Osgood, Ribeiro, and Ott handed fines but no suspensions
You have probably already heard by now abut the Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood and Stars center Mike Ribeiro altercation at the conclusion of last night’s 2-1 victory. If not, you can see what happened in the clip below.
The league has handed out fines to Osgood, Ribeiro, and Stars Steve Ott, but no suspensions. It is unknown the dollar amount on those fines.
Here’s my take: Chris Osgood’s stick end did get in Ribeiro’s face and he wouldn’t have slashed Ozzie like that had the stick-in-the-face incident had not happened. Was Ribeiro’s slash worse than what Ozzie did? In my biased opinion, yes. Could both players have been given suspensions? Yes. Since the NHL only gave Chris Pronger a one game suspension for his nasty hit on Tomas Holmstrom last postseason, I can’t say I’m suprised at all that Ribeiro got nothing. And with the roll Ozzie is on (and the team’s play in front of Ozzie), I would rather have no suspensions then Ribeiro and Ozzie both getting ones. If Ribeiro had gotten a suspension with Ozzie still playing, we’d have one pissed off Dallas team on our hand. I’m quite content with the Wings looking to seek revenge on the Stars and not physical revenge, but sweet victory revenge.
While I hate seeing the Stars lash out in frustration because I don’t want to see one of our players get injured, I enjoy seeing the frustration because it shows that the Wings’ play is getting to them. And that’s a good sign after only two games. We still have two more games to win and this could definitely become quite the series in Dallas so I’m not writing off the Stars by any means.
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One Response to “Osgood, Ribeiro, and Ott handed fines but no suspensions”
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May 12th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I concur. This was a good call from Colin Campbell’s office, striking the right tone. I think Osgood oversold the swing, which didn’t help things.
I get the feeling, especially after Game 2, the league (including the officials) is really trying to let the two teams settle it on the ice, which is never a bad thing.
The most interesting part for me was to read the Deadspin post on Sunday morning, which really went after Osgood as the aggressor. I know the Wings aren’t the most beloved team in the NHL, but good gravy.