major penalty on it if they missed it initially.
T Tags: Chris Pronger elbow one+game+suspension Ducks Senators Dean+McAmmond
8 Comments:
Pronger definitely meant to hurt him, whether it was just spur of the moment due to frustration or premeditated is beside the point.. You can see it in his face when he swung out his elbow. He's pissed.
It was a scary looking play and I'm not sure if 1 game is sufficient or not, but I'm glad the league acted relatively quickly.
Pronger SHOULD HAVE meant to hurt him. That is what they do in hockey. That's why it's so much better than baseball!! :)
I have to agree with you on the one game. Mostly due to the last one game suspension that he received, I don't feel that was an intentional bad hit. However, I think Pronger is a nasty guy and I have nooooo love for him.
I agree with Burke that Neil's hit on McDonald was possibly even worse.. Neil just lept at him, leading with his elbows..
But then I dislike Neil a lot more than pronger.. ;)
Pronger wears Jofa elbow pads. You can normally see them as he wears the sleeves of his jersey up most of the time.
Jofa is known for making their elbow pads with a plastic sort of knob that cups the joint of the elbow.
In my opinion, they are the most dangerous of all current manufacturers.
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Thanks Tyler for the info. So then was it an elbow or a forearm shot? It's hard to tell sometimes.
Neil's hit may have been worse...but McD is so damned short! Any hit on him is a head shot I bet!
But Neil took too many strides beforehand though.
Great job by the league to do something about that hit. Unnecessary and illegal. If there was a penalty I wonder if he would have still got a suspension.
This hurts the Ducks and gives the top line of Ottawa the opportunity to get some momentum.
Pronger will be rested and ready to give our more hits in Game 5. Watch out.
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