THE CANADIAN PRESS
LONDON — Canadian Brad Cruikshank has been given a nine-game suspension by the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League for his role in a wild bench-clearing brawl.
The Coventry Blaze forward triggered the melee during a game last Saturday. The Kelowna, B.C., native bolted from a linesman escorting him off the ice and charged at Nottingham Panthers goaltender Craig Kowalski.
That prompted players from both benches and penalty boxes to jump on the ice and join the second-period fracas, which lasted about three minutes and led to eight suspensions announced Wednesday.
Nottingham’s Danny Meyers was given seven games for his actions, which included a blindside hit on Coventry netminder Brett Jaeger that revived the fighting.
Teammate Alex Penner of Simcoe, Ont., was handed a five-game ban for leaving the penalty box to join a fight and starting another altercation after things had calmed.
Both coaches were suspended for failing to control their players. Nottingham coach David Graham was given three games while Coventry counterpart Paul Thompson got two games.
Jade Galbraith of Hinton, Alta., and Marc Levers, both from Nottingham, and Aaron Nell of Coventry were each suspended one game for leaving the penalty box to join a fight.
Coventry won the game 2-1 as the teams combined for 235 penalty minutes.
