Keith Aulie suspended two games for Matt Stajan head shot
Keith Aulie, welcome to being a repeat offender in the eyes of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. Make sure to be on the lookout … after you serve a two-game suspension.
On Wednesday night against the Calgary Flames, Aulie blasted Matt Stajan in the ‘Battle of Alberta’ – a 4-3 Flames overtime win. Happy New Year!
The video:
The Oilers defenseman was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct. Stajan eventually returned – which probably went in Aulie’s favor in regards to the suspension.
From the Calgary Herald:
“Obviously, your initial reaction is you’re pissed off,” Stajan said after participating in Thursday morning’s practice at the Stampede Corral. “The onus is on the player making the hit to not make contact with the head. I was upset that the head was what I thought was the initial point of contact.”
But clearly the hit was pretty bad for Aulie to merit a two-game ban and $8,602.16 docking, mostly because it was his first suspension and the fact that, again, Stajan returned.
But this deserves a major congrats to Aulie. He's now the answer to a trivia question, "Who was the first suspension of 2015?" Way to go!
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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