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Kostopoulos Suspended Three Games
by Alanah McGinley on 11/10/08 at 04:36 PM ET
Comments (5)
Press release from the NHL:
Montreal Canadiens forward Tom Kostopoulos has been suspended for three games, without pay, as a result of being assessed a game misconduct during NHL game #197 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 8, the National Hockey League announced today.
“While it is my determination that Kostopoulos did not deliver a check to an unsuspecting opponent, his actions caused injuries,” said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell.
Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Kostopoulos is considered a repeat offender. Accordingly, he forfeits $32,926.83 based on the number of games in the season (82), rather than the number of days (186). The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
added 7:35pm, from Habs Inside/Out,
A statement from Kostopoulos released by the Canadiens:
“First and foremost, I sincerely regret the injuries suffered by Mike Van Ryn. This is an unfortunate turn of events. I was just trying to get in on the forecheck and get the puck. I didn’t anticipate him turning and couldn’t stop.
“I was trying to finish my check and obviously it did not end up well. I never intend on injuring another player. I feel bad. I hope he is going to be all right and resume playing as quickly as possible.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Mike+Van+Ryn, suspension, Tom+Kostopoulos,
Comments
...most hockey players don’t have the brains or balls to lay off another player who is in a vulnerable situation
If you look closely at the video, Jeff, I think you’ll see that Van Ryn put himself in an unnecessarily vulnerable position. Mickey Redmond is always harping about how players have to take responsibility for protecting themselves…and this is a perfect example of that.
Van Ryn knew Kostopoulos was bearing down on him and he chose to stop short of the boards and put his head down to look for the puck. If he had simply gone all the way to the boards and braced himself for the hit, Kostopoulos might have been the one who got hurt. Van Ryn might have paid heed to one of Mickey’s favorite lines is: “Let them eat the butt end of your stick a few times and they’ll think twice about crashing into you.” 
The one negative thing that can be said about Kostopoulos is that he did raise both his arms and his stick just before the hit. If he had kept his arms down, the force of the hit wouldn’t have driven Van Ryn head-first into the glass/boards.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 11/10/08 at 06:34 PM ET
that suspension is so laughable.
Posted by FlyersFan on 11/10/08 at 08:14 PM ET
“Van Ryn knew Kostopoulos was bearing down on him and he chose to stop short of the boards and put his head down to look for the puck.”
If you look at the video, you’ll see that Van Ryn’s back was to Kostopoulos the ENTIRE time, and you’ll ALSO see that Van Ryn stopped several feet from the boards and did NOT turn his back into the hit. Kostopoulos followed him in from behind the ENTIRE time.
It is complete bullshit to pretend that ANY of this is Van Ryn’s fault. Saying Van Ryn put himself in an unneccesarily vulnerable position is a complete joke.
Posted by Garth on 11/11/08 at 11:41 AM ET
If you look at the video, you’ll see that Van Ryn’s back was to Kostopoulos the ENTIRE time…
Look again, Garth. When he reaches the face-off circle, Van Ryn looks over his right shoulder and clearly sees that Kostopoulos is right on his heels. But instead of using the boards to protect himself, Van Ryn stopped short and looked down to play the puck. The more I watch that segment, the more I’m convinced that it’s that action that caught Kostopoulos by surprise and resulted in him running Van Ryn into the boards in the way that he did.
Van Ryn made a conscious choice to put himself at risk in order to make a play on the puck. And that choice ultimately determined the manner in which Kostopoulos hit him.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 11/11/08 at 12:13 PM ET
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That’s BS - the NHL better get its act together quickly before the next vicious hit kills a player. That’s what it is going to take before Colin Campbell, Mike Milbury and Don Cherry finally realize that most hockey players don’t have the brains or balls to lay off another player who is in a vulnerable situation.
Posted by jeffbrubaker on 11/10/08 at 04:41 PM ET