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Six-game ban for Flames’ Kostopoulos the right call

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك Six-game ban for Flames’ Kostopoulos the right call

CALGARY — Tom Kostopoulos's time fit the crime.

Four. Five. Six. Seven. You can dither about what's fair, but any one of that number would've worked as a suspension for his jaw-snapping hit on Detroit Red Wings defenceman Brad Stuart Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

In Calgary, they're incredulous. In Detroit, they'll think he got off easy.

It is ever thus.

As it stands, though, the Flames' fourth-line winger will sit half a dozen and forfeit $29,569 US

Let's get this out of the way early: The self-serving argument that the Red Wings' defenceman, casting his reel for a skipping puck beside his own net, should have "had his head up", was in some twisted way in the wrong in this nasty affair — turning the perpetrator into the victim being the oldest defence-attorney parlour trick in the courtroom dodge — is at best reprehensible, at worst, obscene.

Stuart will miss six to eight weeks as a result of Kostopoulos's shoulder shiver. So what if the damage didn't require surgery.

The man has a couple of cracks in his jaw, isn't that enough?

Apparently not.

"We strongly disagree, not only with the length of the suspension, but also with the fact that Tom was suspended," said Flames' acting GM Jay Feaster in a prepared statement. "While we are sorry the player was injured, we maintained in the hearing the hit was a legal check. The player was batting at the puck and Tom hit him in the chest and finished his check through him. He did not target the head, and we do not believe the head was the initial point of contact."

Mistake us for a tree-huggin', recycle-advocatin', why-can't-we-be-friends? softy, and fully acknowledging that everyone (us included) liberally enjoys the visceral physicality of the sport, but legal jolts to the chest area don't fracture people's mandibles in two places.

He didn't cave in the man's sternum, he busted his jaw.

For those who actually believe there's a connection, there must be a Rock 'em Sock 'em DVD in a bargain bin somewhere near you.

If Atlanta's Ben Eager is slapped with four games for sucker-punching chatterbox Colby Armstrong with his glove on — Armstrong, by the way, didn't miss any time — then six games for Kostopoulos, not exactly virginal to these sorts of incidents, is hardly out of whack.

Kostopoulos took a direct but cross-country route to get at Stuart, then leaned upwards at his head. Watch the clip again. Remove all emotion from judgment. He actually raises his left arm on impact, launches himself into an opponent in an extremely unguarded position. Stuart did not have possession of the puck. Nor was he caught "admiring his pass" as old-timers love to say. Neither was he bending down, placing himself at undue risk.

So, uh, where's the issue here?

Sure the league's all over the map when it comes to discipline, wildly erratic, and you can sit around and play the hard-done-by/what-about-that-other-incident? game into the early hours of next week, but that doesn't change the evidence in this particular case.

"A number of factors were considered in reaching this decision," explained NHL vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell in levying his verdict. "Kostopoulos delivered a blow to the head of an unsuspecting and vulnerable player. As well, he targeted the head of his opponent and, while the hit was not from the blindside, the head was the principle point of contact. The fact that Brad Stuart was not in possession of the puck when the blow was delivered and the serious nature of the player's injury were also considered in my decision."

Kostopoulos, meanwhile, was also pleading email innocence Sunday.

"I'm extremely disappointed in the league's ruling as I believe I have not done anything illegal," he said in his prepared statement. "I'm sorry that Brad was hurt on the play and I hope he returns to play soon, but it was never my intention to injure him and I definitely did not target the head. I maintain that I delivered a legal check to an opponent playing the puck. While I am upset with the league's decision, I will serve the suspension in preparation for my return to the lineup to help my team."

We'll grudgingly give him the intent-to-injure part of the summation (although he really does hone in like a heat-seeking missile) but that doesn't alter the fact that Kostopoulos propelled upwards, towards the head area, and caused serious damage.

It's too bad that he has to miss time just as he's started to find a niche on this team. But it's his own fault. And who'd you rather be for the next little while, him or Stuart?

Picture for a moment, say, Mark Giordano or Jay Bouwmeester down on all fours Friday night, blood from the mouth and the remainder of his regular season lopped to nothing.

Flames fans would be yowling for disembowelment, followed by the installation of the death penalty.

Sorry, you can't pick and choose punishment based on rooting interest.

So, please, stow any and all righteous indignation.

Calgary Herald

gjohnson@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald



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