Ottawa Senators & forward Zenon Konopka fined over verbal abuse to New York Rangers player-NHL News
The National Hockey League (NHL) confirmed on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 to have penalised the Ottawa Senators over verbally abusing a New York Rangers’ player on Saturday, April 14, 2012.
The league has announced the penalty at two levels, one to Senators as a team and second to forward, Zenon Konopka, who was actually involved in the abuse.
An unknown Rangers’ player was busy conducting a live television interview before start of the game on the weekend when Konopka reportedly abused him.
The league office assessed Konopka’s action and fined the team $10,000 and the player $2,500.
According to the office, it was the maximum punishment allowed by the relevant rules.
It is yet another incident that the league authorities have to act to discipline a side or player.
It has already banned Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward Craig Adams for a game and fined their coach, Dan Bylsma $10,000, respectively, over the involvement of Adams in a fight with the Philadelphia Flyers’ player in their game on Sunday, April 15, 2012.
This was for the second time that NHL has to intervene between the two teams with penalties. Both teams are coming out with bad terms from the later part of the regular season when their coaches had been fined, respectively.
NHL has become rather busy in disciplinary actions over the deteriorating playing conditions in almost each game due to the competitive nature of the playoffs.
Before the latest incident of involving Senators in an abuse of Rangers’ player, NHL had suspended another Senators’ player, Matt Carkner, for going after Rangers’ Brian Boyle.
Even prior to that, the authorities had landed a three-game ban on Rangers’ forward, Carl Hagelin, for his involvement in hitting an elbow on Senators’ captain, Daniel Alfredsson, who was unable to remain in the game following to the hit.
The playoff series is just in the beginning phase and a number of players have already been subjected to rough plays and hits.
However, the commentators do not find the conditions unusual in which each game is played given the amount of competition that is increased in the postseason as compared to the regular season.
This phase of the league always is a busy time for NHL disciplinarians as almost each game ends in some sort of controversy, prompting the regulator to act immediately and effectively.
One such notable situation is between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers, stemming from a controversy in their last game of the regular season.
As of the latest, both teams continue to thrive in bad terms and officials and players from each side have taken to the task by league office on more than one occasion.
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