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Tailing the Komets

League comes down on Haun

International Hockey League Vice President of Hockey Operations Brad Jones said Tim Haun received a seven-game suspenion because he received a match penalty and there was clear intent to injure Port Huron's Derek Patrosso.

``The fact that player does not get hurt doesn't diminish the act of what transpired,'' Jones said. ``In this situation there was clear intent with the stick knowing full well he had the potential to hurt somebody.''

Jones said he talked with Haun after the event as well. He said Haun's defense was also hurt because the goaltender made a slashing motion at the IceHawks during the previous whistle to the play.

``The fact that he made a slashing motion at the timeout prior to the incident certainly carried some weight,'' Jones said. ``It just tied it in. and it was evident that he was frustrated and he did exactly what he said he was going to do. He had a conversation with the referee and he was upset that guys were chirping at him. In the game of hockey everybody chirps. He lost his composure and he intended to do what he did.''

Jones said some people in the league suggested the suspension be for 15, 20 or 25 games. As for why Brad MacMillan and Greg Labenski received five-game suspenions for elbow penalties that injured players, and Haun received seven games, Jones said he did not believe MacMillan or Labenski instended to injure their opponents, but Haun did. He also said those penalties were from majors and this was from a match penalty which has to carry more punishment.

``This was on the act and intent,'' Jones said. ``There was no question in the referee's mind, and in my mind that a match penalty was warranted. It was that clear. I had to decide. Sometimes you have to look at it and say the intent is very clear and the suspension has to be handed out. The fact that the player wasn't injured shouldn't take away what the act was.''

Posted in: Komets

Comments

JungleMonkey
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 2:35pm

Penalizing intent? If Jones really had the ability to read minds, he could make a lot of money elsewhere. His response is exactly what I expected, not reasons, excuses..

So as long as you make injuring someone look like an accident its ok.

This is the most ridiculous reasoning I've ever heard from a "professional" sports league.

JungleMonkey
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 2:49pm

"Jones said some people in the league suggested the suspension be for 15, 20 or 25 games."

Who? Larry Sterling? Stan Drulia?

What an absurd statement.

chuckitt
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:00pm

it was fair, so lets move on. he tried to hurt someone, justified or not.

Dan
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:08pm

He wouldn't have done it if just one of the Komets had the nads to protect him. Pathetic.

Adam Mapes
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:32pm

I agree Dan!!! As a team they are suppose to protect their goaltender, just shows you how tough this team really is!!!!! Way to go Haun, next time watch your stick!!!! LOL

JungleMonkey
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:34pm

Fair is in the eye of the beholder apparently. Based on past suspension from the IHL I think "fair" is debatable.

Alan
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:44pm

Swinging the stick at someone has no part in the game of hockey. He should have kept his composure for another minute. I know he was frustrated but what good did his actions do? Absolutely nothing. He also knew that Boucher would be coming off the IR this week and his workload was going to be lighter. His actions deserved a hearty suspension and the fact that he previously made a "slashing motion" at the Icehawks just added "intent." If this were an opposing goaltender, Komet fans would have been calling for a long suspension. As hockey fans we have to be able to realize that sometimes we need to admit when one of our players does something stupid. If we can't, then our comments and opinions will never be deemed credible by others. Tim Haun did a great job during Boucher's absence. He kept the Komets in most games and had to defend the net knowing that the K's were in a scoring slump. Unfortunately this incident detracts from some of the good things he did for the team. For those who want to defend his actions, tell me why I'm wrong.

me78
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:58pm

i dont disagree what he did was dumb......but......the team is supposed to protect him and they havent all year...thats what people have an issue with

Scarecrow
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:59pm

I agree with Chuckitt. Culpability is established. The penalty is fair. No one here would expect anything less if the Komets were on the other end of the situation. The team needs to get busy and address the underlying situation that led to Haun lashing out. We all feel sorry for Haun, but any such overtly aggressive act with an intent to injure cannot be tolerated.

Adam Mapes
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 4:04pm

I will agree with you that stick swinging has no part in this game , on the same note as a team they have to protect the goaltender at all times!!!! I'm sorry but when you see Haun getting involved and all of our guys wanna do is tie-up and do nothing I'm sorry that's pathetic!!!!!!!!

Janice
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 4:18pm

I agree with you Alan, He was wrong in what he did, I only wish it never had to come to that point and our players would have defended him while he was run over multiple times, he got frustrated and lost his cool. I am sure he will learn from it and move on just like Boucher and Bertram have since they had their scrum...which I believe was in the same building....PH is a tough barn, been there many times...Keep your cool, stay focused, win games....Let Go Komets!!

GameMisconduct
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 5:39pm

Bouch vs Bertram was in Musky, not PoHo

Dschebig
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 6:39pm

The intent to injure is one thing. Protecting your goaltender is another. It is to bad the players didn't stand up for their goaltender. But, that is another problem that needs to be dealt with. Tim lost his cool plan and simple. Seven games is fair. I agree with chuckitt let's move on. A perfect solution would have no one happy. I think Brad Jones did what had to be done. Now no one is happy.

Tiger
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 6:40pm

Fair enough, you cant swing a stick at someone, swing fists, not weapons.

Didnt anyone see # 22 giving the icehawk player a hug? i guess thats the new way of protecting our goalie. Now what are we going to do without our new goon Tim (the hatchet) Haun.

gregsand77
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 6:48pm

I have another incident to bring to attention. Last season Todd Robinson took a baseball swing and hit Sean O'Connor in the knee. Sean left the game and missed a couple afterwards. Robinson got either a match or a 5 min. for slashing and if memory serves me he got either 1 or 2 games. Does anyone know specifics? Blake do you remember that incident? Is there a double standard here?

JR
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 7:17pm

1-3 games would have been fair and just with the way they have handed down suspensions in the past...IMO What I have a problem with is this... Mac's hit to the head (causing injury) on Detulleo got him a 5 game suspension... Labenski's hit to Shafranov's head (causing injury that required surgery) got a 5 game suspension... Both illegal plays in the IHL and both players missed significant time... Haun takes a nasty swing towards a players (who got a penalty on the play) does not injure the player and recieves 7 game suspension... An illegal play in the IHL.......
So my problem is that 2 of those illegal plays resulted in significant injury and got lesser penalties because someone "thought" there was no intent to injure while the third illegal play that resulted in no injury got a more severe penalty because someone "thought" there was intent to injure.... This sounds like that one movie Tom Cruise was in where they used psychic's to arrest people for crimes they were intending to commit...lol

Those who say there is no place in hockey for swinging your stick around are correct; but I will also say that there is also no place in hockey for blatant blows to the head that result in injury...

What would hurt you more, someone who walked up to you intending to hit you and missed or the person who walked up to you and popped you square in the nose and broke it??? And which person would most likely be going to jail???

Blake Sebring
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 7:20pm

Robinson got a one game suspension, there was no penalty on the play and O'Connor did not miss any games.

Hit Somebody!!!
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 7:36pm

What was Jason Lawmaster's intent when he beat Shaf into the ice with 10+ punches to the head while he laid defenseless on the ground??? That is my question....Lawmaster got nothing. An undisclosed fine....could have been $10 for all we know.

This is a bush-league ruling in my book.

I too agree that Haun's teammates are the one's at fault here. 10-15 games Haun gets run into, run over, hit after the whistle, and he noticeably had an EBUG on the bench backing him up, the other teams knew this, and they took advantage of him.....his teammates weren't willing to stand-up for him at all. That is where the blame should be right now.

Blake Sebring
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 7:50pm

Last match penalty by a Komet was Olivier Legault last year for hitting Stephen Later on the mouth with his stick. Three games. Luciano Aquino got two games two years ago for hitting Bloomington's Brett Holmberg in the chest with his stick.

Steve
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 8:36pm

In 1975 Henry Boucha, a North Star, was intentionally hit in the face with a stick by Bruins player Dave Forbes. It cracked the bone around one of his eyes (left IIRC), causing permanent damage to his vision and ending a promising career in Hockey.

Forbes was unsuccessfully prosecuted for assault.

Henry's younger brother Eddie was a friend of mine at the time. I have no tolerance for stick swinging, especially intentionally at someone.

One of the most used arguments to justify fighting in hockey is that players carry sticks that can be used as weapons and sometimes fighting needs to be allowed to prevent a situation from escalating to the use of sticks.

I agree that players need to stand up for and protect goalies, and we have seen a lack of that in recent years, not just this season. I don't think that justifies Tim taking a swing at someone. A jab to the ankle ala Eddie Long would be OK but not a two-handed baseball swing.

Blueline Baby
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 10:17pm

What about swinging the stick to protect your child in Dicks Sporting Goods from the idiot adult who nearly knocked him down and then did not so much as apologize? It was really more of a slash to the side of the leg. What would be the penalty for that? Not saying I know anything about said incident, just asking.... ;)

Wendy
Wed, 12/16/2009 - 2:38am

I had a feeling that it would be a longer suspension than people were expecting, I guess just because the intent was so clear in this case. And yeah, the thought did occur to me that it might be something obscenely long, but then Haun doesn't have a record of bad behavior. If he did, I'm sure they would have thrown the book at him.

scott
Wed, 12/16/2009 - 5:02pm

I believe if the Komet team had any backbone ( other than Mac.) none of this would have ever happened. I've been a season ticket holder for 31 years and this is by far the biggest collection of ( just give me my paycheck I don't care about the rest of the team)

Blake Sebring
Wed, 12/16/2009 - 9:12pm

Oh, please, let's get some perspective here. I can think of about five teams over the years that made these guys look like King Kong as far as caring. 94-95, 96-97, 98-99, 01-02. Even the end of 97-98 was a roll over a get a belly rub type of season. 98-99 was an insult to the end of the careers of Robin Bawa and Ian Boyce. 96-97 was by far the worst team I ever covered as far as selfishness. They couldn't get along at any point in the season. Some of them would have rather fought each other than an opponent. All most of them were worried about was individual stats and who was buying the beer for the bus ride home.

Blake Sebring
Wed, 12/16/2009 - 9:18pm

A couple of those years are the perfect example of why firing the coach halfway through NEVER works unless you are the 1978 New York Yankees. Same thing with tearing up the roster halfway through and starting over. You aren't going to accomplish anything. It's better to work with what you have.

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