Technically, at this moment, Brenden Morrow is suspended for getting an instigator penalty within the final five minutes of regulation. As you recall, Morrow went after Dustin Brown after Brown's (what was called) boarding on Mike Ribeiro. Not sure if it was truly boarding, but Ribeiro went down in a heap (he took four deep stitches, and five or six more along with that). Morrow retaliated, and now we'll wait to see what happens.
The NHL Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell will review this (for you looking it up at home, it's Rule #47.22, a deeper explanation off Rule #47.12) and it could be overturned based on certain criteria -- that would include score of the game, previous incidents, etc. If it is not deemed suspension-worthy, then we all just move on and Morrow is in for Thursday. If the suspension holds, then Dave Tippett is also fined $10,000.
Now the point of this rule was to make sure fighters weren't just brought on the ice to cause havoc. My opinion (and I know this doesn't matter much) is that Morrow thought a teammate was in a vulnerable position and he responded as such. Shouldn't be a suspension. Like I said, my opinion doesn't matter.
Morrow's comment on it: "I think it’s a hockey play and I don’t expect anything. I’d be a little disappointed with the league if something like that was changed. (Ribeiro's) our most skilled player in a vulnerable position, I didn’t know how bad he was hurt, and I have no regrets for it."
OK, let me take a breath and assess the rest of the Stars in another post.
Comments