If he will or won't, obviously remains to be seen, but my guess is regardless of the ruling, someone will start to whine about it. For those who don't think it's a something he can be suspended for refer to Rule 76: Physical Abuse of Officials, Category III, it calls for a suspension of no less than 3 games for deliberately applying force to an official for the sole purpose of getting free from an official during or immediately after an altercation.
Now, I'm by no means calling for his head or anything, I could careless about officials being pushed during fights, the physical part of the game is always going to be there and I think as long as you're in the rink there's a good chance you can end up in the middle of that. The referees were kind of getting involved when the fight wasn't winding down, there's a risk there. Most of these suspensions can be avoided by telling the referees to stand back until you're sure the fight is over, both players were still on their feet, no one had the upper hand yet, I think the refs jumped the gun a bit with that one. I won't be surprised if Orr is suspended, no one really should be, the only argument you can have is whether or not the refs stepped in before they should, which is a total judgement call, and no one will ever win either way.
I want to add, in this same game the Maple Leafs actually got their first win, downing the Ducks 6-3.
Update: The NHL, somewhat unsurprisingly, decided against suspending Orr, he was fined, apparently the refs on the ice can pretty much make the call on ice whether or not an offense was suspendable in this case. I'm not really for or against it either way, the ref involved should have a big say in whether or not a player gets suspended in this situation, if the linesman who was pushed didn't feel like he should be suspended, I don't think I can really disagree.
I want to add, in this same game the Maple Leafs actually got their first win, downing the Ducks 6-3.
Update: The NHL, somewhat unsurprisingly, decided against suspending Orr, he was fined, apparently the refs on the ice can pretty much make the call on ice whether or not an offense was suspendable in this case. I'm not really for or against it either way, the ref involved should have a big say in whether or not a player gets suspended in this situation, if the linesman who was pushed didn't feel like he should be suspended, I don't think I can really disagree.
4 comments:
Boomer on XM204 called for him to be out 10 games. Orr knows better. I think Orr should get for a MAX suspension on that one, regardless if the refs stepped in too early or not. That fight was winding down and while it was long, it was weak on both their parts, with respect to their fighting history.
A huge reason I think there should be a decent suspension is because whether you want to look it at this way or not, hockey players are supposed to be role models. I don't know if 10 games is warranted, I'd say 5 and under would be a decent number, and maybe a hefty fine. If Ovi gets fined for accidentally slew footing someone, Orr should be fined and suspended for pushed a ref. I'm not the type of person that wants a suspension for every little thing, there's rough parts of the game and they're actually part of what makes it so great, but refs aren't on the ice looking to be attacked in any sort of way, especially intentionally.
Well, sounds like he was fined. But no suspension.
Yeah, I was going to update this post and the post on Scuderi, but I was on my iphone, making that update now lol
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