Sounds like a wild one last night in Lethbridge, with a brawl in the final minute of the game between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.
Nothing particularily unusual about a brawl in the WHL, but what IS noteworthy is that apparently Dwight King and Craig Orfino of Lethbridge left the bench to engage in the fighting. King was unhappy about Tigers tough guy Matt McCue fighting non-fighter Colton Sceviour in the brawl, and jumped off the Canes bench to fight McCue.
In the NHL, leaving the bench to fight is an automatic 10 game suspension for the first guy off the bench and 5 games for every subsequent player. No exceptions. Orfino didn't actually fight (no fighting major anyway) so he might not get hit so hard, but if the WHL uses the NHL's rules here, King will be gone for 10 games. I get the whole defending-your-teammate rationale, but is losing one of their best players for 10 games really something the Hurricanes need right now as they try to claw their way up the Eastern conference standings down the stretch?
UPDATE: video of the brawl has been posted to YouTube now. Looks to me like Orfino was first off the bench.
2 comments:
Next time jut score the empty net goal instead of slowing down, looking around and show boating. In my opinion both King and Orfino should get 10 game suspenions, the fights were over, until those 2 started then again.
Brian in Sherwood
Players slow down a game all the time, especially when they have the lead or when there is too much pressure in their zone. What is wrong with killing off a few more seconds on the clock? This would be a non-issue if it wasn't Beach, and likely praised as a smart play if it had been another player. No doubt suspensions are coming, but Medicine Hat needs to accept responsibility for starting this. As a reminder, McCue is approaching 700 PIM in the WHL. Do you think that was a factor?
Post a Comment