In one of the dumbest suspensions across all of hockey, Florida Panthers prospect and current Mississauga Steelheads forward Owen Tippett was suspended for a game for flipping a foam puck over the boards.
I’m told a puck into the stands is usually a five game suspension but because Tippett flipped a foam puck, the league took that into consideration and suspended him just for today, meaning it won’t affect his status for the World Juniors. (2/2)
— Iain Colpitts (@IainColpitts86) December 9, 2018
You can see a foam puck make its way on the ice. Tippett supposedly shot the puck back over into the stands.
Annoyingly, it looks like it was off-camera. You can see the foam puck land on the ice, and Tippett head towards it, then the camera moves and you see the ref talking to him a second later. pic.twitter.com/tEVPuf1TRv
— Caitlin Berry (@caitlinsports) December 10, 2018
Frankly, it’s baffling Tippett got a suspension for this at all. He wasn’t trying to harm anyone or anything close to that, instead, he was just flipping a foam puck which made its way onto the ice back into the stands. To get a suspension – even a one-game ban – is ridiculous. Is the CHL that stingy on the price of pucks? Because this wasn’t even a real one! No one is going to get hurt by a foam puck.
The suspension lacks any rational explanation besides liability concerns (it’s a foam puck!). Tippett will have one-game to figure out just what the heck he did that was wrong.
About Liam McGuire
Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com