Former Badger Rene Bourque Suspended by the NHL

Calgary Flames forward Rene Bourque became the second player to be suspended by the NHL today.I think the NHL's Senior Vice President of Player Safety made the right decision in this case, because Bourque hit Seabrook with a check that the league is trying to eliminate from the game.

Checking Bourque's player profile from TSN, it would appear that this is the first time that Bourque has been suspended by the NHL. In other words this isn't Matt Cooke we are talking about.

NEW YORK -- Calgary Flames forward Rene Bourque has been suspended, without pay, for two games for checking Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook from behind during NHL Game #479 in Chicago on Sunday, Dec. 18, 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, Bourque will forfeit $36,036.04. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

The incident occurred at 15:25 of the first period. A major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct was assessed on the play.

Bourque will miss games Dec. 20 vs. Minnesota and Dec. 22 vs. Detroit. He will be eligible to return Dec. 23 at Vancouver.

So how long are the Sabres going to whine about the Lucic hit.

We should have called the Lucic hit on Miller shot heard round the world. Every since Milan Lucic ran into or over Ryan Miller ("potato potato" right) the hockey pundits are gnashing their teeth over what should've happened to Milan Lucic.   

Now you can expect the next player that has a major collision with a goalie to get the book thrown at them. While I am not suggesting that we run goalies; collisions between players and goalies are going to happen, one might say that it goes with the territory, being a goalie is hazardous duty. I might even call it collateral damage. 

If a goaltenders comes that far out of their crease to play a puck, their stepping into the kitchen, to borrow a football term. I think Miller is in a way part culpable for his injury. Does it make things right, not at all, there is going to be some hurt feelings, you can count on it. I think the rematch of this game is going to be a must see and there will be a lot of DVR set just in case something happens and there will, because the "hockey code" demands it.

Dan Rosen - NHL.com --- Buffalo GM Darcy Regier suggested that a majority of the general managers have told him that Lucic should have been suspended.

"Well, based on our conversations in the room, I personally believe it would be," Regier said. "It is not just my feeling, it is the feelings of my counterparts."

Shero suggested that at the very least a major penalty could have been called on Lucic.

Rule 42.3 on charging allows for a major penalty to be called at the discretion of the official "based on the degree of violence of the check." There is a similar stipulation associated with Rule 69.2 on interference with a goalkeeper.

Shanahan confirmed to NHL.com that he did have a discussion with the League's Director of Officiating, Terry Gregson. The conclusion was that a major penalty may have been an appropriate call in that case, but again it is up to the discretion of the on-ice officials.

Right on cue you could have predicted the response. Post decision from Shanahan, all of the arm chair disciplinarians wanted blood and when they got none they went off. Much to their dismay, NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan failed to give a suspension or even a fine to Milan Lucic. They felt like they had been cheated, they wanted their pound of flesh. Almost on cue, you could hear the howling from Montreal, Buffalo and points elsewhere. The Big Bad Bruins had beaten the wrap again.

Then the tin foil hats came out and suggested as long as Greg Campbell is a member of the Boston Bruins nothing is going to happen to any of the Bruins players. They claim its because Colin Campbell is part of the front office stat. I am not lying, I saw something along those line from a beat writer of a major metro newspaper say that. 

Today we see Ryan Miller still rehashing the non-punishment with the media. My question is, how long are the Sabres and Ryan Miller going to complain about this. They would be better off to challenge Lucic to a fight and be done with it. Now they have this hanging over their head. Think about this, with one collision the Lucic and the Boston Bruins are in the Sabres heads. 

Ugly stick swinging incident in the OHL

Wow! This was an ugly incident that took place in the OHL last night. How long of a suspension do you think the London Knights Ryan Rupert gets for his slash on Nick Cousins? s/t Neate Sager

Ryan Pyette, The London Free Press --- As time expired on the 'Hounds' 4-3 victory over the Canadian Hockey League's top-ranked team before 9,046 Friday night at the John Labatt Centre, Sault Ste. Marie's pesky forward Nick Cousins taunted the Knights, earning a retaliatory slash from Ryan Rupert.

That triggered a series of end-of-game fights, serious bad blood and sets the stage for the Knights' final two regular season games against the 'Hounds - both in January in Sault Ste. Marie.

Cousins received a misconduct for inciting and Rupert received a major penalty for his slash.

There are suspensions in store for the multiple scraps. Both teams stayed on the ice surface an additional five minutes after the final buzzer as a full-scale brawl threatened to break out.

2011-12 NHL rule changes

Brendan Shanahan and of the NHL and Mathieu Schneider of the NHLPA explain the rule changes for the 2011-12 season. The rule that one that everyone is concerned about is rule 48, illegal hits to the head. Gone are the words, lateral and blindside, also, the head can not be target or a principle point of contact. If a player puts themselves in a vulnerable position that will be taken into consideration as well. There is also some flexibility to call a 2 minute penalty instead of a 5 minute major.

Related articles

• Study: 1 in 10 NHL concussions caused by fights (crawlnet.wordpress.com)
• Study: 1 in 10 NHL concussions caused by fights (espn.go.com)
• NHL Experiments With New Rules at Offseason Camp (nytimes.com)

RDO camp will allow NHL to experiment with rules

Image via WikipediaNext week the NHL School will have another Research, Development and Orientation Camp so they can test potential rule changes, unfortunately there will be many of the same crappy rules the NCAA Division I ice hockey committee tried to ram down our throats last summer.

A few of the things I have noticed is that NHL wants to experiment with during their RDO camp; the NHL in their infinite wisdom wants to try the horrible No icing permitted while shorthanded, this is that rule where a team that is on penalty kill can’t ice the puck. The genius that came up with this rule should be rebuked and publicly scorned and the NHL should not enact this rule. The NHL also wants to go to a no-touch icing which is an awesome idea, because it would cut down on the amount of injuries that are suffered when two players rush to the end boards to contest an icing.

On the flip side, the NHL wants to experiment with the Hybrid icing rule as well. As college hockey fans saw last season there appeared to be no consistency in how that rule was called, you can only hope that the NHL officials can get that rule right if they decided to use it. Link to the Story on NHL.COM

Some of the rules that are being proposed

• No-touch icing
• No line change for team committing an offside
• Faceoff variations (penalty line for center committing an infraction; all faceoffs in circles; same linesman drops puck for all faceoffs)
• No icing permitted while shorthanded
• Verification line (additional line behind the goal line)
• Overtime variation (four minutes of 4-on-4 followed by three minutes of 3-on-3)
• Shootout variation (5-man shootout precedes sudden-death format)
• Shallow-back nets
• After offside, faceoff goes back to offending team's end
• Faceoff variations (both centers must come set on whistle; all faceoffs in circles; same linesman drops puck for all face-offs)
• Delayed penalty variation (offending team must exit zone in possession of puck to stop play)
• Changes only permitted on-the-fly (except after goals and upon manpower changes)
• Remove trapezoid
• Allow hand passes in all zones
• Overtime variation (switch ends)
• Shootout variation (5-man shootout with repeat players if tied after 5 shooters)
• Thin-netting nets
• 'Hybrid' icing
• Offside variation (offending team can't change and faceoff in its end zone)
• Faceoff variations (player encroaching can't replace thrown-out center, all faceoffs in circles; same linesman drops puck for all faceoffs)
• All penalties to be served in their entirety
• Strict enforcement of goaltenders covering puck outside crease (rule 63.2)
• Bear-hug rule
• Overtime variation (switch ends for four minutes of 4-on-4, followed by three minutes of 3-on-3)
• Shootout variation (3-man shoot out with repeat shooters if tied after 3 shooters)

Related articles

• NHL To Test Radical Rule Changes At Second Annual Research Camp (sbnation.com)
• What they'll be testing out at this summer's NHL Research & Development Camp (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• NHL rule changes (aol.sportingnews.com)

Board of Governors approves changes to two rules

Associated Press

There were two changes to the NHL  rule book;  Rule 48 which covers hits to the head and Rule 41 which covers the penalty for boarding. Some in the past have complained that Rule 48 is too vague and confusing. Now the rule has been changed, to take away the confusion and vagueness, now it doesn't matter hat direction a player comes from to hit an opposition player in the head. On the boarding rule tweak; it now doesn't matter if you check or push a defenseless player into the boards.

Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer   ---- The NHL's Board of Governors on Tuesday approved changes to the wording of Rule 48 that were initially passed by the League's general managers and then the Competition Committee at meetings in Boston during the Stanley Cup Final.

Rule 48 previously provided the on-ice officials with the ability to call a major penalty for any targeted head hit from the lateral or blind side, but the re-written rule no longer includes the words lateral or blind side, and the major penalty provision has been replaced by the minor penalty provision.

"Now, the confusion some of the players have expressed in the past as to what direction they're approaching a player, what direction a player is facing, east, west, north, south, that has all been taken out," said Brendan Shanahan, NHL Senior V.P. of Player Safety and Hockey Operations. "Anywhere on the ice, coming from any direction, you target the head and make it a principle point of contact, you'll be subject to a two-minute penalty on the ice for Rule 48. You'll also be -- as with all two-minute penalties or non-calls -- subject to supplementary discipline."

In addition, Rule 41, which covers boarding, was also changed to read, "A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently or dangerously."

The words "pushes" and "defenseless" were previously not included in the definition of the boarding rule. Defenseless replaced the word vulnerable.

"What we did is we took the onus off the violence of the hit itself and added the word 'push' in there," Shanahan said. "It really has more to do with the violence in the collision with the boards. We don't necessarily think it has to be a violent hit to cause a violent crash, so we broadened the rule by putting in the word 'push.' "

Related articles

• NHL Competition Committee Approves Expansion Of Rule 48 (sbnation.com)
• NHL's competition committee to recommend changes to Rule 48 (theglobeandmail.com)
• NHL's competition committee to recommend changes to head hitting rule (thehockeynews.com)
• Winnipeg NHL approval vote on tap in New York (cbc.ca)