The NHL Suspends Andrew Ference for three games

Brendan Shanahan the NHL's Senior VP Player Safety has suspended Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference for three games for a dangerous hit on former Wisconsin Badger Ryan McDonagh. I believe this is the right call and it will be interesting to see if Shanahan is consistent with his ruling in the future.

I always laugh when I see fans of other NHL teams saying that the Boston Bruins get all of the breaks from the NHL, they are now the most suspended team by the NHL. Apparently, the charge that Colin Campbell's son Greg Campbell plays for the Boston Bruins and because of that fact, they get away with bloody murder. That theory has had holes hot through and isn't holding up anymore.

NEW YORK -- Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference has been suspended for three games without pay for boarding New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh during NHL Game #699 in Boston on Saturday, Jan. 21, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and based on his average annual salary, Ference will forfeit $36,486.48. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

The incident occurred at 1:50 of overtime. A major penalty and game misconduct for charging were assessed on the play.

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Compare and contrast

This is video proof to prove the hypocrisy of the Vancouver Canucks fans and the Vancouver media. There are a lot of hockey fans that whine about every thing the Boston Bruins do. This just proves that the Vancouver Canucks are just as bad as the team that they are whining about.

There are fans that think that there's actually a league conspiracy and that the NHL favors the Boston Bruins because Colin Campbell's son Greg Campbell plays for the Boston Bruins.

This video is from last years Stanley Cup Finals in game one where Vancover Canucks Defenseman Dan Hamhuis hits Boston Bruins forward  Milan Lucic low just like Brad Marchand did on Sami Salo and in the process Hamhuis injured himself. There was no penalty on the play, nor was there was there a suspension. Why the double standard? Yet there are fans from the Canucks and other fan bases as well as people from the hockey media calling for Brad Marchand to be suspended.  Why wasn't Hamhuis' hit suspension worthy? Where is the out cry? You can imagine the whining if Marchand isn't suspended or at least fined. [Box Score]

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Bruins have a free pass; No supplemental discipline for Burrows

Image via WikipediaFor the self congratulatory hockey pundits that had said there is a conspiracy for the Boston Bruins because Colin Campbell’s son Greg Campbell plays for the Boston Bruins; that conspiracy has been proven to be unfounded and has been shot full of holes to boot. Vancouver Canucks "hack" Alex Burrows will not be suspended for biting Patrice Bergeron.

VANCOUVER -- National Hockey League Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy today announced that there will be no supplemental discipline on Vancouver Canucks forward Alex Burrows for an alleged incident in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

"After reviewing the incident, including speaking with the on-ice officials, I can find no conclusive evidence that Alex Burrows intentionally bit the finger of Patrice Bergeron," Murphy's statement

Tin foil hats are coming out in Vancouver!!! More whining about the officials…

If you haven’t seen this article you might want to take a look at it, it’s worth a look due to it’s ridiculous nature. All season long Boston Bruins fans have heard fans from fans of other NHL teams whining about how the Boston Bruins have gotten all of the breaks hen it comes to disciplinary rulings because Greg Campbell son of Colin Campbell plays or the Boston Bruins.

Tony Gallagher; The Providence --- We're going to ask this question now, once and for all and then try to hold our peace until the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs. We can't say forever hold our peace, but for a while at least.

Straight up, can the Vancouver Canucks get a fair shake with the officiating in the final? Consider Gregory Campbell plays for the Boston Bruins and his father Colin Campbell is senior vice-president in charge of hockey operations for the NHL. What father doesn't want to have his son's name on the Stanley Cup? And of course what is so stunning about this is that the NHL fails to perceive any conflict of interest whatsoever, even though there is no shortage of lawyers running about the head offices in New York. At least that's the NHL claim.

During the season the biggest problems arose on supplementary discipline, but that's not the consideration here. After all, you only get a one-game suspension for any transgression during the playoffs, and in most cases there are no suspensions whatsoever. You'd have to punch a fan in the face repeatedly to get two or more, so barring some strange circumstances this is not the issue.

If Raffi Torres ran over Patrice Bergeron, for example, Campbell would not make a decision on supplementary discipline because the Bruins are involved. Instead, his best friend Mike Murphy with whom he works every day would make the decision, if that makes you feel any better. Of course, that's a total joke in it's own right as well, but it's not likely to be an issue.

The problem is the on-ice officials. They are appointed by a department for which Campbell has responsibility and the entire progress of their careers is totally controlled by these people. They decide when the officials work, how much they work and as such how much they get paid.

For each round in the playoffs a referee works, he gets an extra $18,000 over and above his yearly salary. For a linesman it's $12,000. So if you please the powers that be, you work lots. If you don't please them for whatever reason, you don't get to work in the playoffs. The officials working the final are the guys the league thinks are the best and as we've seen from the exchange of leaked memos a while back, Campbell can often be involved in those discussions.

And make no mistake, we're not talking about any communication between these respective parties at any time. There's no conspiracy. The officials know what their bosses need and know how to please them.

Now any official who happens to displease the powers for whatever reason—serious mistakes we'd like to believe—could find himself not working the final all of a sudden (although that wouldn't affect his pay this year) and his employment considerations for the future would be open to question. Maybe he gets no playoff work the following year. Maybe it could be so serious that his contract might be re-considered in the future. The bottom line is these guys in the hockey operations department—of which one is the father of one of the games' participants-- control every aspect of an official's employment.

No, no conflict of interest here.

First off; this past season Mike Murphy has dealt with the Boston Bruins during their supplemental discipline hearings because Greg Campbell is the son of Colin Campbell and he plays for the Boston Bruins. Personally, I think this is just more of the Vancouver Canucks fans, media and their front office staff trying to get the upper hand on the Boston Bruins. The comments to this article are equally interesting as well… EDIT: It’s being reported that Colin Campbell is resigning as NHL disciplinarian and being replaced by Brendan Shanahan.

Related articles

• Colin Campbell to step down as NHL disciplinarian: report (thestar.com)
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Thursday night at the fights Boston and Dallas...

Check out this video, this is old old time hockey between the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars. One second into the period Boston's Greg Campbell and Dallas hack and menace Steve Ott drop the gloves, Ott catches Campbell with an elbow. Next not to be out done, Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton works Stars punching bag Krys Barch like a clown sending Barch to the locker room for repairs. Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid show Brian Sutherby why he shouldn't dropped gloves four seconds into the game. Then after a few goals former Wisconsin Badger Adam Burish gets his ass handed to him by Andrew Ference, wow what a fight. Oh yeah and the Bruins won the game as well 6-3.

Here is the call of the three fights to open the game by my favorite homer Jack Edwards. The game wasn't 10 minutes old and there was four fights, and the Bruins had a 3-0 lead.