Ryan: Chris doesn’t deserve ‘witch hunt’
RYAN FINNERTY believes Braehead Clan ace Chris Frank has been the victim of a ‘witch hunt’ following last weekend’s 3-1 win over Edinburgh Capitals.
During the EIHL leaders’ victory at the Braehead Arena last Saturday the American was involved in a collision with Caps teenager Sean Beattie.
It was a hit that resulted in the young Scot leaving the ice before being rushed to hospital on Monday suffering concussion while Frank was given a game penalty for his part in the incident.
Following a review of the hit, the EIHL Department of Player Safety deemed the challenge as fair and decreed that no further action be taken.
Despite that, head coach Finnerty has claimed his player has been targeted in the wake of the row.
And while he admits Frank must tread a fine line if he is to be a key player for Clan, he said: “There has been a lot of talk about the young guy, and first of all we all feel bad he got hurt.
“But I was surprised to see him on the ice for warm-ups the following night. I’m not sure our concussion protocol would have allowed a kid to do anything for three or four days if he’d been knocked out the night before.
“You can’t fight through it, that’s for sure.”
He added: “I don’t know if their owner is not happy with the situation, but of course they are going to feel it was a bad hit because he got hurt.
“But hockey is a fast, tough sport, and I don’t make any calls for a witch hunt to go out against Chris Frank.
“I think he is getting a lot of unwanted attention. A lot of the time he doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt, but that is something he is going to have to adapt to.
“We don’t look back and I suggest Edinburgh do the same.”
Looking ahead to tonight’s top of the table meeting in Belfast against the Giants, Finnerty added: “They are a good hockey team and I expect them to come out hard.
“It’s a long travel day for our guys, but we had success the last time we were there and we want to continue that.”