Death Might Bring A 10 Game Suspension

I love hockey.  The speed, skill, and endurance that hockey players show each and every game amaze me.  I only wish that I could be half the player that these guys could be.  However, this playoff season has shown me that besides being very amazing athletes, that some of the players are the same brutish thugs that populate the game of football.  Let's examine some of the suspensions that have been handed down.

James Neal - Pittsburgh Penguins:  1 game for two different flagrant elbows to the head.
     The first incident where he jumps and hits an unsuspecting Flyer in the head, he gets off from punishment because according to Brendan Shanahan, the league accepts the argument that Neal jumped off the ice to brace himself for contact.  Wow.  I wish I had people that would buy the flimsiest of excuses.  So here is why Neal got the 1 game suspension.  He committed charging on Giroux.  He jumped and made principal contact with Giroux's head and neck area.  There is no apparent injury to Giroux.  Really?  One of the 10 best players in the NHL can't keep his balance on his skates and you say that there is no apparent injury?  Neal has been fined and warned before in this NHL season.

Aaron Asham - Pittsburgh Penguins:  4 game suspension for a crosscheck and a punch to the back of the head of a prone player.
     Asham in retaliation of a check from Brayden Schenn to a Pittsburgh defender, crosschecks Schenn high in the chest.  According to our favorite talking head, Asham's stick never touches Schenn's head.  However, Asham took many strides to hit Schenn and it was a violent crosscheck.  Also, Asham punch to the back of the head was wrong.  So Asham got 4 games because of the Match Penalty with the intent to injure.  There was no injury.  I don't think Shanny saw Schenn's face as he was leaving the ice.  I have seen newly minted stop signs that aren't that red.  And Asham has never been disciplined by the NHL.

Brian Shaw - Chicago Blackhawks:  3 game suspension for hitting Phoenix Goalie Mike Smith behind the net.
     Shaw went to try and take the puck from Smith.  He came in at a sharp angle and hit Smith in the head with his shoulder.  According to Shanny, it was Shaw's responsibility to not hit the goaltender.  And he did not do it.  Although I do like the embellishment that Smith had with his flopping around.  Shaw gets the 3 games for charging the goaltender, there was no apparent injury to Smith and Shaw hasn't been in trouble with the NHL before.

Craig Adams and Nicklas Backstrom each got 1 game suspensions for Match penalties in their recent games.  While i agree with the Adams one, the Backstrom one I don't.  If you give it to Backstrom, you also give one to Peverley that was the first person to threaten the head in that altercation.  And finally, from the Phoenix-Chicago game tonight:

Let's see what punishment that Shanny decides on this.  You have a player that decides to hit a player that is not playing the puck anymore, leaving his feet to check the player, hitting him flush in the head with his shoulder sending the player to the hospital.  If he gets anything like Asham's suspension, I will know that the NHL doesn't care about player safety.  Because Torrez has done this time and time again.  Last year, he took out Brent Seabrooke of the same Chicago Blackhawks in the playoffs.  I know what I would suspend Torrez for and he should be happy that I'm not Brendan Shanahan right now.  And one last final thing, Tyson Nash, the Colour Commentator of the Phoenix Coyotes says that the hit was "as clean of a hit as you are going to get".  Well, we now know why Tyson Nash was always in trouble now, since he doesn't understand the rules of the NHL.