THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Jesse Boulerice is suspended for 25 games and only the good fortune that kept victim Ryan Kesler from suffering a serious injury allowed the Philadelphia Flyers tough guy to escape a more severe punishment.
As it stands, the verdict handed down Friday by NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell on Boulerice’s vicious cross-check to the face of the Vancouver Canucks centre earlier this week matches the longest suspension handed out in the NHL for an on-ice incident.
Kesler, who practiced Thursday, played Friday night in Vancouver’s 5-2 victory at Edmonton.
Last season, winger Chris Simon of the New York Islanders was also suspended 25 games for his two-handed stick attack to the face of Ryan Hollweg of the New York Rangers. Simon is still serving that suspension.
"He decided to do something that resulted in a bad action but not a terribly bad result and he was lucky," Campbell said of Boulerice on a conference call. "If it was a worse result, maybe there would be more than me looking into it today and that wouldn’t be good for any of us."
The reference there is to the mess that followed Todd Bertuzzi’s infamous attack on Steve Moore in 2004 and Marty McSorley’s stick-swing at Donald Brashear’s head in 2000. Criminal charges followed both times.
"In Chris Simon’s situation and the situation with Jesse Boulerice, if they cause injury we’re into a whole heap of problems," said Campbell. "Not only the player but the teams and our league and our sport. …
"We saw what transpired under the Bertuzzi (and) McSorley situations when there is injury, it never stops. So I would hope players would understand and see what could happen and what can come of these things and that they have to control themselves."
Kesler’s teammates echoed the sentiment.
"You never want to see things like that happen in our game," said Canucks forward Alex Burrows. "I think he probably didn’t want to do what he did but it is too late now. The league looked at it carefully and made the right call.
"I think 25 games is a good standard for that type of hit."
It’s the second hefty suspension handed down by Campbell so far this young season, both to members of the Flyers. Last month, prospect Steve Downie was suspended 20 games for a vicious pre-season hit on Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond.
Boulerice, who said after the game he acted in a "bad way," apologized again Friday night.
"I am very apologetic for what I did and I am ready to begin my suspension," he said. "I knew I was going to pay the consequences for my actions against Ryan Kesler in Vancouver and I respect the decision handed down by Mr. Campbell. During this time I will keep myself mentally and physically prepared for when the suspension is lifted."
Campbell dismissed notions of a second-coming of the Broad Street Bullies, as the Flyers were once known, and said the team didn’t merit separate punishment. The Flyers, meanwhile, found themselves fighting off an emerging perception as a team full of out-of-control goons.
"I think we’re in agreement that there’s no place in the game for this anymore," general manager Paul Holmgren said at the club’s practice facility in Voorhees, N.J. "I do think it was an isolated incident. Jesse lost his composure, lost his cool. It’s something that’s not the right thing to do, at any time."
Added head coach John Stevens: "It’s almost implied that’s the direction we’re going when it couldn’t be further from the truth."
Boulerice’s past history from his junior days wasn’t a factor in the decision, as the current CBA doesn’t allow it to enter the discipline equation.
The 29-year-old ran into legal troubles for his on-ice actions almost a decade ago while playing for the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers, when he was charged with assault after hitting Andrew Long of the Guelph Storm with a baseball-like swing in 1998.
"That’s an issue we have to deal with the NHLPA as far as blending that criteria into our criteria," said Campbell. "I haven’t thought about (raising the matter), maybe it’s something the players themselves want to talk about."
This time, Boulerice received a match penalty for cross-checking Kesler in the head Wednesday night in the third period of Philadelphia’s 8-2 win over the Canucks.
The two had sparred for much of the shift and Boulerice went after Kesler after the Canucks forward tried to crunch Flyers defenceman Randy Jones behind the net but connected partially. Kesler did not have the puck on the play. .
Kesler lay prone on the ice for a few minutes and did not return after he was helped to the Vancouver bench.
"I didn’t see him coming and he just took my head off," Kesler said Thursday. "I think he has a reputation of doing that."
Said Campbell: "If you’re a tough player you have to know your limitations and what you can do in your role. Whatever you were trying to do, you don’t do it that way."
Boulerice, a native of Plattsburgh, N.Y., has 319 penalty minutes in 167 career NHL games. He’s averaged less five minutes per game in his NHL career.
"He’s going to have to stand up and pay the price," said Stevens. "There’s nothing good that comes out of an incident like that."
Canucks forward Brendan Morrison believes the correct message was sent.
"The only way we are going to get rid of this type of thing is if we implement severe penalties," said Morrison. "I think it was the right decision."
Other suspensions of at least 20 games include: Boston’s McSorley in Feb. 2000, for knocking out Vancouver’s Brashear with a stick-swinging hit (23 games); Tampa Bay’s Gordie Dwyer (23 games) for abusing officials and coming out of the penalty box to fight in an exhibition game in 2000; and Washington’s Dale Hunter (21 games) for a blindside check of Pierre Turgeon of the N.Y. Islanders after a goal in a 1993 playoff game.
Bertuzzi, Chicago’s Tom Lysiak and Phoenix’s Brad May all served 20-game suspensions. >
Boulerice forfeits US$63,502 of his $475,000 salary with the money going to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. He’ll be eligible to return on Dec. 13 at Montreal.
— With files from Pierre LeBrun in Toronto and The Associated Press.
