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Walker Fined, No Supsension
by Paul on 05/11/09 at 01:55 PM ET
Comments (29)
via Chip Alexander of Canes Now at the News & Observer,
Hurricanes forward Scott Walker has been fined $2,500 for his altercation with Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward but will not be suspended, general manager Jim Rutherford said today.
“We are satisfied with the ruling,” Rutherford said.
In case you missed the punch Ward received from Walker, you can watch it here.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Scott+Walker,
Comments
An instigator of an altercation shall be a player who by his actions or demeanor demonstrates any/some of the following criteria: distance traveled; gloves off first; first punch thrown; menacing attitude or posture; verbal instigation or threats; conduct in retaliation to a prior game (or season) incident; obvious retribution for a previous incident in the game or season.
Gloves off first/first punch thrown applies, but none of the other stuff applies to Walker. It was a spur of the moment thing, so I guess they didn’t consider him as an instigator as defined by the rule book. In reality, EVERY fight has an instigator but rarely do you see an instigator penalty called unless its egregious.
Posted by bcrt on 05/11/09 at 01:08 PM ET
HUH???
that makes less than no sense…
About as much as the Hossa no-goal goal.
Posted by mrfluffy from Cincy on 05/11/09 at 01:10 PM ET
It was a spur of the moment thing, so I guess they didn’t consider him as an instigator as defined by the rule book.
Yeah, but he was assessed an instigator penalty, right?
Posted by Mandingo from The Garage on 05/11/09 at 01:11 PM ET
it seemed like Ward just forgot to drop his gloves. An instigator requires a lot more than what Walker did. There was a shoving match before the punch.
Posted by bsalamon on 05/11/09 at 01:17 PM ET
From http://espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=290510001:
17:13 Scott Walker: 2-Minute Bench Penalty for Instigating Aaron Ward
17:13 Scott Walker: 2-Minute Bench Penalty for Instigating Aaron Ward
17:13 Scott Walker: 5 Minutes for Fighting Aaron Ward
17:13 Scott Walker: 10-Minute Game Misconduct
Posted by shanetx on 05/11/09 at 01:17 PM ET
Somehow, I doubt that Aaron Ward and the Bruins share Jimmy Rutherford’s “satisfaction.”
RE: The rule cited—Perhaps they should amend it to specifically list “cheap shot jumping of an unsuspecting victim.” Colin Campbell’s wacky wheel-o-justice strikes again.
Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 05/11/09 at 01:21 PM ET
And, oh yeah...any Bruin that lifts a finger against Walker will receive…
wait for it…
an automatic one game suspension. What. A. Joke.
Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 05/11/09 at 01:24 PM ET
An instigator requires a lot more than what Walker did.
An instigator requires that the offcials assess it, that’s all. How it’s defined in the rule book doesn’t matter.
I don’t understand this ruling. This should be cut and dried, shouldn’t it?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a horse in this race. It just seems like an impossible-to-justify ruling by the NHL. If I were a Bruins fan, I’d be really pissed.
Posted by Mandingo from The Garage on 05/11/09 at 01:29 PM ET
Instigate? He didn’t instagate he ended it.
Posted by Lindas1st on 05/11/09 at 01:35 PM ET
Yeah, but he was assessed an instigator penalty, right?
Campbell has the power to rescind the suspension and he effectively said that it wasn’t an instigator penalty by doing that.
Posted by bcrt on 05/11/09 at 01:35 PM ET
Campbell has the power to rescind the suspension and he effectively said that it wasn’t an instigator penalty by doing that.
Yep, I just read about that on TSN. I didn’t realize Campbell could overturn it.
Posted by Mandingo from The Garage on 05/11/09 at 01:43 PM ET
Anyone who thinks that Bettman has a particular dislike for their team (as many of my fellow Wings fans do), let this be heard loud and clear:
Boston’s resurgence is great for the NHL. From a marketing perspective, they have to be at least 3rd on Gary’s list of teams that he wants to win he Cup (just after the Pens and Blackhawks...maaaybe the Caps). Having them knocked out of the playoffs by a team from a marginal market, like Carolina, doesn’t do much for the sport.
Once again, there’s no conspiracy, just idiocy. This ‘penalty’? Yet another example of that incompetency...and yet we’re surprised. When it comes to penalties handed down from the NHL, the only thing that’s been consistent is the inconsistency.
Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 05/11/09 at 01:49 PM ET
I’ll be honest I am definitely pulling for Carolina in this match, but what Walker did was despicable. I bet Walker is really disappointed to be shipping that 0.1% of his salary this year off to the NHL.
If the NHL wants to get people to stop making bad decisions on the ice, maybe they should really reconsider their disciplining techniques.
Posted by twinky on 05/11/09 at 01:50 PM ET
Only the NHL could screw this up. If they did nothing, Walker gets a one game suspension for a sucker punch, instead they go out of their way to rescind it. It is like they invite ridicule. I have to agree that this is way beyond a conmspiracy, it is pure stupidity. I really believe that they should literally have a wheel of justice that they spin to determine the length of a suspension, it would at least be less arbitrary.
Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 05/11/09 at 01:55 PM ET
I love hockey, but this latest steaming pile of BS from the NHL has me hoping that clip of Walker’s gutlessness gets aired across the country over and over again together with the news of the League’s complete gutlessness in refusing to punish him in any meaningful way. The NHL deserves to be nothing more than a niche league if it can’t police itself any better than that.
I cannot fathom how the NHL could do anything less than to throw the book at Walker for that. Sucker punching a guy whose body language screamed “I’m not a part of this. I do not want to fight.” is beyond the pale, and in my mind should have been grounds for a record-setting suspension.
This is the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the League’s most important event, and Walker has shat all over it. Does the NHL have any concept of how that looks to your average fan? At least headshots can be construed as big and cool hits if you’re not familiar with the game. Sucker punches, however, cannot. The fact that Walker did this on the greatest stage hockey has to offer (barring the Finals), ought to add to the magnitude of the offense.
If ESPN cared enough about hockey to even air that, the NHL could be in for a PR disaster, the only way out of which would be to send Walker into deep freeze. Campbell and the rest of the morons in New York will probably get off because 1) the majority of NHL fans will be appalled, but not enough to raise enough hell about it, and 2) the NHL is so far out of the mainstream scene that ESPN and others won’t even bother to bring this up.
I am completely and utterly disgusted.
Posted by Matt Saler from Grand Rapids, MI on 05/11/09 at 01:57 PM ET
How does this work? Unless you’re Donald Brashear, you’re allowed to break someone’s face as long as you’re assessed a major penalty? Is that the NHL’s policy?
Did Ward not “keep his head up” or something? Was he supposed to just anticipate getting punched?
Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 05/11/09 at 02:14 PM ET
Is the NHL’s justification for the repeal of the one game suspension the fact that Ward was engaged with ANOTHER player when he was punched in the face? I would love to see how many games Chris Simon or a Flyer would have received. Isn’t Walker a repeat offender?
I just love how the NHL has a set of rules and then at their discretion they can just rescind them under further review if they don’t meet the “spirit” of the rule. In other words they can make it up as they go along or their rules are so poorly written the refs have no clear guidelines on what to call. If this wasn’t an instigator penalty then the on ice official made a horrible call and should not work the rest of the playoffs.
Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 05/11/09 at 02:24 PM ET
Do we have an audio clip of what was said on the ice? I think that will spell out why this penalty was done the way it was..
Posted by mike on 05/11/09 at 02:26 PM ET
NHL officiating is garbage, even at the top apparently. The worst part about it is to listen to these guys congratulating themselves for what a great job they do. I wish somebody would put together a list of the blown calls from the playoffs this year. Most of the year I only watch Wings games, but in the playoffs I watch almost all of the games. It really gives you a chance to objectively appreciate how the officiating can ruin a great game when you don’t really care who wins.
Posted by Djoos on 05/11/09 at 02:31 PM ET
That was a cheap shot. he should have gotten more than a fine.
Posted by davomack34 on 05/11/09 at 02:38 PM ET
Did Ward not “keep his head up” or something? Was he supposed to just anticipate getting punched?
He was obviously “admiring his pass.”
Do we have an audio clip of what was said on the ice? I think that will spell out why this penalty was done the way it was.
Yeah, Ward probably said something unkind about Walker dating his former girlfriend. Or maybe even something about his mom (it being Mother’s Day and all). I’ll be watching for the announcement that Ward has to attend anger management classes once he’s out of the hospital. Seriously, have these people never heard the old saying “Sticks and stones (and sucker punches) may break my bones, but names will never hurt me?”
Is the NHL’s long-term strategy to totally alienate all members of its fan base with living brain tissue? It seems like every day now, I find myself saying, “I love hockey, but the NHL is really ‘messed’ up.”
Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 05/11/09 at 03:54 PM ET
He was obviously “admiring his pass.”
+1. 
By the way, this is the worst officiated playoffs ever, right? I’m not limiting this to the on-ice atrocitiies, either. Top to bottom the NHL is being run by a bunch of idiots.
Posted by HockeyinHD on 05/11/09 at 05:04 PM ET
If ESPN cared enough about hockey to even air that, the NHL could be in for a PR disaster, .... the NHL is so far out of the mainstream scene that ESPN and others won’t even bother to bring this up.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2009/news?id=4158572
Melrose said this was worse than Brashear. I don’t buy that.
By the was, I agree this was a terribly officiated game, no doubt.
Posted by darman on 05/11/09 at 05:18 PM ET
Not sure why Ward watched Walker punch him in the face, but he did! Sucker punch is from behind or the side when you aren’t looking. Ward stood right there and let him punch him in the face!
Posted by Tero from Tacoma on 05/11/09 at 06:07 PM ET
I used to think Colin Campbeel knew what he was doing. But with all the terrible decisions he has made regarding discipline this year...When Bettman goes so should he. Sucker punching is NOT good for the game and the players who engage in such activities should be penalized. A $2500 fine is nothing to a pro athlete.
Posted by Flames Fan on 05/11/09 at 06:18 PM ET
If you see the whole play it is obvious it is not a sucker punch. Ward initiated the altercation, Walker finished it. If Ward isn’t smart enough to defend himself he won’t be in the league much longer. The NHL got this right.
Posted by Tero from Tacoma on 05/11/09 at 06:58 PM ET
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Wait a minute...I thought instigating a fight with less than 5 minutes left in a game carried with it an automatic one-game suspension?
Posted by Mandingo from The Garage on 05/11/09 at 01:02 PM ET