At about the 20-second mark of this video, from a Southern Professional Hockey League on Saturday night, Augusta RiverHawks forward Aaron McGill sucker-punches Mark Van Vliet of the Knoxville Ice Bears. This sparked a brawl that resulted in 82 penalty minutes, including a few for that energetic fight at center ice between Egor Mironov (Hawks) and Mike Tuomi (Bears).
Van Vliet? He's expected to miss the rest of the SPHL season with a broken jaw, which had him hospitalized on Saturday and in surgery on Sunday. His coach, Mike Craigen, called him one of the most important players on the Ice Bears roster, and told the Knoxville News Sentinel that he wanted McGill suspended for the season:
"I think the punishment should fit the crime, and Mark Van Vliet is out for the season from the looks of it and I think Aaron McGill should be out for the season as well, and if he's not, I think it's an injustice," Craigen said. "I'm confident the SPHL will take care of it. It's not the first time Aaron McGill has been brought before the disciplinary board on something."
McGill had previously been suspended for a game on Dec. 21 for "a blow to the head of a Mississippi player, causing injury."
Craigen's lobbying proved effective: McGill has been suspended for the rest of the regular season (13 games) and the playoffs, with August tied for third in the SPHL. The team says it will appeal the ruling.
Via the Augusta Chronicle, league president Jim Combs explains the decision:
"It wasn't just a regular fight. It came 10 seconds after the whistle," Combs said. "The linesman was holding the Knoxville player's arms down, and the Augusta player came in with a punch that shattered his jaw. That guy will be drinking out of a straw for the next four to six weeks now."
In the NHL, debates have raged over both "suspending to the injury" and whether there should be some kind of an "eye for an eye" policy that would have a perpetrator out as long as his victim.
We don't agree with either approach; in the latter case, for example, Joe Thornton would still be sitting at home waiting for David Perron to return to the St. Louis Blues. But it's interesting to see how another league handles these matters, even if at its core it's a 13-game suspension with a few postseason games tacked on, which seems about right for a cheap shot like this.
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