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Did this fight really deserve 8-game suspension for NHL prospect?

The end of last Wednesday’s Western Hockey League game between Medicine Hat and Prince George was chaotic.

A slash off the final faceoff by Kody McDonald sparked a few skirmishes between players near the Medicine Hat crease. Back by the blueline, Prince George defenseman Sam Ruopp was trying to engage Tigers’ player Steven Owre in a fight, and he was unwilling to do so.

Owre was knocked to the ice with a sucker-punch. Sam Ruopp, drafted in the fifth round by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, gave his helmet a few shoves and before Owre rose to his feet, sending the back of his glove into Ruopp’s face. They locked up for a fight, but Owre dropped to the ice again, turtling as Ruopp sent a few punches at his face and abused his head like he was trying to open a coconut. He was seated on top of Owre when an on-ice official skated over to break up the melee.

As one would expect, Ruopp was given a fighting major and a game misconduct, at 20:00 of the third period.

But then he was handed an eight-game suspension for the incident from the WHL. (Kody McDonald, the slasher who started all of this, was given three games.)

From Ted Clarke of the Prince George Citizen:

Cougars D Sam Ruopp served the first game of what many observers consider an excessive eight-game suspension. The 20-year-old Cougar captain took part in what the WHL called a “one-man fight against an unsuspecting opponent” at the end of Wednesday’s game at CN Centre against Medicine Hat.

The league also fined the Cougars $1,000 and [coach Richard] Matvichuk was fined $500 for the actions of his players. In January 2015, Ruopp was suspended for five games for a knee-on-knee hit in a game against Everett, his second kneeing major and game misconduct that season and that might have had a factor in determining the length of his latest suspension. It’s the longest sentence the league has handed out since Victoria Royals F Brandon Magee was given 12 games for his match penalty after he twice cross-checking Portland Winterhawks players to the head during a playoff game in April 2012.

The only justifiable catalyst for this suspension is Ruopp’s prior offense close to two years ago, because the video doesn’t show anything worth eight games. A suspension? Sure. But unless this is some complicated math from the WHL – sucker punch plus after the final buzzer plus “unsuspecting opponent” plus prior incidents – it’s hard to figure out how they arrived at eight games for Ruopp.

NHL
NHL

What do you think?

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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