NHL suspends Boston's Milan Lucic for a gloved punch?

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Earlier today, Boston Bruins Coach Claude Julien believed he'd have Milan Lucic for Game 3 against the Montreal Canadiens despite his bruising winger receiving a match penalty in Game 2 for high-sticking Maxim Lapierre.

This evening, the NHL reviewed the following incident and suspended Lucic for one game:

From the NHL:

Boston Bruins' forward Milan Lucic has been suspended for one game as a result of a blow to the head in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series last night against the Montreal Canadiens.
Boston Bruins' forward Milan Lucic has been suspended for one game as a result of a blow to the head in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series last night against the Montreal Canadiens. Lucic was assessed a match penalty for highsticking Montreal forward Maxim Lapierre at 15:28 of the third period.
"While it is unclear whether Lucic's glove or stick makes contact with Lapierre, what is clear is that he delivered a reckless and forceful blow to the head of his opponent," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell.
Lucic's suspension will be served on Monday night when the Bruins meet the Canadiens in Game Three of the series.

TSN is reporting that the Bruins submitted a video to the League that purportedly showed a glove, rather than a stick, striking Lapierre first. The NHL obviously believes that intent is intent.

Hub Hockey makes the case that you rarely see a player suspended for what amounts to a punch to the face. But that would assume the NHL's disciplinary system has some modicum of consistency or integrity.

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1. Posted by Jason D Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT
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voulez vous de beurre?
2. Posted by George A Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:24 pm EDT
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Montreal sucks. Lucic, though dirty, is awesome.
3. Posted by Ordinary Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:03 pm EDT
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I'm a Habs fan and even I can admit that this suspension is a joke.
4. Posted by Bruins Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:00 pm EDT
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Pathetic. What about Cammalleri's hit on Havlat? That looked a lot worse than this play. The NHL is so caught up in all this talk about "message sending", and are making ridiculous decisions because of it. We all know that in the regular season this doesn't even get looked at.
5. Posted by poploser Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:08 pm EDT
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yeah, cause it should make a difference whether the guy who threw his stick at another guy's head, just happened to be a few inches off.
6. Posted by ZHL Commissioner Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:13 pm EDT
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What a joke! Carcillo and Lucic get suspended while Cammalleri doesn't all for the same thing. The message the NHL is sending is that it's not OK to sucker punch someone late in the game (i.e. Lucic and Carcillo) but in the middle of the game (i.e. Cammalleri) it's OK.
A hit to the head is a hit to the head. They all can have the same affect regardless if it happens in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd period.
7. Posted by Spock Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:09 pm EDT
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NHL is no place for goon hockey.
8. Posted by Scotty Hockey Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:22 pm EDT
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Dammit, if only Lucic had scored a few more goals this season he wouldn't have been suspended ...
9. Posted by patrick f Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:01 pm EDT
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doesn't matter... the bruins wil miss lucic monday, but thet'll just put bitz in the lineup.... bitz fought laraque earlier this season, and surprised that goon with a couple solid shots....BRUINS IN 5!
10. Posted by gordy howe hat trick Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:08 pm EDT
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@ WYSH: UNRELATED COMMENT- the score is screwed up on your home page for the sharks game, don't know if thats your job but thought you'd like to know
11. Posted by Garth the Hoser Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:06 pm EDT
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Was Maxine Lapierre skating over to ask Lucic for dinner? No. We all know he was going in to finish off what his p#ssy teammates started. Lucic was defending himself.
But whatever. If having Looch out of the lineup for a game makes your Habs b@lls grow bigger for one night, enjoy yourselves. This thing is over in 5.
12. Posted by Q-Stache Power Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:37 pm EDT
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I agree with you number 7. Cammalleri not getting suspended was a total joke.
13. Posted by James Fury Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:34 pm EDT
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the way hockey is going checking is gonna be a penatly someday
14. Posted by Rambo Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:58 pm EDT
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I may be wrong, but im pretty sure its the cross check to the mouth that they show in the long replay, not the open handed slap, thats causing the suspension.
15. Posted by Alvin B Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:39 pm EDT
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Wysh How you like those Canucks now????? oOoOooOo hottest team in the league...chris mason is big...Backes is good...oshie has pecs.... Haha sit back and witness the experience that will one day be the Legend of Luongo.
16. Posted by Cameron Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:24 pm EDT
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what is clear is that he delivered a reckless and forceful blow to the head of his opponent
that is directly from Mr.Campbell, so what was Cammalleri's shot then? Was it wreckless, yup, was it forceful yep, so why the hell didnt Cammalleri get suspened, Lucic was provoked, and Cammalerri wasn't. In my opinion, Cammalleri's was much more of a cheap shot.
Also I wish that Lapierre would have gotten knocked out.
17. Posted by MikeMc_79 Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:23 pm EDT
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@ patrick f- Bitz actually fought Donald Brashear earlier this season, but I see how you could have confused the two . Besides the obvious similarity, they are two of the longest tenured heavyweights in the league. Damn. I remember Cam Neely fighting brashear. Bottom line, Bitz isn't going to back down from anybody.
18. Posted by ZHL Commissioner Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:13 pm EDT
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@Cameron: well said.
19. Posted by The Great One Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT
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Bruins fan here. Lucic suspension is proper. Hopefully he learns his lesson.
20. Posted by Runnin up on ya ! Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:47 pm EDT
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maybe if lucic changed his # to 87 then he'd get away with it? guess gloved sack punches are ok though.
21. Posted by Alex B Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:51 pm EDT
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But what I don't understand is Lucic gets suspended for this yet Lapierre never even faces a hearing for driving Kaleta into the boards during the regular season? The NHL is very flawed, I hope Lapierre gets knocked out in game 3, he deserves it. This is coming from a Sabres fan, go Bruins in this series, Habs are a bunch of overrated hacks.
22. Posted by Kvan Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:54 pm EDT
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Everyone should check out the video of Colin Campbell on CBC, luckily Ron Mclean really asked the right questions and called Campbell out on it, good for him. Imagine what would have happened if Cherry was there.
23. Posted by E = MC Hammer Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:43 pm EDT
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If this warrants a suspension then the league better throw the book at David Backes for his attempting to destroy Henrik Sedin's face. Brutal crosscheck to the face with 6 seconds left in a losing game. A 2 gamer would mean he will be missing the first game of next season lol. Hey Wysh is St. Louis still going to win that series in 6 games?
24. Posted by Steve Hanson Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:54 pm EDT
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Brashear....Laraque....monkey see....monkey do....Looch will return in time to sweep the Habnots.
25. Posted by Darth P Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:37 pm EDT
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One way or another, Lucic's stick ends up pressed against the side of Lapierre's face after the punch. If Lucic were just trying to punch him, he wouldn't still be pressing his stick against him. Suspension is the right call; attempted cross-check to the head doesn't belong in the game.