Why is it now all of a sudden ok to retaliate like that? I don’t care what Ozzie did, what Ribiero did was unprofessional and dangerous.

Posted by Sp4r7an on 05/10/08 at 11:43 PM ET

Marty Turco called it “a pretty dangerous play on their part – a butt-end to the eye. It’s one thing to engage in a physical battle; that’s pretty gutless if you’re hitting someone in the face, if that’s what did happen, and I’m pretty sure it did.

You mean like you did to Helm in Game 1, Marty, you gutless piece of crap?

Ozzie stuck his stick out and Reibero ran into it. Reibero then took an intentional swing at Ozzie’s head. And now Tippett thinks Ozzie should be supended…

Tippett was asked if he expected the NHL to suspend Osgood. “That’s for the higher powers to figure out,” Tippett said.

I thought the whole “we only had three days off” whining was ridiculous, but this is beyond belief. In spite of that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lil’ Gary’s go-fers suspend Ozzie just so Dallas has a chance in this series.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 05/10/08 at 11:44 PM ET

“Ozzie stuck his stick out and Reibero ran into it. Reibero then took an intentional swing at Ozzie’s head.”

Oh, please.  Osgood clearly put his stick into Ribeiro’s face and you should give Ribeiro just a bit more credit than that.  If he wanted to slash Osgood’s head, he wouldn’t have hit his shoulder/chest.

It’s not O.K. to retaliate, but don’t you think you two are blowing this just a bit out of proportion?  By the way Osgood went down, you’d have thought a sniper was in the audience.

Posted by Chad on 05/11/08 at 12:02 AM ET

Bottom line was that Osgood’s “butt-end” wasn’t anything more than him getting his arm out in the way, and Ribeiro’s “slash” wasn’t anything more than him sticking up for himself, and frankly, hitting Ozzie in a pretty harmless spot.

Was Ribeiro cut? Don’t think so. Must not have been that serious of a play. Does anyone really think Ozzie even got a bruise? Doubt it. Not through those chest protectors. It boiled down to a little gamesmenship on the part of both players that was probably unnecessary.

The league would do best to let this thing go and let both players play. They will embarass themselves if they suspend one of the two players, but not the other, and they will accomplish nothing by suspending both.

Posted by Nathan on 05/11/08 at 12:16 AM ET

Meh.  Much ado about nothing.  Although Turco and Tippett’s comments are certainly worth a chuckle.

I doubt Dom could have sold that better, but still doesn’t compare to my favorite.Ribeiro

Have a good night’s sleep Chad.

Posted by Django on 05/11/08 at 12:25 AM ET

Django, you put it much more succintly than I did—“Much ado about nothing”.

Couldn’t agree more. The NHL should do itself a favor and not embarass itself by suspending Ribeiro. And come on Chad, this is coming from a Wings fan!

Posted by Nathan on 05/11/08 at 12:36 AM ET

Thanks, Django.  Why wouldn’t I?

Posted by Chad on 05/11/08 at 12:36 AM ET

Ozzie was facing at least 60 degrees away from the direction of Ribeiro’s approach. He had no way of knowing the player’s exact location, much less the location of his face. It looked like a natural movement and an unfortunate mistake.

Regardless of how he thought he might’ve been wronged, Ribeiro had noexcuse to use his stick as a weapon after the buzzer. Honestly, he should be serving a suspension. Professionals should know better.

Posted by Sevumar from Orange County, CA on 05/11/08 at 03:52 AM ET

Osgood’s whack to the face could very well have been unintentional - if he did it on purpose, it was very subtle and took talent to hit someone in the face when he was looking in a different direction.  Ribiero’s whack to the chest was clearly intentional and a result of frustration.

My guess: They both get told essentially to be more careful, don’t act stupid, and if Ribiero does something like that again he has to sit in the naughty chair like my nephew when he has been bad.

And someone should check out Filppula’s inner ears.  His balance has been horrible at times all season and he’s going to hurt himself falling down on the ice one of these days.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 05/11/08 at 07:15 AM ET

Maybe Ozzie has the George Costanza right elbow twitch syndrome.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 05/11/08 at 07:26 AM ET

The league would do best to let this thing go and let both players play. They will embarass themselves if they suspend one of the two players, but not the other, and they will accomplish nothing by suspending both.

Ribiero received the match penalty, and is automatically suspended until the league looks at it. This also means there is no chance of Osgood being suspended. But hey, if you want to suspend them both, let’s also suspend Turco for his classless play against Holmstrom and Franzen last night.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 05/11/08 at 10:18 AM ET

Alan, I understand that he is “suspended” until the play is reviewed.

I think the league will look foolish if they suspend Ribeiro when, no matter how accidental it looked or may have been, Ozzie provoked him. They’ll look foolish if they suspend Ozzie but not Ribeiro, for obvious reasons.

In that case, there’s no benefit to suspending both players. They’re best to, like Baroque says, give them a stern talking to and let it go. Neither guy has a history of being disciplined by the league. They’ll be on notice that they will be sitting out next time something like this happens.

I don’t think Turco played classless last night against Homer (Franzen was out). I think he played hard. They could’ve called a few more penalties on him, and I’m sure he’ll have to be more careful in game 3. But that’s hockey. He stood up for himself because his team wasn’t doing it, and I don’t blame him. Don Cherry’s right about one thing—even 10 years ago we wouldn’t be having this discussion, because Roy slashing the life out of Dino in ‘96 was just how net-front guys were dealt with.

Look at me. You’re making me defend the Stars’ point of view. Please stop! I beg you.

Posted by Nathan on 05/11/08 at 11:16 AM ET

This also means there is no chance of Osgood being suspended.

A player can be suspended absent a match penalty, or any penalty at all. A recent example of this is Chris Pronger getting eight games for stomping on Ryan Kessler.

Posted by shep from california on 05/11/08 at 11:46 AM ET

Shep: I forgot all about Pronger. I’ve got a migraine today, so that’s my excuse.

Nathan: I would call punching Holmstrom and blatantly tripping Flip (yeah, Franzen was out… see above for my excuse) pretty classless. Sorry.

And need I remind everyone what happened in Calgary last year when someone got slashed in a similar manner as this one? That’s right - not only was McClennan suspended, but the coach and team was fined for the action. It’s a similar situation. You could say all day that Franzen provoked McClennan with the accidental high stick, but McClennan took his goalie stick and two-handed Franzen. Franzen received no suspension. Same difference here. Whether or not Osgood’s stick was in the way is moot, Ribiero slashed Osgood. It will most likely end in a suspension for Ribiero. There will be no foolishness in the suspension either, because it would be based on precedent.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 05/11/08 at 01:21 PM ET

The worst thing about this “incident,” from my point of view as a Wings fan, is that now the Dallas players and coaches will be answering too many “What did you think of the incident?” questions instead of questions like:

“You said you needed to improve on the face-offs and put more shots on net, but you didn’t.  Now what do you do?”

“Turco says there’s no jinx but Detroit scored two arguably soft goals… are you sure they’re not in his head?” (Yeah, it could also be argued that those goals weren’t soft, but I’m asking the questions here.)

This is the stuff I want the Stars to be dwelling on and trying to ignore for Game 3.  I sure don’t want them to have cause to rally around.

Posted by BobTheZee on 05/11/08 at 01:53 PM ET

We lost the game Sasquatch was suspended for in last year’s WCF.  The team really needs to stay sharp and focused- and remember that they’re likely to see a completely different Dallas team tomorrow night, whether Ribeiro gets the hook or not…

I agree with ya wholeheartedly, BTZ- Game 3 is going to be a real important test for the Wings, probably the most important of the year…

Posted by mudshark from Divetown, Colorado on 05/11/08 at 02:14 PM ET