Ottawa – Brian Burke once suspended Avalanche captain and former Lady Byng Trophy winner Joe Sakic for a playoff game in 1998, stemming from an unpenalized hit against Detroit Red Wings center Kris Draper in a final regular-season game.
If this is karma from the hockey gods, then Burke has been getting his in these NHL playoffs.
Burke, the Anaheim Ducks general manager and former NHL discipline czar, saw his team’s best player, Chris Pronger, be suspended again Sunday by the league for a forearm to the head of Ottawa forward Dean McAmmond in Game 3. Pronger will sit for tonight’s Game 4 at Scotiabank Place, with the Ducks leading the series 2-1.
Burke wasn’t outraged that Pronger was suspended. After all, the 6-foot-6 former Norris Trophy-winning defenseman clocked McAmmond in the head. But Burke took time Sunday to berate the man who succeeded him as NHL director of hockey operations, Colin Campbell, for also not suspending Ottawa’s Chris Neil for an elbow to the head of Anaheim’s Andy McDonald.
“Chris Neil’s hit on Andy McDonald was reprehensible,” Burke said. “You guys go back and break down the tape. He took six strides in from the blue line, he’s going full speed, full extension, elbow right to the head. Our player skates away; he (Neil) gets a free pass. Their player gets hurt; Chris Pronger gets a game. The most dangerous play in the game last night was not Chris Pronger’s hit on Dean McAmmond. It was Neil’s hit on Andy McDonald.”
Pronger, suspended one game in the Western Conference finals for an elbow to the head of Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom, appeared subdued following the ruling.
“I stepped up to make the hit and got him with my forearm. And obviously you gotta suffer the consequences of what’s come down,” Pronger said.
McAmmond, who played with the Avalanche in 2002-03, is questionable to play tonight.
“I think it should have been a suspension because it was a blow to the head,” he said. “It wasn’t incidental. It’s not like that couldn’t have been avoided. I’m feeling pretty much the same as I was yesterday – a little bit headachy, not feeling quite right. I’m going to do everything I can, or as little as I can, to feel good tomorrow.”
