« Doyle: Thoughts from opening weekend in the OHL | Doyle: OHL News radio show available here » |
Doyle: Petes and Generals renew the rivalry
For long-time fans of the Oshawa Generals and Peterborough Petes, Friday night's festivities took them on a trip down memory lane.
...The Generals won the game 9-2 to sweep the season-opening home-and-home series. But what everyone is talking about is the action in the third period that saw gloves litter the ice and numerous players ejected from both teams. It began with the Generals leading 8-1 just past the six-minute mark of the third period. Generals defenceman Scott Valentine laid out Petes star forward Matt Puempel with a hit along the boards. Most would say it was a clean hit, but usually when a team's star player is laid out, it will draw the ire of his teammates. Combine that with the fact the hit was made in a 8-1 game, and it raises a few more eyebrows. Veteran Justin Larson immediately went after Valentine. Check out that incident here.
After that was sorted out, the play went into the Generals zone and Petes forward Jamie Wise sprayed Generals goaltender Michael Zador - and away they went.
The first thing I noticed when watching the video - the referee at the side of the net does not react to the skate spray on Zador. He was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but you would like to see a referee jump in right away to try and diffuse the situation. It's obvious the video of this incident will be closely watched at the Ontario Hockey League office. Wise was assessed two game misconducts, one for second fight and another for persistence - continuing to fight when the officials were breaking it up. The double game misconducts bring four games worth of suspension, plus review. Barron Smith, Geoff Bezruchko and Derek Mathers are facing two games apiece. Boone Jenner, Andy Andreoff, Anton Zupancic and Scott Sabourin are all looking at two games each for the Generals.
Looking at the video myself, it appears Generals defenceman Colin Sullentrop put his skates into the penalty box, and then returned to the ice to get involved in a second fight. He was not ejected according to the OHL website gamesheet, and it's not clear whether he was pulled back onto the ice as part of the scrum in front of the box.
A member of the Petes coaching staff, presumably Head Coach Mike Pelino, was handed a game misconduct at the end of the night as well.
[email protected]
Twitter: Loosepucks
facebook.com/loosepucks
1 comment
I could see if one player was being double-teames or in trouble when a guys still hitting him but that wasn't the case either
Comments are not allowed from anonymous visitors.