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Khabibulin withdraws appeal, accepts 30-day sentence for DUI

It's been almost a year since Edmonton Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was sentenced to 30 days in jail for driving under the influence and speeding in February of 2010.

At the time of his arrest, the Oilers' netminder was given a field sobriety test and later a blood test after being pulled over in his Ferrari. His blood-alcohol content of .164 was more than double the legal limit. After appealing the decision last August, the 38-year old Khabibulin dropped the appeal yesterday and will begin a 30-day sentence later this week according to his attorney.

From Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic:

Khabibulin will serve the first 15 days of his sentence in jail and will be under house arrest for the final 15 days, DuBiel said. While at home Khabibulin will wear a monitoring ankle bracelet and be subject to random alcohol testing. He will be allowed to leave the house for 12 hours a day, likely for hockey-related activities.

The 30-day sentence is the minimum for a guilty party and Khabibulin was also fined $1,507.60.

In a statement, Khabibulin acknowledged that if he hadn't dropped his appeal, there was the chance of him missing part of training camp and that taking the 30 days now will ensure his attendance when the Oilers begin practicing in September.

Now that Khabibulin has gotten this black cloud out of his way, he can start focusing on rebounding from one of the worst seasons of his career. His off-the-ice issue was a likely factor in his 10-32-4/.890/3.40 year as Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal points out, and with two more seasons at $3.75 million (on an over-35 contract), Khabibulin still has yet to prove his worth in the Oilers' crease.

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