OHL suspensions flipping ridiculous

Five games for flicking a foam puck into stands sets an absurd precedent

Let’s play a little game, shall we?

We’ll give you three scenarios. Infractions, we’ll call them just for purposes of authenticity. You pick which one led to a fivegame suspension in the Ontario Hockey League. A penalty which could affect a young man’s eligibility to play for Canada in the world junior tournament.

1. A player drank Pepsi on the bench which is not a product licensed with the league.

2. A player flipped a foam puck that had been tossed onto the ice to someone in the stands.

3. A player stepped on the ice to begin his warmup before the Zamboni gates closed.

All benign, right? All harmless. Docking anyone even one game for any of these — let alone possibly missing part of the kid’s dream tournament — would be the height of overzealous heavy-handedness. So it’s a trick question, right? None are real.

Wrong. Number 2 actually did lead to a suspension. A fivegame suspension. Honestly. A few days ago, Team Canada hopeful Owen Tippett of the Mississauga Steelheads had a foam puck land at his feet during a game. He then flipped it into the crowd, as one might do. Seems a reasonable response. We’re talking about a foam puck, after all.

Yet, the OHL office sees a need for discipline. Recognizing the obvious danger of having an ob- ject as hazardous as this squishy disc crash into someone’s face at terminal velocity and the likelihood this could shatter their bones leading to a massive lawsuit that could cripple the league, the folks in charge of punitive actions sprung into action and told Tippett to watch the next five games from the press box. As per league policy.

It’s worth noting that during the Chuck-a-Puck promotion at games — many OHL teams do this regularly — fans whip these same foam pucks onto the ice from all over the arena. Some (gasp!) don’t make it all the way to the ice surface and occasionally (double gasp!) hit people in the front rows.

Anyway, i f this leaguesanctioned activity is safe enough to enjoy at the rink, how does a player lightly lofting a puck into the stands suddenly become a hazard worthy of supplementary discipline? Amazingly, it gets goofier. Two weeks ago, Flint goalie Luke Cavallin was assessed a game misconduct and later given five games of his own for flipping a puck into the stands after a goal was scored on him. Five games. Last week, Kitchener’s Riley Damiani got the same sentence for the same infraction.

All three will have received longer timeouts than Guelph’s Barrett Kirwin and Barrie’s Aidan Brown recently got for slew-footing, which is truly dangerous behaviour. They got just two games each.

And the nasty puck flippers got more games on their suspension than Windsor’s Nathan Staios received for a check to the head, which is supposed to be the real no-no in hockey. He got only four.

Worse, Tippett only has three games before the world junior tournament where he’s seen as a lock for the roster and likely a top-line winger. Meaning he might have to sit for a couple games if the IIHF upholds the suspension. For flicking a foamfreakin’-puck.

This makes sense to someone?

Once you’ve brought down the hammer for an infraction this innocuous, the precedent now exists. There’s little wiggle room next time. So down the home stretch when playoff spots are on the line, you’ll have to be equally muscular or look thoroughly inconsistent. Or worse, in the playoffs.

Yeah, rules are rules and they exist for good reasons.

But surely there’s a place for common sense, too.