Zack Kassian, a player for the Windsor Spitfires, has been suspended for 20 games for a cheap shot on Matt Kennedy.This will keep only allow him to play in four more games during the regular season.

This suspension shocked the Spitfires’ coach, Bob Boughner, who believes that the suspension is too much. Honestly, I’m shocked that he was shocked. Check out the replay and be the judge, to me, this is definitely a suspend-able hit.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, there was a team meeting among the Spitfire, where they viewed the hit frame-by-frame. They were able to figure out that he never left his feet on the hit. At this point it I don’t think it should matter.

There are a couple of things that contributed to this suspension. The first is that Kassian is a repeat offender. This is not the first time he has been suspended for an illegal hit. More importantly when he made contact, Kennedy never got the puck, never had the puck, never would have gotten the puck, and never saw the hit coming. He was in a vulnerable position when he was contacted.

The thing I like about this suspension though is that the league gave a very clear explanation of why they thought the suspension was necessary. According to OHL commissioner, David Branch, the suspension was not to take physical play out of hockey. He wants to ensure that “toughness” stays in the game, but disrespect stays out. That’s something that I can agree with.

And really, that’s exactly what most hockey fans want now too. I actually read a very good article (see article) on Bleacher Report about the violence in hockey. He pretty much summed up everything that needs to happen in the sport. I know a lot of other fans wanted harsher punishments too. I don’t think that anybody can really complain about this one because this is the kind of punishment that fans have wanted for a while.

I also saw in that article from the Ottawa Citizen that Don Cherry said that the suspension was partially because of that hit a few days ago where the player had contusions on the ice. That’s another possibility, but there’s no evidence to support that.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about this hit.

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