After being ejected on Saturday night for "physical abuse of an official," the American Hockey League has announced that Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Steve Downie will be suspended 20 games for slashing a referee with his stick. He's already served the first three games, and according to the league announcement he will be eligible to return to the lineup on April 11 -- Norfolk's final game of the regular season. Following the incident, there were two different stories being told. On one hand, John Walton, the play-by-play announcer for the Hershey Bears -- the team Norfolk was playing on Saturday night -- was outraged by the events on the ice.
Instead of trying to win the face-off, Downie took a baseball-like swing with full wind-up and struck Hamilton across the right shin. Watching the replay no less than 20 times myself during the postgame, I was appalled not only at the lack of respect for an official, but the sheer violence from one man to another.Sounds pretty vicious. Of course, there is always two sides to every story and Mike Butters, general manager of the Norfolk Admirals, has his version of what transpired on the ice. From Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times:
"The linesman was really not even part of this," Butters said. "The centerman across from (Downie) was yapping at him. "(Downie) went to swipe at the stick. He swung in a downward motion and hit the puck. The intent was there to hit the puck. He may or may not have clipped the official's skate."Two very different takes, obviously.
As we pointed out on Sunday, this will be the second 20-game suspension of Downie's career, which is two more than any reasonable hockey player should ever accumulate in their career. He was also handed a three-game banishment earlier this season for hitting Kyle McLaren from behind.
He's a talented player -- talented enough to be selected in the first-round of the NHL draft -- but how many more chances can a team give? All the talent in the world doesn't mean much if you're sitting out 1/4 of the season for being an idiot.
