San Jose’s Dany Heatley faces two-game suspension for hit on Dallas Stars’ Steve Ott – NHL Update
The National Hockey League made an important decision to hand a two game suspension to Dany Heatley after reviewing the hitting incident with Dallas Stars’ Steve Ott during their match on Tuesday. During the game, the teams were not the only one’s thrashing
each other, as Heatley elbowed Ott during the final moments of the third period in the head and was given a minor penalty for interference.
Authorities at the NHL were not satisfied by the referee’s decision and decided to award him a two game suspension and a hefty fine based on his average annual salary.
When viewing the replay of the occurrence, it is clear that it was purely intentional and could have been a biased attack. Ott was part of a fight that took place in the second period, when Douglas Murray of the Sharks smashed Loui Eriksson into the glass
causing him to leave the game and not return with an undisclosed upper-body related injury. Ott attacked Murray in defence of his team-mate and both were penalised with major penalties for fighting, as the former was also given another for misconduct.
"I think that's one that (the league) will review and I'm sure that they will," Dallas coach Marc Crawford said. "We're hopeful that Loui's going to be all right. He's not feeling very good right now and we'll see where he's at tomorrow. The league has said
that you want to take those hits out of the game, but it ends up being something we can't control and it's out of our hands now."
Heatley most probably wanted to avenge Murray, elbowing Ott in the head when skating down the ice with both players free of the puck. Ott fell down as players and referee’s came to his side, but luckily he was not seriously hurt.
Dany scored two goals for San Jose that night, his first in the second period to tie it up during a power-play and the 24th of his season.
The Sharks are quickly climbing up the Western Conference ladder after finally snapping a three game losing streak and they are currently at third place under the Detroit Red Wings by a four point margin with 88.
A two-game suspension for Heatley will mean that he will have to sit out as San Jose faces the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues on March 17 and 19 respectively. He is eligible to re-join his team when they host the Calgary Flames, who are looking to
regain a fragile play-off berth before the end of the season.
Along with the two-game suspension, Heatley also has to surrender $80,645.16 from his salary, as a fine which is calculated under the clauses of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The amount collected by the authorities from Heatley will be added to the
Players' Emergency Assistance Fund which helps players either retired or active, who are in need when faced with a financial crisis.
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