Bouchard Banned For Two

  NHL vice president of player safety, Brendan Shanahan, has handed Minnesota Wild forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard a two game suspension for a high-stick to the face on Columbus Blue Jackets forward Matt Calvert on October, 8th.


  The infraction occurred during a faceoff in Minnesota’s season opener against the Blue Jackets, the high stick to Calvert resulted in lost teeth on the play, and he would need stitches. Bouchard was assessed a four minute double minor penalty on the play.

  Calvert returned to the game and tallied an assist in the third period, but it wasn’t enough as the Wild went on to win 4-2. Head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets Scott Arniel was enraged with the incident, claiming that Bocuhard “took a baseball swing” at the 21 year-old NHL sophomore.

"It's definitely an intent to injure," Arniel said. "They said it was deflected off our guy's stick and into his face. Our whole bench saw it. Their whole bench saw it."

  Bouchard’s agent, Allan Walsh, was quick to defend his player.

"Pierre-Marc Bouchard is one of the most sportsmanlike and gentlemanly players in the game today," he said. "The notion that Pierre-Marc Bouchard intentionally swung his stick into the face of an opponent is patently absurd.

"He's just not that kind of player."

  Walsh also went on to question Shanahan’s decision to suspend Bouchard, who will lose

"What message is Brendan Shanahan sending with this unwarranted suspension?" he asked. "This result is a shameful farce for the League."

  While Bouchard has never been suspended through a nine year career, the call by Shanahan was correct. Bouchard is not the type of player to take a swing at someone’s face, but he certainly did not control his stick in the way an NHL caliber player should.

  A simple mistake could end a young hockey player’s dreams, thankfully the only loss was in the form of some of Calvert’s chiclets.

  Bouchard will miss games on October, 10th against the New York Islanders and October, 11th against the Ottawa Senators, and will be able to return to play at home game against the Edmonton Oilers on October, 13th.

- Kendall Grubbs