QH is going to be a little different this morning – there are two stories from around the league that are taking precedent over everything else that was newsworthy. It’s also going to feature a sensitive topic, and probably some foul language on my part as I try and most likely fail to restrain myself.
This is your warning.
“We feel like we’re bound by our history of being chickens when it comes to player discipline, and we don’t feel like having a fight about this, so the suspension is one game.”
There. Fixed it for you.
Watch the video though. Efforts are made to try to mitigate what happened, which just infuriates me even more. “Mangiapane avoids using his full weight… we accept Mangiapane’s statement that he did not intend for McCann’s head to impact the ice…” Just stop talking. Like, right now.
This is not a hockey play. Even as a cross-check, that’s about one of the worst places you could hit someone apart from giving them a lumber-sandwich. Ask Dylan Larkin, he can tell you all about being on the receiving end of a Jamie Benn Special. And I don’t particularly care that Mangiapane isn’t “using his full weight”… I’m not giving him props for avoiding a full-on body slam when much less than that can end someone’s career.
Mangiapane made a damn choice. Not even an aggravated one, at that. He could have done 100 different things there – try to dig the puck out, let McCann stand up, try to roll McCann off the puck, etc. He chose to drive the shaft of his stick down on McCann’s shoulders and neck, and the league doesn’t think that’s worth more than one game.
The NHL had the opportunity to open this book once and close it once. Now it’s time for someone else with a much bigger hammer to step in.
Restraint (barely) achieved.
