poni rode him into the boards, and made no effort to pull up. to say it wasn’t deserving a suspension is looking at it through black and gold colored glasses.

Dirty play. Typical Penguins.

Ponikarosky.

Rule 42 – Boarding

42.1 Boarding – A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player or goalkeeper who checks an opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to be thrown violently in the boards. The severity of the penalty, based upon the degree of violence of the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee.

There is an enormous amount of judgment involved in the application of this rule by the Referees. The onus is on the player (or goalkeeper) applying the check to ensure his opponent is not in a vulnerable position and if so, he must avoid the contact.

However, there is also a responsibility on the player with the puck to avoid placing himself in a dangerous and vulnerable position. This balance must be considered by the Referees when applying this rule.

Josh Bailey has fractures in his face, and he will be out 4-6 weeks. I don’t think Ponikarovsky is a dirty player, but I’m okay with the suspension.

It does look like Bailey changed direction at the last minute which may have made it worse, but I can see where the suspension comes in. At first I thought the game misconduct was a little much, but after watching it again, I agree with Diomedes that players do have a responsibility, and there was obviously quite a bit of difference between Bailey and the boards, enough that Poni should have realized what would happen.

Poni has been a bust so far, but maybe these last two games of not playing will give him a chance to really watch his new team and see what he needs to do, what needs to change, watch some tape, and just clear his head a little bit. Then he can come out hungry.

I think here again Ponikarovsky thought the Islander was going to do one thing, but he did something else (turn right instead of turn left). Was this suspended under the new rules? Didn’t seem suspension worthy under the old ones.

Seems like this was fanshotted 3 times before coming in the middle column.

After watching it a few times, I can understand the Refs’ reaction and the subsequent 5 and game. But the suspension? I don’t know…Poni didn’t “violently” throw himself at Bailey, and he didn’t line up his head into the boards. I don’t know…perhaps this is the League making up the should-have-been-a-suspension on Cooke’s hit.

You maybe right, however only Poni knows what his intentions were, although in general he is not known for doing this kind of stuff.

I think it’s interesting that even on NHL 10 Poni is a bust for the Pens.