How Many Games Will/Should Wideman Get?

15-20. Henderson who he hit stayed in hospital til 5:00 AM and went threw concussion protocol. That'll play a big role in it imo.
 
I couldn't find any info, but does Wideman have any kind of suspension history? Very odd situation considering he is fairly clean players in terms of pims.

- Sauli
 
suitman19 said:
I thought the penalty for striking an official carried a MINIMUM of 2o games?
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The talking heads on Sportsnet were talking about the rules and said they are for penalized incidents on the ice... This one is completely in the hands of the NHL. Not sure I agree with that, but that was their take.

It's an extremely bizarre situation... by all accounts, Wideman is not the type of guy that does silly things and gets suspended. But his own take on the play was that he was hit hard, had his head down going to the bench, and noticed there was someone in front of him at the last second and simply put his hands up to protect himself. Yet even after he did it, he doesn't seem to acknowledge it was a black striped shirted ref/ linesman and just continues on his way.

My thoughts? He was likely concussed at the time of the incident - NO ONE in the NHL is going to blatantly hit a linesman like that. But Wideman never proceeded to the quiet and undertook concussion protocol.

I say at least 10 games, moreso to send a message that the NHL will protect their officials and acknowledging the extenuating circumstances of the hit Wideman had just experienced. I think then the team gets a fine of some sort for not following the concussion protocol.

Cory
 
Wideman can say all the 'right' things he wants; that he didn't know it was a linesman, that he tried to get out of the way, that he was still groggy from the hit, etc., but the clincher for me was when he was skating with one hand on the stick, saw the linesman in his path, and then gabbed his stick with his other hand and raised it in a cross-check manner; for some reason only known to him, it was (seemed?) intentional.

Lastly, his 'flippant' attitude after it will probably play against him.

It's minimum 20 games for striking an official. Add that to the fact Calgary doesn't appear to be one of the CHOSEN ONES at NHL HQ, he's probably looking at that.
 
if wideman was hit that hard why didnt he go through the concussion protocol..

my take was that he was mad after the hit...and wanted to go back to the bench and just knocked down the referee cause he was in his way... i dont beleive he didnt see him

give him 20 games i say
 
They should follow their own rule book and give him 20 games, anything less and they are opening a can of worms. Everybody will plead temporary insanity(concussion) every time there is an on ice incident.


My best,

Ken
 
I don't know if there was anything that would justify Wideman hitting the ref.

I actually believe that Wideman was dazed, and was trying to get to the bench. He raised his stick to the bench to signal he was coming off. But suddenly realised that there was a player coming towards him and instinctively protected himself and pushed back during contact. Unfortunately, it was the ref.

I still think he'll get 10 games, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was indeed dazed, and it wasn't a deliberate hit.


The other side of the coin, Tim Peel recently wiped out and took out the legs from behind of an unsuspecting Worsofsky, injuring the player, totally by accident. Are there mandatory suspensions for refs if they hit player on purpose? Think something like this happened in a lower level junior league.
 
Looked to me like he hit him intentionally. I'd say he should be done for the year. There's never a reason to cross check a ref.
 
Speaking as a Flames fan - the way Wideman has been playing this season, the longer the suspension, the better.
 
Wow. I'm a bit surprised at the harshness that people are calling for. Rest of the season?? 32 games?? Really?? Let's put this into perspective. There's never a reason to swat a guy on the head from behind with a stick either, but McSorley got 23 games. Bertuzzi missed 20 games. Chris Simon got 30 games trying to stomp the ankle of Ruutu with his skate. Raffi Torres just got 41 games for being a repeat offender, and for delivering a blind side hit to the head.

Cujo got nothing for crashing into a ref by accident. Threw his blocker towards the ref too. This rule was set up for incidents like that.

For all those who are saying Wideman deliberately did it, what would be his motivation? If there is nothing to show that there is any reason to do retaliate against the ref, then "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".
 
tiger tiger said:
For all those who are saying Wideman deliberately did it, what would be his motivation? If there is nothing to show that there is any reason to do retaliate against the ref, then "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".
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Frustration and anger are the motivating factors I'm going for. Not necessarily toward the linesman, but just in general from the hit, and he directed that frustration outward on the ref.

There is no way anyone can convince me it was accidental contact or that Wideman "didn't know where he was". He was looking in the direction of the linesman the entire way to the bench; maybe not directly at him, but the ref was definitely in his field of view.

And even if we believe Wideman's statement that he was woozy and had blurred vision WHY would his first reaction be to deliberately cross-check someone? If he had merely bumped into the linesman I might be able to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he clearly took his stick in both hands, brought it to his chest, and pushed into the back of the ref. Nothing incidental or accidental about that at all.
 
tiger tiger said:
Wow. I'm a bit surprised at the harshness that people are calling for. Rest of the season?? 32 games?? Really?? Let's put this into perspective. There's never a reason to swat a guy on the head from behind with a stick either, but McSorley got 23 games. Bertuzzi missed 20 games. Chris Simon got 30 games trying to stomp the ankle of Ruutu with his skate. Raffi Torres just got 41 games for being a repeat offender, and for delivering a blind side hit to the head.
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Suspensions for player on player violence cannot be equated to player on officials violence. Apples and oranges.
 
NBSens said:
Frustration and anger are the motivating factors I'm going for. Not necessarily toward the linesman, but just in general from the hit, and he directed that frustration outward on the ref.

There is no way anyone can convince me it was accidental contact or that Wideman "didn't know where he was". He was looking in the direction of the linesman the entire way to the bench; maybe not directly at him, but the ref was definitely in his field of view.

And even if we believe Wideman's statement that he was woozy and had blurred vision WHY would his first reaction be to deliberately cross-check someone? If he had merely bumped into the linesman I might be able to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he clearly took his stick in both hands, brought it to his chest, and pushed into the back of the ref. Nothing incidental or accidental about that at all.
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I find that pretty hard to believe that after 30 years of playing hockey and not doing something like that, all of a sudden taking frustration out on a ref would feel natural.

I do find it possible that Wideman wasn't able to discern who was coming towards him. He knew he was still in the play and could get hit, and then instinctively raised his hands and stick to brace/push off from normal contact anticipated in the play.
 
MMarch said:
Suspensions for player on player violence cannot be equated to player on officials violence. Apples and oranges.
Click to expand...

Then oranges to oranges.

Carcillo only player to be suspended in this decade and got 10 games which got reduced to 6.

Of all the other modern day suspensions, the most is 20 games. So why are people calling for 32 games. It states 10 games minimum for accidental contact. 20 game automatically if intentional. I do not believe it states 20 games minimum.

If this was Milan Lucic, then that would be totally different for me. But we are talking about Dennis Wideman...DENNIS WIDEMAN!! Not some crazy loose cannon that has a history of being volatile and super emotional during games. Hardly anyone would have considered him a physical player. Forget about hard hitting or dirty. This guy is on the top 10 of the TSN bloopers list...twice. Seems like he has a good sense of humour about it too.

As I mentioned earlier, Cujo accidentally ran into a ref when he lost his mind after thinking he got interfered with, and got ZERO games.
 
In addition, the following disciplinary penalties
shall apply:
CATEGORY I
Any Player who deliberately strikes an Official and causes
injury or who deliberately applies physical force in any
manner against an Official with intent to injure, or who in
any manner attempts to injure an Official shall be
automatically suspended for not less than 20 games. (For
the purpose of the Rule, "intent to injure" shall mean any
physical force which a player knew or should have known
could reasonably be expected to cause injury.)
CATEGORY II
Any Player who deliberately applies excessive physical
force to an Official in any manner (excluding actions as set
out in Category I), which physical force is applied without
intent to injure, shall be automatically suspended for not
less than 10 games.


Straight from the rule book.
A) I see nothing in the rules that says that a penalty HAD to be called on the ice.
B) The sticking point will be the intent to injure - but the act itself is most likely egregious enough to warrant the intent. he clearly goes from one hand to two in order to deliver the stick blow.
C) Even in a dizzy state it does not matter if 'he thought' he was going to hit an opposing player - he intended to hit someone.
D) You cannot compare any player on player actions to the act of hitting an official.


Lack of prior infractions - give him 20 and leave it at that.
 
I say 20-25 games. You have to throw the book at him so no other player "accidentally" does anything like this to a ref again. It's just not right.

We've all seem accidental/defensive collisions before in sports (especially hockey) and no player defends themselves by holding their hands up in a cross-check position & follow through with a hit from behind like that. It's not natural at all. We've all bumped into people, and our first reactions isn't to cross-check everyone you bump into. No way. That was intentional in my opinion.

Do you think if it was a Calgary Flames player Wideman hit the reaction would have been different? Absolutely. But since it was the ref, for whatever reason, Wideman decided to do what he did. Listen, I'm not calling him a bad guy or a dirty player or anything of the sort. He's just a normal guy who made a very bad judgement call.
 

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