Former Leaf Nick Ritchie nailed with lengthy suspension
Former NHLer and ex-Maple Leaf Nick Ritchie is currently under contract with Karpat in the Finnish Elite League after failing to make an impression on any NHL clubs when brought in on a PTO this fall.
The 28-year-old has gotten himself into some trouble after showing some serious disregard for a player's safety this week.
Ritchie was in a battle with TPS Turku's Markus Nurmi in the corner, eventually grabbing Nurmi's neck and pushing him down to the ice. Ritchie would deliver multiple unanswered gloved punches to Nurmi, who did not engage and was not an imminent threat to Ritchue, as was not a willing combatant, not even defending himself. Eventually the refs broke it up the one-sided beatdown. Ritchie was given a major and game misconduct for roughing.
The play received a lot of heat and while many viewed Ritchie's actions as having crossed a line, I'm sure that not many could have predicted the punishment he'd receive as a result. Today, it was announced that Ritchie will be suspended for eight games for his actions.
Ritche has played 10 games for Karpat scoring 1 goal, 5 points and racking up a whopping 70 penalty minutes. Unfortunately, he'll be sitting until well into January as a result of his actions.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 29 | 617 ANSWERS Former Leaf Nick Ritchie nailed with lengthy suspension Do you agree with the suspension for Nick Ritchie? | ||
| Yes, eight is enough for what he did | 306 | 49.6 % |
| No, should have been way longer | 175 | 28.4 % |
| Way too lengthy | 136 | 22 % |
| List of polls | ||
