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Aaron Ekblad suspended, Niko Mikkola fined: consistency allô
Kevin Vallée
Aaron Ekblad suspended, Niko Mikkola fined: consistency allô
Credit: You’ve probably read the phrase “Refereeing is a joke” a couple of times in the last week or so. This year, it’s not the opinion of one team’s fans in their living room, but what seems to be a league-wide consensus. It’s hard. It’s pretty hard to figure out – from game to game and […]

You’ve probably read the phrase “Refereeing is a joke” a couple of times in the last week or so.

This year, it’s not the opinion of one team’s fans in their living room, but what seems to be a league-wide consensus. It’s hard. It’s pretty hard to figure out – from game to game and team to team – what constitutes an infraction and what doesn’t.

In the Canadiens-Capitals series, examples of incongruity abounded. Tom Wilson’s blow to Alexandre Carrier’s head was not punished, during or after the game, nor were Cole Caufield’s and Brendan Gallagher’s cross-checks to the head in games #1 and #2. No penalty, no fine, no slap on the wrist, no suspension. Sweet fuckall.

But the altercations during warm-up… Oh, we’re afraid. We don’t want to see situations that create interest, stakes and an interesting narrative around a series. For pity’s sake…

And now the league has decided to crack down on Aaron Ekblad and Niko Mikkola of the Florida Panthers.

Ekblad has been suspended TWO MATCHES (!) for elbowing Brandon Hagel in the head.

And Mikkola was fined $5,000 for that hit from behind on Zemgus Girgensons.

Warning. We’re not saying it’s undeserved…

But no penalty and no whistle, on the sequence… Before the winning goal.

Good, good good good good. So if I understand correctly, an elbow to the head is a two-game suspension, but a crosscheck in the face of an off-balance Cole Caufield isn’t even a penalty. And a shoulder tap directly to Alexandre Carrier’s head isn’t even a poor whistle (on a play leading to the tying goal). Let’s be serious…

The league is really hard to take seriously right now. The rules aren’t the same for every player, every team, every series, but they can also change along the way.


En Rafale

– Carrier is with the club!

– Big acquisition for the Sparrows.

– Not a question of money between Tocchet and the Nucks.

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