ecbm wrote:I can believe he had his bell rung and was woozy (probably the "indefinite" part of the suspension is to consider whether tests show he has a concussion) but still...how is this the action of a guy who's woozy? He doesn't fall over, or skate aimlessly, or try to get onto the wrong bench or anything loopy but rather...he hits a ref? I'd probably throw the book at him too. The only thing that gives me pause is that it was so un-subtle. Look how high his hands get.
I'd definitely advise him to change his story and say that the whole "I had my head down" line was a product or being out of it. His head is up the whole time he approaches the bench so that doesn't work as a defense. Probably I could believe it if he said: I wanted to bump him so he'd get out of my way as I went to the bench but he was skating backward and I was dizzy so I ran into him harder than I intended.
No, his head WAS down at first.
And when he does raise his head up, we can't see his eyes, he could be looking down or wherever. So that's up for debate.
But like I said, based on his reaction when he is about to collide with the official, it obvious to me that he was suprised to see him there and got his hands and stick up to protect himself as he tried to stop and sidestep him.
If he just wanted to maliciously run over the official, he wouldn't have reacted the way he did when he made contact.
I don't know if you have ever played hockey before, but I imagine myself in that situation and that's just how I feel I would have reacted as well. The hands and stick come up to protect yourself and you push off, that's a typical reaction of a player to a collision that isn't seen until the last second...which I have had happen more times than I care to count.
