It's been more than six weeks since Dennis Wideman cross-checked linesman Don Henderson, and the situation continues to intensify after an arbitrator recently made a decision to reduce the defenseman's suspension from 20 games to 10.
While Wideman was thankful for the sentence reduction, the NHL Officials' Association isn't happy with the decision, releasing the following statement Saturday:
The NHLOA strongly disagrees with the arbitrator's decision to reduce Dennis Wideman's suspension to 10 games while linesman Don Henderson continues to recover from an injury inflicted by the player that will sideline him for the rest of the season. The message in reducing the suspension that is sent to NHL players, as well as athletes all over the world, including children, is that hte code of conduct towards officials has changed.
The NHLOA intends to take all steps necessary so that its members are protected in the future and ensure that this type of conduct by a player against an official never happens again.
Both Henderson and Wideman, who was hit by an opposing player moments before he collided with the official, suffered concussions during the incident.
The Calgary Flames defender returned to the lineup Friday against the Arizona Coyotes, playing 18 minutes in a 4-1 loss.
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If I were an official I would be very unhappy with this decision by an arbitrator who obviously shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions on hockey matters.
Abuse of an official cannot be tolerated. Officials are on the ice with players who wear better protection, are younger and have equipment that can be used as weapons. For these reasons alone we need to vigorously protect the officials.
Officials are always hated when you are cheering for your team. The calls they make always seem biased against your team so it is natural to feel they “deserve” bad things… but simply put, they don’t! They do a difficult job and they need to know that they are protected from all forms of abuse. The penalty needs to be harsh enough to deter any future misconduct and having a suspension halved does not send the right message.
Rant over….