Rayside v. Soo resumes
The series is tied at a game apiece. There is the side bar relative to a blind-side hit that has a player out for the season with a concussion and the instigator of it suspended by the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
Hostilities aside, no. 2 seed Soo Thunderbirds will play host to no. 1 seed Rayside Balfour Canadians tonight and tomorrow as the best-of-seven, West Division final resumes.
The latest bout of nastiness between the two sides stems from Game 1 of the series when, in the opening seconds of the match, Rayside forward James White leveled Soo center Camaryn Baber with a blind-side hit.
As a result, Baber is out for the season, with his second concussion in less than a month, both times after being hit by a Rayside player.
White has been suspended for 10 games for the hit on Baber. His teammate, Evan Krassey, was handed a 10-game suspension by the NOJHL after the first hit on Baber.
At any rate, home ice in the series now shifts to the Soo after the teams split Games 1 and 2 in Rayside.
The Thunderbirds took the opener 2-0 before the Canadians showed resolve by overcoming a 2-0 deficit in Game 2 to score a 3-2 overtime victory.
Will cooler heads prevail for the rest of the series?
Here’s hoping.
PHOTO: Rayside celebrates the Game 2 overtime winner.
Regardless of the small set backs, Rayside has what it takes to win it!
#thebetterteam
March 30 – James White – blind sided hit (supplementary review) – ten games
If RBC can’t beat you playing the game they will injure
as many players as they can. IN MY OPINION
This happened with the Beavers last season.
These types of injuries NEED to STOP.
White also did a hit from behind on one of the Beavers earlier this season,
that player missed a month of hockey. White did not receive much of
a suspension on that……………………….
I was happy to hear that the police were called to the Sudbury arena
after the hit on Baber. Hope the intent to injure charges stick.
Maybe the NOJHL will give stricter penalties now.
In my opinion a hit that causes a concussion or anything serious, the aggressor
should receive a very stiff penalty and fine. Ten games for first hit plus $500
fine to the player and $500 to the coach, second offence player kicked out of the league.
These young men have to live with these injuries for the rest of their lives.
Wake up in the hockey world, this crap has to stop.
Play the game or get off the ice.
This is just my opinion.
Best of luck and get healthy for next season to Camaryn.
Depends on the context of the hit and intent. Concussions and injury can happen from accidental collision, and some when the player receiving the hit fails to either take proper precautions or is reaching for the puck. Some certainly warrant it, but not all.
Respect.!!!!. It is lost in the game and has been for awhile. The NOJHL Handed out the right application with the 10 games. But in my opinion i would like to see these suspension served fully. Meaning if the player under suspension only serves 3 and his team is out of contention then the said player must still serve the remaing games where ever he goes ( ie. OHL, USA or Pro. ect. ) if all hockey is on board with dicipline. Also with bringing in police Depending on an extremely rare occurrences then every impact play could be classified as assault. Spearing assualt with a weapon. Two handed slash assualt with a weapon. High sticking, intentional contact to the head, elbowing, fighting , checking from behind and boarding so i’d say unless its one of those rare casses like a stabbing or being attacked with a skate blade we still need to let the leagues handle their players.
Bring back fisticuffs…
It sounds like Uncle Neil is a loyal RBC fan. It was truly bush league hockey watching games one and two in Rayside. Their coach was known as a dirty player in his day. I was standing with a fella from Rayside who use to coach with the present fella disguised as a hockey coach. In his words, “ this kind of play is all he knows”. “It’s how he played the game himself”. There was a prominent D1 school at the first game to actually watch White play, but apparently their staff left after the first period and said that White would never play for them. Then White goes on to get third star of the game. What a joke! Only in Rayside would a dirty, premeditated hit likely orchestrated by the coach himself get honored at the end of the game. How come J.P gets a 3 game suspension for a premeditated “fisticuff” to start the playoffs and this joker gets off Scott free? Then in game 2 your dear Rayside coach rips into the referees with every obscene word that he can think of before the third period starts in a face to face barrage at his bench infront of his players. This fiasco is followed by 8 straight, consecutive T bird penalties including one in over time? Not to mention the blatant cross check in the corner by a Rayside D man just moments before the game winner and too many men on the ice for the game winning goal in OT! The Rayside coach was obviously very successful with his intimidation tactics on the poor referees who have to deal with this bush league coach who has built a roster and taught the players the wrong way to play the game. A case in point, there was a local family of four sitting infront of us that left after the first period in disgust at what they were witnessing and went home. They should have got a full refund…. they thought they were going to watch a Junior A hockey game… not bush league tactics… check out the play at the end of the secon period when MacDonald without a stick, was fending off a D man in the Soo corner of the ice from the puck. The RBC player was chopping the top of MacDonald’s foot like it was a piece of elm that wouldn’t split… the league will lose all respect by higher leagues such as D1 and OHL teams will stop sending players to the NOJHL if the players are not going to be protected from stupid bush league tactics disguised as hockey player development. Something to think about Uncle Neil….. that D1 school, like many others, dishes out over $70,000 per year for four years to exceptionally good hockey players to get an education.
I taught James White was suspended. He is playing to-day ???????
Suspension overturned on appeal.