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Cogliano’s Suspension and The Aftermath

Photo: Tim Heitman / USA Today

By Richard Gonzalez

Yesterday the Ducks were in Denver playing a matinee game against the Colorado Avalanche. The Ducks and Avalanche each fighting for a playoff spot. As the Ducks took the ice someone was missing. That someone was Andrew Cogliano. He is serving the first game of a very questionable two-game suspension.

During the first period of the Ducks vs Kings game on Saturday, January 13, 2018, Cogliano received a two-minute interference penalty for his hit on Kings’ forward Adrian Kempe. Kempe was visibly shaken but was not injured as a result of the hit and took 18 shifts for a total of 10:31 of that game.

It was until the midway of the game where reports started coming in that the play would be reviewed by the league to determine if supplemental discipline would be required. The next day the NHL Player Safety announced that Cogliano was given a two-game suspension, which would subsequently end his 830 consecutive game streak.

Like most fans, I don’t agree with the suspension at all. I do agree with the need to protect players from potential career-ending head shots but this was by far excessive and it only adds to the inconsistency of the NHL Player Safety. It seems like they have no set standard on who gets called and in some cases, it seems like they overlook certain “superstar” players when determining who will get supplemental discipline. So the league wants to have a hearing on Cogliano’s hit but ignores looking at three separate questionable plays: Three Questionable Hits

Former enforcer George Parros is in his first year of being with the Department of Player safety. “It’s unfortunate, but a play like this is pretty self-explanatory. There was significant head contact. We had to treat it the same as we would any other player like this,” said Parros in an article by The Hockey News’ Matt Larkin article.

Parros, a Princeton alumni, received a lot of criticism when he took the job with the Department of Player Safety due to his enforcer style of play. He has 159 fights in 474 NHL games and has assessed 1,127 penalty minutes, source, Shelly Anderson (Observer-Reporter). Despite all his fights and penalty minutes, Parros has never received supplemental discipline. Maybe not in the then NHL but the now NHL that probably would’ve been a different story. One is to think if Parros felt more pressure to dish out an excessive suspension because he was a former Ducks player and did not want to seem like he was playing favorites or feels like he has something to prove to his doubters by suspending a player who has never been in question of a bad hit.

An emotional Cogliano spoke about his suspension and how former Ducks’ forward Teemu Selanne has reached out to him:

Former players Tie Domi, Teemu Selanne, and current player Matt Beleskey took to Twitter to express their support and opinions. Teemu also responded to a question by DucksNPucks,”Hey @TeemuSel8nne what did you think about the Cogliano suspension?”

Cogliano is one of the most respected and hardworking players in the league. He plays the game at a high level of intensity and has never been a player who has had a questionable hit or being over physical in his play. The punishment did not fit the crime regardless of his streak or not. You have to treat this situation because he has had no history and Kempe wasn’t injured as a result. This game is a fast pace game and things happen in seconds. He was given a two-minute penalty, which most of us had no problem with, but supplemental discipline for that play and not the others is absolutely confusing. Maybe some of our Ducks players should take acting lessons to embellish certain questionable hits. Maybe the Player Safety Department will pull their heads out of their rear end and look.

Emotions were already high being a rivalry game and the three back-to-back-to-back fights, but Cogliano isn’t the type of player to intentionally take a headshot on an unsuspecting player. I’ve seen a lot of fans from all other teams, including Kings fan surprisingly, who disagreed with the two-game suspension and calling out the integrity of the NHL Player Safety with questionable hits that happened their team’s players which were not reviewed. Parros and his Department of Player Safety made an example of the wrong player and stole an accomplishment that Cogliano has earned. Not disrespecting the players who are on the list for conservative games but in today’s NHL could they have avoided a suspension? Especially how Parros and the Player Safety handed out this two-game suspension. Why couldn’t he be fined in that case? Was Parros just being overzealous because he felt that if he suspended someone from his former team, critics would suddenly admit how wrong they were about him and show him praise. Regardless, I stand firm in my opinion when I saw this was excessive.

I feel for Cogliano especially after seeing his emotional response. He tried to remain professional while holding back tears. He is a class act guy and a professional so he will overcome this ridiculous suspension. He will continue working hard and being the best player he can for the Ducks. He is our player and we stand with and support him. His streak may have officially come to an end but for most of us Ducks fans, we will continue to keep track of his games and he will always be our “Iron Man” player.

Support for Cogliano continues to spread across the social media with a common hashtag of #FreeCogs by fans. Cogliano is eligible to return on on Friday, January 19, 2018, when the Ducks host the Kings.

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January 16th, 2018

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