Milan Lucic fined $5,000, not suspended for groin strike on Danny DeKeyser
For the paltry sum of just $5,000, you can strike another man in the groin with a hockey stick on national television.
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic has been fined $5,000 for "intentionally spearing" Detroit Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser in the groin, according to the official Red Wings Twitter account. Lucic will not be suspended for the incident, which... seems a little odd, given how things went down.
Calling it anything other than “intentional” would certainly be a stretch; usually, when you can clearly define intent when it comes to hurting another player, a suspension is handed out. The play saw Lucic come up behind DeKeyser before swinging his hockey stick between DeKeyser’s legs and right into that place you don’t ever want anybody swinging a hockey stick.
No penalty was called on the play, which occurred in Friday’s Game 1 playoff matchup. Detroit ended up winning the game, 1-0. We have a .gif of the play below:
Seems about as cut-and-dried as it gets. As to why there's no suspension, nobody is quite sure, but some have thrown around the suggestion that it's the playoffs... which doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but sure! Either way, this isn't the first fine of the NHL playoffs -- that went to Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville for "inappropriate conduct." Said conduct came in the form of grabbing his own crotch and screaming like a madman.
It’s unclear why a coach doing that drew a $25,000 fine, but a player hitting another one clearly in the groin only draws a $5,000 fine. But then again, here we are trying to make sense of NHL disciplinary actions -- something that’s long been a futile effort.
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