Edmonton will have to play the first two games of their series with the Kootenay Ice without the services of one of their better forwards. Henrik Samuelsson has been suspended for two games for a clipping major he incurred on Saturday night against Red Deer when he submarined Rebels captain Adam Kambeitz. You can see a video of the hit here.
Samuelsson being suspended for two playoff games probably means he might have gotten double or triple that if this were still the regular season. In just a half season in the WHL, this is Samuelsson's third suspension already. If he doesn't clean up his act, these suspensions are going to get worse and worse; he's 17 years old and already considered a "repeat offender" in the eyes of the league.
I really hate to make a comparison to his dad's reputation since everyone should be entitled to forge their own way without that kind of baggage. But Henrik is certainly showing signs of being a chip off the old blockhead in the cheap shot department. His three suspensions are for charging, kneeing, and now clipping - and those of us over 30 will certainly remember his dad had a thing for low hits and knee-on-knee hits too. Ask Cam Neely about that.
He's a good young player (23 points in 28 games attests to that) who is a power forward style player and needs to be using his body. He just needs to clean up the hits or he'll be dogged by ever-worsening suspension trouble.
1 comment:
monkey see monkey do and he watched a real monkey for a long time
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