The WHL finally decided on the appropriate length of suspension for Kamloops forward Brendan Ranford after his game misconduct back on March 11th. The Blazers will be without their leading scorer for the rest of the regular season and the start of the playoffs as he's been handed a 6-game suspension for abuse of an official.The official release from the WHL is not available yet but it has been confirmed by the league via Twitter. Our thoughts come after the jump...
Last night on Sports Night Live with Corey Graham, I said that anything less than 5 would be a surprise and a disappointment to me. On one hand, there is no video evidence of the incident so we can only base the severity of the crime by asking those who were there. We had Regan Bartel on the show and he was clear in his feelings that a suspension was definitely coming.
Abuse of an official has to be taken seriously and the league needed to show that they were. But is 6 games enough for everyone?
I spoke with Dean Millard a while ago. He felt that he would have preferred 10 but wasn't expecting the league to go that high.
Is abuse of an official on par, worse or not as bad as a hit from behind? Brendan Shinnimin received 12 games earlier this season for his flagrant charge.
I don't know the answer to that question but I think it's worth discussing. So let's hear what YOU think.
3 comments:
6 games is little light, i think that 8-10 games would have been a little better. Ranford obviously made a mistake and he has acknowledged it, but he still broke a cardinal rule by intentionally striking an official.
I would say 10 but given that some of this is in playoffs, which in my mind are greater importance, maybe it works out to 10 reg. season games.
interesting point...of the 6 games 3 will be playoff games if the Blazers make it in. So are 3 playoff games = to 7 regular season games? What if they don't make the playoffs, then it's 3 regular season games + first 3 games next year? I guess you could say if they miss the post season because their leading scorer wasn't in the line up for the final 3 games then the whole team has been punished for his actions. And I agree with Jomama that, while he did appear gueniunely sorry it's still a serious situation.
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