Based on all the suspensions this year….it’s a bit excessive considering a couple knee on knee incidents where players were out for weeks…and nothing was done.
If this happened to anyone other than a Leaf…do you think action would have come down this fast??? I do not think so.
Colin Campbell was not objective here….was a suspension warranted….???? Oh it sure as hell was…..a game or two perhaps. But with no call on the ice…there is a bigger problem that people seem to not notice. The game turned on a blown call in the third period and then a call that was made that shouldn’t have been…which gave the Leafs a Power Play goal to tie the game. The guilt the two refs felt for missing something they easily should have seen clearly clouded their judgment…for there is no way that call is made in the third period.
The hit technically was not all that clean honestly…he did leave his feet..and it was late….that by definition is charging as the rule clearly states…”if a player has left the ice or is in an aggressive motion toward the puck carrier after the puck has exited the area…then it is a charge.” The penalty was missed which was bad enough but what happened later was worse. It likely cost the Devils a point in the standings. Now the Devils didn’t deserve the win after playing like crap for twenty minutes but maybe they deserved a better fate.
Back to the matter at hand….the problems are bigger than Janseen-Kaberle and whatever retaliation comes from this. The bigger problem is the officiating and the “discipline czar” are about as consistent as a two goal lead in the NHL the past week….not very. I remember Brodeur being run last year and nothing was done about it…but now this…its the consistency that makes me scratch my head and wonder how hard would it be to define what level of misconduct deserves what kind of suspension. Hey NHL…it’s worth a shot to at least look into. Get it right for once NHL…for the love of the game.
