In case you missed it, Adirondack Flames forward and former NHL enforcer Trevor Gillies was suspended 12-games by the AHL for jumping an opponent and bashing his head off the ice during a late game scrum over the weekend.
Gillies, who probably shouldn’t even have a job in professional hockey at this point, attacked 19-year old Rochester Americans rookie forward William Carrier, punching him into submission and then smashing his helmeted head off the ice towards the end of the Flames’ 6-1 blowout loss on Friday night.
When asked about his suspension this week, this is what Gillies had to say:
“I definitely wasn’t trying to smack his head off the ice,” Gillies said. “I was trying to pick him up and once I realized that he wasn’t fighting back, something clicked in my head that I was doing something wrong and I put him back down. I’d rather not discuss it; I apologized to the kid on Facebook and I feel bad about it. It’s something that I’m going to have to man up and accept my punishment.” (via)
That’s a pretty ridiculous quote, considering this is how Gillies chose to “put him back down:”
Yeah, what a hero that guy is.
It’s also interesting that he defending himself by saying he apologized to “the kid” on Facebook 1). because that’s a pretty shitty and impersonal way of saying sorry for a borderline criminal act, and 2.) he didn’t even really apologize to Carrier at all. Here’s the post:
He apologized to his family, teammates and organization, but there’s no real apology to Carrier in there at all. He doesn’t even refer to him by name.
Gillies also stated to the Post-Star that, after returning from suspension, he has to “make sure none of that happens again, so [he] can be more effective.” That would certainly be a nice place to start, but it’s highly unlikely considering he’s an awful hockey player and, apparently, an even worse human being.
