This is certainly well deserved. It's nice that the WCHA is finally taking dirty hits seriously.MADISON, Wis. – The Western Collegiate Hockey Association today (March 1) announced it has suspended St. Cloud State University junior hockey player Aaron Marvin for the next three games as a result of his actions in a recent game played at the University of Wisconsin on February 20.
The supplemental disciplinary action was taken after discussions between officials at St. Cloud State University and the WCHA Executive Committee and Commissioner Bruce M. McLeod.
“Player safety is of paramount concern to all of us in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and players are responsible for conducting themselves in a proper manner,” said Nancy Sampson, Faculty Representative from the University of Denver and Chair of the Association and Commissioner McLeod in a joint statement. “Our student-athletes need to make every possible effort to play within the spirit of the rules and know that they will be held accountable for their actions.
“The Association, through its administrators and officials and member team administrators, coaches and student-athletes, will continue to work together to address concerns in a responsible and constructive way.”
One has to wonder if the league had taken the Aaron Marvin hit on Chay Gennoway seriously if Blake Geoffrion would have been injured the way he was.
Edit: Links to the story
Goal Gophers; WCHA suspends St. Cloud State's co-captain
Puck and Bats; WCHA suspends Marvin 3 games (updated)
60 Minutes, No alibis, No Regrets; Erin Marvin Suspended three games
North Dakota Hockey Blog; Marvin suspended three games
Rink and Run; WCHA suspends Marvin
College Hockey News; WCHA Suspends Marvin 3 Games
Western College Hockey; Marvin Suspended Three Games
Grand Forks Herald; HOCKEY: WCHA suspends SCSU's Aaron Marvin for three games
Saint Cloud Times; WCHA suspends SCSU forward Marvin 3 games
Madison.com; Geoffrion returns to practice; St. Cloud's Marvin suspended
The Ciskie Blog; Aaron Marvin First Victim of WCHA Late-Season Crackdown
I do have to say that I am a little surprised by this due to the WCHA's history of dealing with players who conduct themselves in this manner. If memory serves, I think last year, Bruess took three or four knee on knee contact penalties AFTER breaking LaPointe's leg. Which for the record I thought was more of a useless hit than a CFB. Play would have been called dead as soon as LaPointe touched the puck on a delayed penalty. It's a shame that someone else had to miss playing time. And it's even more of a black eye to the league when it's a player, or in this case, players that would showcase our league on a national level.
ReplyDeleteActually I am shocked that the league suspened him that long. Also, it almost appears that the league took the Genoway and Blake Geoffrion hits and doubled down.
ReplyDeleteI think 3 games is excessive. I can see one game, since there was contact to the head, but it was not intentional. It's like they're using him to set an example for everyone and that's BS. The hit would have been legal just a couple of years ago and wasn't an attacke (hands and arms were down) and it was a bad deal that the WI player didn't have his head up and is shorter.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I get it...contact to the head is contact to the head. Meaning, I can see 1 game but not three. Especially since Marvin is not a hack (yes UND people..he is NOT...look at the stats). I can speak from experience in watching my own team that Trevor Breuss WAS a hack last year and deserved every time he was suspended and even HE didn't get 3 games.
The WCHA again proves what a joke they are. They admit the refs on ice missed the call big time...so what is THEIR punishment and when will we see a press release on that?!? Ugh.
Stats don't necessarily reflect if a player is a goon or a thug.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Marvin play numerous times this year and in years past and I can tell you right now that he's not a Goon or a Hack.
ReplyDeleteAlso, before you even go off on me making excuses and wearing red glasses I'm a Maverick fan...not SCSU.
I call them as I see them. Like I said, Bruess last year turned into a hack....Marvin has not.
This what ScoobyDoo said on USCHO: I think there is some validity to this statement: http://tinyurl.com/yf3fkbc
ReplyDeleteMarvin was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The league got blasted for giving him only a game for the Genoway hit and Marvin opened the door for him.
Not only that but there have been some pretty excruciating (legal for the most part) hits to the head, but a hit to the head is supposed to be a penalty.
No surprise this came down.
I'm with Goon on this one. It looks as if they added Geoffrion and Genoway together. Is that enough, Genoway is still out? I say his suspension is right. Next one should be 5 games.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people have an hard time understanding what a dirty player is. A dirty player isn't necessary one that delivers hard checks or is willing to fight.
ReplyDeleteFor want of a better word call that guy a goon.
A dirty player is one that is out to deliver dirty hits that injure people.
That's what we have with Mr. Marvin; a dirty player.
And I disagree completely that Marvin didn't go after Geoffrion's head. He adjusted his shoulder to hit him in the head.
Regarding his stats, who has the most game suspensions in the league for the past several years?
The fact that there wasn't even a penalty called on the play makes me really think that a 3-game suspension is excessive.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, there should have been a suspension of some kind on Marvin when he nailed Genoway from behind, not this.
The fact that the on ice officials screwed up doesn't make the hit ok.
ReplyDeleteOn one of the links goon posted McCleod was quoted saying that in November the NCAA reinforced their no hits to the head rule.
Hits like this need to go away.
I'm sure that there wouldn't have been this kind of suspension if Marvin wasn't a repeat offender.
Whistler,
ReplyDeletehave you ever played hockey? honestly? Like I stated in another post, I had my jaw broken when I was hit by a shoulder to the head hit in high school. Let me say for the record this is ten times slower than D-1 hockey. And if you had ever played before you would know that there was no way that guy could have avoided the hit, unless he just simply did not try to hit me. Simply put I got caugfht with my head down, and my head was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Same thing with Geoffreon hit! Once you commit to hit someone there is no adjsuting for someones head. That is the most proposterous statement I have heard in a very long time. One last question, should Marvin just stop hitting? Because, like I said there is absolutely no avoiding hitting someone in teh head moving forward when you stand 4-6 inches taller than everyone else on the ice. It is inevitable. His shoulder is head height for 1/3 of the guys in the league. No offense, but a goon is what Brad May did to Kim Johnson in the playoffs 3 years ago, not what Marvin did to Geoffreon.
SIMPLE SCENERIO: Player has his head down (bending over). Defenseman steps up and hits him, but accidentially hits him in the head. Should this be a suspention? This is exactly what happened in the Marvin case. If so, this is a very dangerous precident to set and could lead to some very good players being suspended for big games. Yes even UND players (see knight hit--in my opinion clean--but no different than marvins hit)
ReplyDeleteBaloney, he was head hunting. Anyone with the ability to watch the video would see that he shifted so that he hit him flush on the jaw.
ReplyDeleteso you are honestly saying that at full speed that he stopped and thought "oh I think I am going to hit him in the head"? Man I understand that you are still pissed about Genoway, but you need some serious perspective on this one. Eaves even said that he got caught with his head down, and that 2 years ago we would not even had a second though about this hit. penalty in todays rules---yes! I can even understand a 1 game suspension to make a point. But three games for something that was clearly unitentional is a joke. Now the hit against Genoway could have waranted a longer suspension, but making up for it on a hit like this just makes no sense. Like I said, it sets a very scary precidence (sp?). I hope this will satisfy you all that want Marvin's head!
ReplyDeleteScoobyDoo was almost right on.
ReplyDelete3 games isn't an excessive suspension though, LGM. It's just misplaced.
The 3 gamer should have occurred after Genoway's injury.
I'm not sure Marvin would go after Geoffrion like he did if he knew that the league would only punish him further than 3 games.
After all, the worst case for Marvin and SCSU before the hit was that he'd have to sit a maximum of 2 games. Bruess didn't have to sit more than 2. Smith for UW didn't have to sit more than 2. Paukovich only got 2.
Why would Marvin fear anything worse?
So, now, you have precedent. You must injure two players, at least one severe enough to miss significant time, in a similar manner in order to garner more than 2 game suspensions.
And McLeod isn't fooling anyone with his comment if it takes 2 injuries.
Good suspension length, far too late in coming.
You have to wonder if the two buffoon's wearing red stripes on their arms are going to face any music or not?
ReplyDeleteGoon,
ReplyDeleteHave you ever reffed before. It is not that easy! You can not cal a penalty if you did not see it. I am not a huge fan of teh WCHA refs, but overall it is a very tough position and you have no idea what position they were in. Do we really want to start suspending refs for missed calls? It is a very fast game...and youa re never going to nail every call! Just an opinion.
Red Wing,
ReplyDeleteMy only question back to you would be "should it matter if the player gets hurt or not"? Either it is, or it is not a penalty! Whether a guy gets hurt or not should have a baring on a possible suspension.
Why did Aaron Marvin get involved in two "dirty" hit situations? Was he just that unlucky? I also doubt there was serious intent in the Geoffrion case, but still, how come no one else in the league is wrapped up in a mess like this?
ReplyDeleteBoosh good question, maybe he is unlucky? You going to the final five again this year?
ReplyDeleteBoys...I will not dispute that he has made his own bed on this situation! HE is getting looked at closer because of the Genoway play...butmy only point this whole time is that the Geoffrion play is not dirty. The only thing I get upset with is the fact that people call that a dirty hit when it clearly is not. Also, I hope you realize that there are hits to teh head that happen every game, and as long as a player does not get hurt nobody sais anything. Is hittting the head a penalty or not? It should not matter if someone gets hurt. Good example would have been the knight hit. No one would have even blinked if COnnolly does not go down. I think we can all agree on that. If Geoffrion gets up, there is no reprucusion in this case either!
ReplyDeleteI love stirring the pot.
ReplyDeleteEffective immediately every player in the WCHA, Hockey East, and the CCHA; half the players in the ECAC, AHA, and CHA are suspended for the remainder of the season and the playoff for contact to the head! The rest of the players will be suspended as soon as we are able to see any of those teams play!
Contact to the head is inevitable; it is attached to the body you are purposely slamming into. There needs to be a reasonable line drawn here, this any contact to the head business is BS. it needs to read more like contact directed at the head, contact with only the head, and contact to the head with intent to injure (figure of speech referring to an elbow, cross check, or ect. to the head that has a strong likelihood of causing an injury), because sometimes intent is hard to judge especially at game speed without replay. It needs to be enforced even if it is an accident (just like high sticking) and it should be reviewed by the league weather it's a penalty in the game or not. I realize that not every game is recorded quality video, but that's no excuse, start now and improve from here on out. Repeat offences should be looked at as a body of work, even if said player is not a quote unquote dirty player. We can not allow this to continue it is too important; Marvin was obviously made an example of. Something had to give and SCSU got screwed, but so did UND and possibly UW because this should have been the standard five effin' years ago or maybe even longer! This will affect every team eventually both positively and negatively period. That’s all I have time for now, but I’m not done with this one and I’m mad as all fury below. Or maybe not so much ;-p
I think it is ridiculous to think that after hitting Genoway that Marvin would go out of his way at the last second to line up another guy's head. Give me a break! He is not a monster and seemed very contrite regarding the Genoway hit.
ReplyDeleteNone of you are mind-readers and it is completely absurd for anybody to assume they can tell with any certainty that he was lining up Geoffrion.
...Marvin is tall and as a result his should is going to be at some players' head level. This has been ahppening for years at all levels.
Charlie, I didn't make up what's on the video.
ReplyDeleteNow, I do like hockey the way it is, and I like seeing a hard hit as much as the next guy, but really, why is it necessary to send a guy to the hospital, clean hit or not, to win a hockey game? This is one of those things that can't really be solved completely, and I don't want to see the day where hitting is so strictly regulated that the game gets boring, but I don't get why some players need to end up in situations where they're hurting other people. Is the desire to win so strong that you don't care about other people? This isn't a problem that needs to be regulated by the WCHA, its a problem that needs to be regulated by decent human beings. I know I'm going to get a lot of "adrenaline" and "intensity" and "it all happens so fast" comments, but if you're not a complete douchebag, you realize that you can hit a guy at half the force of a hit that would injure him and still break up a play, you don't have to be out there looking to hit anything that moves as absolutely hard as possible.
ReplyDeleteBOOSH, great post the best check is one that separates the player from the puck, I am for hitting but when you start smoking people with elbow to the back of the head that is where I draw the line. I think the biggest problem in college hockey is the DQ for fighting rule, if you lost that rule and allowed the game to police it's self you would have a lot less of these incidents, also there is a lack of respect for a person competitor and I blame the full cage.
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective Boosh.
ReplyDeleteJoe - And if video shows that the ref is watching the play as it happens?
Don Adam has done that twice. He watched as Bina got plastered and as Genoway got hit. Both times he decided to give less penalties than deserved. Adam gave Paukovich a 2 minute boarding penalty.... a call to this day I don't understand, injury or not.
The Genoway hit was, well, like Boosh said, 2000000000000% avoidable by Marvin. Hepp had Genoway covered to the outside. Marvin was in position to make a play if Genoway went any direction except behind the net. IIRC, if Genoway went behind the net, he'd have limited options because of coverage on the other side. Instead, Genoway sent the puck behind the net because he had no play and, before Genoway could react, Marvin skated AROUND Hepp and made Genoway pay.
No official can make suspensions happen, but they can enforce the rule book. Genoway's hit was a TEXTBOOK Crosscheck major. You could even call it a CFB Major if you wanted, but it WAS a Major.
Intent to Injure is a penalty in the league. Well, if a major penalty occurs and the major results in an injury...what argument does the culprit have? I did hit the guy dangerously and illegally but I didn't mean to injure him? That's a lot like, "Officer, I know I have a knife in my hand and blood all over my body...I know I'm standing right next to a dead guy that might have been stabbed, but I didn't intend to kill the guy!"
Marvin deserved this suspension for the Genoway hit. The fact he only got 1 game shows that McLeod is full of crap about protecting the players in the WCHA. The fact that he now cares shows exactly what his method is:
Do little or nothing until ABSOLUTELY FORCED TO by the media, the public, and the NCAA. This isn't new. The very same thing happened in the Paukovich-Bina disaster.