OHL hands down a season suspension

Wow, Branch suspended him for the rest of the year...

http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/ohl-announces-disciplinary-action---game-of-october-30-2009---erie-otters-at-kitchener-rangers-p138647

Is this right? I saw the play, I thought it was a bit much, but nothing that warranted this kind of suspension.

Am I wrong?

I have a feeling the severity of the injury (ie: career threatening) played a big factor in this.

Take the history of Liambas as a player. He played less than 10 games for Erie last year, and in 06/07 and 07/08 averaged 169 Pims with less than 5 points per year.

He clearly is just a player who is on the ice to intimidate other players and doesn't bring any positive benefit to the game. Couple that with the speed at which Liambas threw the hit. That is likely the issue.

A) Get the player who doesn't provide any benefit to his team out of the game
and
B) Send a message to the teams that the OHL isn't going to tolerate players who are on teams to just intimidate.

Branch is known for this type of thing though. He rules with an iron fist. If it gets that out of the game for the most part then I'm OK with it.

Imagine of the NHL handed out a suspension like that for hits like that? I bet that would clean up hits like that pretty quick.

I do too, but you know what... the guy turned. By no means was it malicious, as many people say it is...

WAY too severe. Especially at a very crucial time in the young man's career. A year's suspension in the minors is HUGE, and could ultimately threaten his career as well.

Not to downplay the severity of the victim's injury, or slant him in anyway- but this is a little excessive.

I think this is as much a case of getting a bad apple out of his league than it is the hit itself. Liambas plays the game to end careers. Everything he does is about injurying players, and Branch (I'm guessing) just was waiting for an excuse to kick him out. Now that he has it, he used it and also sends a message that you can hit to hit, but if you are trying to hurt someone (or it is perceived that you are) then you will suffer the consequences.

According to Branch,

Injury factor played a huge part in determining the length of the suspension.

No intent to injure or threat, "what really jumped out to us, was the distance travelled, by michael, and the speed".

"Technically the check wasn't an illegal hit, but it was the speed and distance travelled".

Technically it wasn't illegal? Doesn't the distance traveled make it charging and therefore illegal? Ot is it the hit itself wasn't illegal? Citing the speed is really strange. Are they supposed to move slowly?

I think the best thing Branch could have done is also fine the team for having this guy out there -- the stats don't lie, he's out there for one reason -- intimidation. Just getting him out for a year does not send any message to the team that bullying tactics will not be tolerated.

And, yes, he did turn at the last second, but I can't believe that it's impossible to let up even a little -- at the very least don't follow through the hit by extending your arms to inflict more damage.

What I didn't hear was discussion on whether or not Fanelli's chin strap was done up properly or not. Had that helmet stayed on, this would be a whole different story.

No matter what happens from here on in, when this dude Branch admitted that it wasn't illegal, I think there might be some repercussions. This guy who got suspended sounds like a bad seed, but I still think he's going to hire a lawyer and win an appeal.

Way too harsh. The kid didnt take the other kids helmet off for him. I get, 15-20 games, that would be harsh, send a msg, w/e, but when is hockey going to make the other player accountable for haing his helmet not done up properly, not skating through the ice with his head down, so on.

This goes to show, once again, hockey players and the people in the game are the dumbest group of althetes on the planet. In football if you take your helmet off when on the field of play, the team is penalized... that's forcing guys to take responsibility for themselves. Hockey would never do that or something similar because they expect the rules to protect them.

Sorry the kid got hurt, sorry the kid's career and life could have been taken away, but when is there going to be responsibility on everyone, not just the guys that try to play within the rules.

Truth be told, that hit wasnt even that bad or dirty. Just take hitting out of the OHL already.

wprager wrote:Technically it wasn't illegal? Doesn't the distance traveled make it charging and therefore illegal? Ot is it the hit itself wasn't illegal? Citing the speed is really strange. Are they supposed to move slowly?

I think the best thing Branch could have done is also fine the team for having this guy out there -- the stats don't lie, he's out there for one reason -- intimidation. Just getting him out for a year does not send any message to the team that bullying tactics will not be tolerated.

And, yes, he did turn at the last second, but I can't believe that it's impossible to let up even a little -- at the very least don't follow through the hit by extending your arms to inflict more damage.

The distance has nothing to do with it. You have to stop your stride technically for it not to be charging... like it or not he did glide in there for the most part. You can def make an arguement it was charging but it has nothing to do with the distance travelled, and he didnt leave his feet.

Long story short, the hit wasnt that bad and if it was Taylor Hall giving it out, he might not even get a game for it. I said it before, I feel bad for the kid but that was a combination of bad luck and lack of common sense on his part. Ice hard, head important, helmet protect head.

I think it is also too much. And Branch is known for making knee-jerk reactions. It's one thing that one player is going to lose out on playing a game he loves (for whomever knows how long that may be) but know they rae taking away that opportunity for someone else.

Has Liambas spoken out yet?

David Branch on OTR right now.