Calgary Flames: Peters fined, Giordano hearing, Lomberg suspended
After a heated game against the Minnesota Wild last night, the Calgary Flames have a lot going on with their players today.
Well, that was a WILD game last night, hey? Sorry, I’ll stop. Everything was fine until about the last two minutes of the hockey game. The Calgary Flames were up 2-0 against the Minnesota Wild, they took out their goalie for the extra attacker, and then chaos ensued.
Well, first during the game, Mark Giordano went knee-to-knee to Mikko Koivu who looks like he may be injured since he left the game injured and didn’t return. As per Player Safety, Giordano will face a hearing for that hit.
Then in the last couple of minutes is when all the mayhem started. Matt Dumba laid a big hit on Mikael Backlund that, at the moment, looked like a dirty head hit. As a result, head coach Bill Peters sent Ryan Lomberg out on a legal line change for the sole purpose to go after Dumba. Right at that moment, I knew Peters would face a fine for that hit. And I was right.
Peters faced a $10,000 fine for that move. As for Lomberg, that gets a little more complicated. He’ll have a hearing today for that line change since the main purpose was to start an altercation. Then, Lomberg got automatically suspended one game per rule 46.22: Instigating in the Final Five Minutes of Regulation.
Many Flames fans are a little frustrated that Dumba will not be receiving any sort of hearing for his hit on Backlund. As I said, at the moment, it looked like a head hit and it looked like he left his feet from the ice. But apparently, what they’re saying about it, Dumba’s skates didn’t leave the ice initially and the momentum from the check is what sent his feet off the ice. They’re also saying it was a clean hit and not an illegal check to the head. While there is some head contact, it doesn’t appear that the head is the main point of contact and his elbow was tucked.
Some angles do show that it looked like the head was the main point of contact. But some show that it wasn’t, so this one is a little iffy. I do agree with all the calls on the Flames players though, they do deserve those hearings and fines. However, if Backlund is injured, I will personally sue the state of Minnesota.