Patrick King

The Québec Major Junior Hockey League has sent the right message by suspending Patrice Cormier for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.

The hit has received national attention since Jan. 18, the day after Cormier delivered an elbow to the face of Québec’s Mikael Tam at center ice.

What ensued was one of the scariest moments in a young man’s life, as Tam convulsed on the ice before being taken to hospital.

In his press conference on Jan. 22, Tam said he could not remember the hit or why he was being taken to hospital. He plans on resuming his hockey career as soon as his health permits.

Cormier’s stiff penalty sends the message that the league will not tolerate cheap shots, no matter who the players are involved.

"My decision is based not on the name on the back of the jersey or the name of the team," QMJHL league disciplinarian Raymond Bolduc said on Monday, "but only based, without any influence, on the gesture."

The big question in determining Cormier’s suspension was whether his star appeal would save him from a lengthy suspension. Cormier had just represented Canada at the world junior hockey championship as team captain and was acquired from Rimouski by Rouyn-Noranda, who were loading up for a run at the league championship.

The Huskies paid a steep price for Cormier at the trade deadline: Two young players, three first-round picks and a second-round pick were exchanged for Cormier and Jordan Caron. Now the Huskies are left without the impact player it thought it acquired in the trade, which is obviously secondary to Tam’s health.

As the suspension only relates to QMJHL activity, it would still be possible for Cormier to participate in the Memorial Cup should Rouyn-Noranda get that far. Cormier has five days to appeal his suspension to the league.

Cormier, a second-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, is unlikely to begin his professional career in the American Hockey League but league officials would not say Cormier outright whether he could join the Devils’ AHL affiliate this season.

"It’s a wish I have that the National Hockey League and the American league respect our decision," league commissioner Gilles Courteau said.

The Canadian Hockey League and the NHL have an agreement which prevents 18- and 19-year olds from playing in the AHL. A player can play in the AHL if his junior team is eliminated or if he has already played four seasons in the CHL.

As Cormier is neither 20-years-old nor has he played four full seasons, he is categorically ineligible for the AHL until the Huskies’ season concludes.

Cormier, who signed with the Devils last summer, is a prized prospect of the organization. New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello would want the best for his player, but it would be sending the wrong message for Cormier to play in the AHL this season.

Most players Cormier’s age are excited and anxious to begin their professional careers. If Cormier’s pro career were to begin after a devastating elbow and season-long suspension, it would be turning a negative into a positive for the player.

Earlier this season in the Ontario Hockey League, Erie Otters forward Mike Liambas was assessed a season and playoff-long suspension for his hit on Ben Fanelli. Liambas then joined the International Hockey League’s Bloomington Prairie Thunder, where he has since received a suspension.

Bolduc called Cormier’s elbow "dangerous and intolerable" and spoke of the league’s responsibility towards the safety of the players. Although the league could not prevent the elbow from taking place – referring to it several times as an isolated incident - its decision was unquestionably the right one to make.

"We realize and we understand that the public opinion in a certain way might want to have different decisions from the league office," Courteau said. "I think that today the decision that has been announced by Mr. Bolduc is the proper decision for what happened."

The QMJHL should be applauded for its handling of the situation. Cormier’s elbow was a black mark on a league that has tried to eliminate violence.

By suspending a star and marketable player for as long as they have, the league is sending the right message that such actions will not be tolerated.

"As league commissioner, it is my duty to put in place measures to educate our players and to hold them accountable," Courteau said. "Gratuitous violence has no place in our great game. Through perseverance, we will ultimately eliminate it. The QMJHL must be a hockey league from which players begin and flourish, not where they end."

Here’s hoping Tam’s career can continue and flourish as well.