According to a few Boston Bruins hockey blogs and news sources Boston Bruin's defenseman Aaron Ward will play in game six against the Carolina Hurricanes. Colin Campbell must have went to the same school as Greg Shepherd and Bruce McLeod because they never seem to rule with an consistency in any of their rulings. If this had been Milan Lucic and he had sucker punched Eric Staal or Cindy Crosby there would have been a long suspension.
Thankfully for the Boston Bruins, defenseman Aaron Ward is OK and will play in game 6.
TSN and NBC analyst Pierre McGuire reported on “Melnick In the Afternoon” on the Team 990 in Montreal on Monday that Ward’s injury is not “as serious as they thought” and that he will be ready to go for Game 6. It is unknown if the Bruins will still call up another defenseman from Providence as insurance.
The NHL rescinded the automatic suspension that Scott Walker received as a result of the instigator penalty assessed to him with 2:47 remaining in the third period of Sunday’s game.
“We respectfully disagree with the NHL’s ruling to rescind the automatic suspension to Scott Walker, but we will abide by the league’s ruling,” Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said in a statement.
While the Bruins took the high road in regard to the NHL’s decision, they surely aren’t happy about what transpired.
“I don’t care what people say [that] Ward should’ve protected himself,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “He had no intention of getting involved. We asked our guys to stay composed and not fall into that trap, and he just did that. A guy with Walker’s experience should know better than to sucker punch a guy, and again, this is an area that I don’t deal with. I deal with my team and let other people deal with the situation.”
NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell deemed Walker’s actions did not warrant the mandatory one-game suspension, and Walker and the Hurricanes agreed with Campbell.
Let me get this right; saying sloppy seconds gets you suspended for 6 games, ok. So which is worse a crude statement or punching an un-expecting opponent? You would think the sucker punch right? Apparently it is ok to sucker punch your opponent possibly breaking his face and causing him to miss a game and possibly the rest of the series. Mind you this thug hit his opponent while his hands were down, a violation of the code. That gets you nothing from the league office, Nada.
So are you confused yet? Let’s go further; you can sucker punch your opponent but don’t you dare cross check an opposing player that will get you a one game suspension. The NHL league office has no credibility and it is time for the NHL to replace Colin Campbell with someone that is going to make consistent and fair decision there are two or three sets of rules in the NHL if you’re a goon or fourth line player you get suspended but if you‘re a star player you can get away with murder. Just ask Ovechkin and Crosby.
Lastly, Scott Walker is a knuckle head of course he accepts his fine, it is a drop in the bucket for him. What is he going to say? I don't my light punishment. What a joke! I listened to the Hurricanes homer announcers the first two games and all they did was whine about the Boston Bruins. Well they are really going to be unhappy now because they Canes woke up the slumbering bears. Do you think Lucic is going to let Walker get away with his gutless act? NOPE...
BOSTON --- Scott Walker has been fined $2,500 for his incident with Aaron Ward at 17:13 of last night's third period. Walker will not be suspended for Game 6.
"We are satisfied with the league's ruling," said president and GM Jim Rutherford in a statement. "After our team received several punches throughout the series leading up to Game 5, it was a matter of time before one was going to be thrown back."
According to Claude Julien, the Bruins are awaiting results on Ward's left eye.
"I accept the league's decision," Walker said in a statement. "Based on what was said on the ice as I was dropping my gloves, it was my understanding that I was engaged in an altercation."
