Saturday, April 9, 2011

Franko received broken nose on Ross hit


We will find out Monday on the length of a suspension to Portland Winterhawks forward Brad Ross.
Ross was handed a five minute major and game misconduct for charging after hitting Rockets forward Zach Franko in game one.
Franko suffered a broken nose, needed stitches and never returned. Ross hit Franko after coming out of the penalty box. Ross stepped onto the ice, went straight towards the unsuspecting forward and delivered the check. Was it clean? I honestly didn't see it, but the damage suffered to Franko makes me question it.
Franko likely won't play Sunday in game two.
So how many games does Ross get? Does he get as many games as Evan Bloodoff did? Bloodoff is a first time offender while Ross has been suspended before. He served a two game suspension in November in a game against Saskatoon.
Does that previous conviction, even though it was not for a charging major, increase the the length of the suspension beyond the four games Bloodoff served?
What do you think?
How many games is adequate? Leave your comments below.

8 comments:

Jared Comeau said...

Ross's hit was just as bad as Evan's. 4+

Big Slapper said...

Here's something to consider. As a Rockets fan you might actually want Ross back sooner than later. His undisciplined play tends to get the rest of the Hawks off their game. Anybody notice Johansen in the Thursday game? I did. He was totally wound up and clearly let his emotions get the best of him. Very unusual for a player who rarely get flustered. Suspending Ross for 4 or more games might sound like a good thing but it might actually benefit the Winterhawks.

fan said...

Jeff it's not about the winterhawks or rockets. it's about the hit & what there trying to eliminate from the game for the betterment of all. Evan is not that type of player but he had to take responsibility for his careless hit & so will Ross.

Unknown said...

Since few (if any) of us would have seen the hit, these comments will lack objectivity. As a hockey fan I would hope that The WHL would penalize players consistantly, regardless of team or time of the season. As a Rockets fan, I would like to see whatever hurts our opposition most. If Ross is truly an undisciplined player who hurts his own team, I'd like to see him back as soon as possible.

Unknown said...

4 games so we will never see him again this season.. rockets in five .

Big Slapper said...

I agree fan, the focus should certainly be on the hit and I didn't mean to detract from the seriousness of the matter. And I absolutely agree with sportsjunkie that the WHL should apply discipline evenly regardless of circumstances. Speaking only to how a long suspension might influence the outcome of the series, Portland is a very deep and talented team that might be more focused without Ross. In a playoff series a team's mental state can be the difference between winning and losing. Without Ross around to mess up the Hawks' psyche their talent might become even more imposing and difficult to deal with.

MG said...

A lot of us felt Evan deserved more than the four he got and Ross's hit, if it was about the same would warrent the same discipline. Interesting that some of those people that thought Evan got too many games are now calling for Ross to get more....

Unknown said...

Ross's hit was not that bad, borderline clean. He did not leave his feet and he was coasting when he hit Franko, there was not three strides prior to the hit. The only bad part was that Franko had no idea it was coming and it was borderline blindside. The broken nose and cut came from the visor not the hit.