[NHL] 20 games for Downie's hit on McAmmond

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Maki: Now it's the NHL's turn to hit Downie hard

Allan Maki, today at 12:04 AM EDT

Dirty. Cheap. Needless. Despicable. Those words don?t just describe Tuesday night?s hit on Ottawa Senators forward Dean McAmmond. They describe the man who delivered it ? Steve Downie of the Philadelphia Flyers.

He was once the teenaged buzzsaw hockey people gushed over because he twice played for Canada?s gold medal-winning team at the world juniors. He played hard for his country; he played clean and with a purpose.

It?s been the only time in recent memory he?s done that.

For most of his OHL career, Downie was uncontrollable and troublesome. He?s acted like a bully on the ice and in the dressing room with his own teammates. He harassed rookie Akim Aliu with the Windsor Spitfires until the two of them fought twice in a practice. He took outrageous penalties when he played for the Peterborough Petes. Some say his attitude wasn?t much better with the Kitchener Rangers.

Everybody thinks he can tame the wild animal but so far no one has.

Now, at 20, Downie is trying to make the Flyers, which is how he explained his late hit on McAmmond, in which he left his skates to go airborne on a player with a history of concussion woes.

?My game is to finish my checks,? he said before expressing just how truly sorry he was for hurting McAmmond.

Yeah, right. Like Downie wasn?t playing it for the cameras and assembled media, the way he always has.

Here?s what Colin Campbell, the NHL?s director hockey ops, should do: punish Downie with a lengthy suspension (40 games minimum) that applies to wherever he plays, NHL or AHL. Put him out of action for so long that even the Flyers lose interest in him. Do that and it helps remind the players dangerous hits will not be tolerated this season.

If the NHL doesn?t take a hard line then guaranteed someone will, and Downie will get his and a lot of people ? sane, rational-thinking folks who aren?t keen on violence in hockey ? will say, ?Good. The little ****** had it coming.?

...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ry/WBhockeyblog

[CactuzJak]

40 games seems a bit much considering the length of suspensions others have gotten in the past and for what i would consider even worse cheap shots, the first thing that comes to my mine is dale hunters hit on pierre turgeon after he scored a goal in the 93 playoffs and he only got 21 games for that.. any longer suspensions than that have been for official abuse, hitting from behind and using your stick as a weapon... 20 games should be sufficient, i doubt intent to injure was there, im sure he didnt plan on his head going into the boards like that

[Fred Derf Veteran]

40 games seems a bit much considering the length of suspensions others have gotten in the past and for what i would consider even worse cheap shots, the first thing that comes to my mine is dale hunters hit on pierre turgeon after he scored a goal in the 93 playoffs and he only got 21 games for that.. any longer suspensions than that have been for official abuse, hitting from behind and using your stick as a weapon... 20 games should be sufficient, i doubt intent to injure was there, im sure he didnt plan on his head going into the boards like that

Realistically though, I doubt he will get more than 10.

It highlights a pattern of young players who selfishly try to create a name for themselves and have no respect for the veterans of the game. The author of the article suggests that if the NHL doesn't enact enough punishment on Downie than someone else will.

[CactuzJak]

regardless of the suspension given to him someone will enact some type of revenge the next time hes in the lineup against ottawa, a lengthy suspension only delays the inevitable

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

If he even gets a spot in the lineup.

[MikeFu84]

Yeah 40 is way too much. They only gave Chris Simon 25 for a cross check to the face.

[TDQuiksilver]

I wish they'd just let these guys play. I've always loved the toughness of the NHL. Before you know it, guys will be suspended for knocking the teeth out of another.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

"Everybody has been saying I've got concussion problems," McAmmond said. "I don't believe I've got concussion problems at all, I've got problems with people giving me traumatic blows to the head. That's what I've got a problem with."

[rajputwarrior]

one that maki guy is an idiot. downie is a grinder, not a showoff to cameras and stuff. he's a young player who made a mistake. yeah what he did was pretty bad but don't make him out to be the devil. The pronger one was worst (god i love pronger). Downie just left his feet (yeah i know it was a little worst then that) but there has been wayyyyyyyyy worst.

Edited September 28, 2007 by rajputwarrior

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Downie suspended 20 games for hit

Sep 28, 2007 03:32 PM

THE CANADIAN PRESS

NEW YORK ? Philadelphia Flyers rookie Steve Downie has received a 20-game suspension for his hit on Ottawa's Dean McAmmond, the NHL announced today.

"Over the last several months, the league has met with players, coaches, general managers and owners on the subject of hits to the head," Colin Campbell, the NHL Executive Vice-President and Director of Hockey Operations, said in a statement. "While all of the stakeholders in our league agree that hitting is an important part of the essence of the NHL game, all were also unanimous in the belief that where a player deliberately targets an opponent's head, the conduct should be subject to review and the possible assessment of supplemental discipline."

McAmmond suffered a concussion as a result of the hit and was taken off the ice on a stretcher during the second period of the pre-season game Tuesday night.

Downie received a match penalty, meaning he was automatically suspended indefinitely pending a review.

If Downie is cut by the Flyers he will have to serve the suspension when he returns to the NHL.

Downie and McAmmond later spoke by telephone, with the Flyers player formally apologizing to the Senators forward.

"It is clear that, while Mr. Downie is not a repeat offender, all of the other factors identified as being particularly relevant in determining the appropriateness of discipline were involved in Mr. Downie's hit on Mr. McAmmond," Campbell said. "The hit was deliberate, dangerous and has no place in our league."

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/261665

[Fred Derf Veteran]

September 28, 2007

A Biggee

First 15 games for Mark Bell.

Now 20 games for Steve Downie.

Could it be, after all these years and all those one- two- and three-game suspensions that did nothing to deter anybody from doing anything, that the NHL has decided to get serious?

Now, let's be clear; the Bell and Downie suspensions are very, very different, and not really to be compared. Bell's was for an off-ice incident in which he'll go to jail for six months, and that was certainly a new direction in which the league chose to extend its disciplinary muscle.

Downie, meanwhile, today received one of the longest suspensions in NHL history for a hit that wasn't one of the worst in league history or one of the most destructive.

What they have in common, however, is that both bans were designed to set a precedent.

Look at the Downie suspension.

Remember, Claude Lemieux only got two games one year for caving in Kris Draper's face during the playoffs. Chris Pronger got one game for knocking out Dean McAmmond, the same victim of Downie's Tuesday night hit, during the 2007 Stanley Cup final.

New Jersey forward Cam Janssen, meanwhile, received only three games for knocking out Maple Leaf defenceman Tomas Kaberle with a late, high hit in a regular season game last year, an incident that in some ways was similar to the Downie hit.

Now Downie gets 20? Something's going on.

What this suspension apparently means is that in choosing over the summer not to institute a league-wide ban on hits to the head, the NHL is telling players that those who still insist on flagrantly delivering such hits of a dangerous type are going to be punished to a far greater extent than would have been the case in the past.

In other words, the league is trusting the players to behave in this area without putting in another new rule. If they don't, expect huge suspensions, like this one.

Of course, consistency has long been the NHL's problem. And the league still insists there was nothing wrong with Chris Neil's vicious, blind side head shot on Chris Drury last season.

But after getting nowhere with piddly little suspensions for years, perhaps this is indeed a change of NHL policy. Certainly, the nonsensical, archaic notion that the players can police themselves has gone forever.

http://thestar.blogs.com/thespin/

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

It is too long of a suspension I think. Because think about it. You think a star is ever going to get a suspension like this if they do an uncharacteristically ###### hit on someone? I doubt it. I mean, he deserved a suspension, but more along the lines of a 10 game suspension in my opinion.

[MikeFu84]

The Mark Bell suspension was a bit different. He violated league policies. Being a Leafs fan it sucks he has to sit out those games, next season is going to be worse with him in jail for 6 months.

[Stephen Riley]

20 Games is a good number to me. McAmmond was anihalated.

[+shift. MVC]

20 games is appropriate...only if they' consistent.

[bayrider]

one that maki guy is an idiot. downie is a grinder, not a showoff to cameras and stuff. he's a young player who made a mistake. yeah what he did was pretty bad but don't make him out to be the devil. The pronger one was worst (god i love pronger). Downie just left his feet (yeah i know it was a little worst then that) but there has been wayyyyyyyyy worst.

First of all that hit does not constitute as a mistake. He skated full stride almost from the blueline. He knew what he was doing. The fact that he took about 25 strides to take a run at McAmmond is a premeditated charge with attempt to injure. Let alone the fact that he went for the head and not the body or shoulder. Everything about that hit, from the stride, the charge, the jump and hit to the head screams attempt to injure. He was seeking revenge for a lesser hit he received on the same shift.

Second of all, Downie has a history in the juniors for his cheap play, and to top it off, the guy is one of the biggest divers too. He's been kicked off teams for his poor conduct and his lack of discipline and respect for coaches and teammates. He may not be a show off, but he has no respect for the rules or his peers. Mistake my ass. His whole hockey career has been full of "mistakes"

It's because of clowns like Downie and Tootoo that the instigator rule should be dropped so that the bigger guys like Neil and McGrattan can pound the **** out of cheap shots like Downie and Tootoo who have only one goal in the NHL; to hurt other teams' star players with cheap hits.,

[gregb0b]

Oh give me a break. The sens are one of the dirtiest teams in the NHL. Look at Neil...I hate him with a passion and he deserves to be shot.

Its hockey, you play and you get hit. 20 games is way to much.

[bayrider]

Head shots are not part of hockey... and I'm not one of the clowns who wants to take out hitting and fighting from the game.