There has been a lot of talk surrounding Norfolk’s Simon Kubicek on whether or not he should have been suspended for his actions during last Friday Night’s game vs Adirondack Thunder after he was tossed from the game as he slammed his helmet in the penalty box while arguing with the ref over a holding penalty, and would then be assessed a 10-minute misconduct; it appeared that he had slashed the linesman as he swung his stick in anger as he was leaving the ice. At the time of the penalty, he was assessed a category I Abuse of Officials penalty, which carried an automatic 20-game suspension, but was later downgraded, however, its not uncommon to see these calls change, as we also saw it changed when Adirondack’s Zach Walker was suspended earlier this year but he ended up getting eight games for his actions, which were not as outrageous as Kubicek’s. One of the things we have to take into account is the referees, who easily had the best angle of it and the idea that maybe he was doing it in anger and wasn’t trying to hit the linesman on purpose.
Another thing that I would assume the league looked into was his prior history, and Kubieck has not been suspended or fined yet by the league in the two years that he’s played in the ECHL, however he does have 305 penalty minutes in 163 games as he spent last season with the Newfoundland Growlers. Norfolk currently leads the league in minor penalties (367), ten minutes misconducts (31), and overall penalty minutes (1,147).
I believe that the league had a chance here to make a statement by suspending Kubieck. It didn’t need to be a 20-game suspension, but I think, at the very least, he should have gotten at least five games, as it would continue to show players that the league is not going to put up with players abusing their officials.
What are your thoughts? Should Kubieck have been suspended?
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