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Speaking of revenge...
Chris Simon did a little last night... this was dispicable, I saw it on Mike & Mike in the Morning...
Simon strikes Hollweg in face with two-handed swing of stick
By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer
March 9, 2007
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- Chris Simon shook off the hit that brought him to his knees, and went looking for Ryan Hollweg.
With anger in his eyes and purpose in his strides, Simon swung his stick with two hands into Hollweg's neck Thursday night and bloodied the chin of the New York Rangers forward.
Simon was ejected with just over 6 minutes left, and the ensuing power play led to the decisive goal in the Rangers' 2-1 victory.
That could just be the beginning of the ramifications for Simon.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman didn't tread lightly in punishing Marty McSorley and Todd Bertuzzi for similar vicious on-ice attacks. So, hockey's latest black eye will likely result in another painful penalty.
"I've always been known as a team guy, and I feel real bad about letting the team down," said Simon, who scored the Islanders' lone goal. "I think I'll wait until I talk to the league office, and then I'll answer all questions afterward."
Just seconds before he was hit, Hollweg drove Simon into the boards with a hard, clean check. Simon got up angrily and met Hollweg as they came together again. Hollweg fell to his back and rolled over onto his stomach.
"I just finished my check on the half wall," Hollweg said. "I think he was a little fazed by it. I turned around, and the next thing I knew he's winding up and hitting me in the face."
That ended the night for Simon.
"I didn't really have time to react to it," Hollweg said. "It's scary to your health, but in the back of my mind I couldn't believe he did it."
The Islanders have 15 games left and a tenuous hold on an Eastern Conference playoff berth. They might have to go the rest of the way without Simon, whose 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame provides an imposing presence on the ice.
"We'll just talk to the league and see what happens," said coach Ted Nolan, who like Simon is a member of the Ojibwa North American Indian tribe. "On something like that, you're disappointed. It doesn't matter who it is."
Simon's hit, which conjured memories of the shot McSorley landed to the head of Donald Brashear seven years ago, flattened Hollweg with 6:31 remaining and left him motionless for several minutes in the Rangers' zone.
Simon was slapped with a match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure. While Hollweg recovered quickly and needed only a few stitches to repair a cut on his chin, Simon will likely feel the sting of his actions for quite some time.
It wouldn't be his first NHL suspension. Simon received a three-game ban in 1997 after directing a racial slur toward fellow player Mike Grier, who is black.
"It's not easy to see a teammate lose his cool, and to have it happen with 6 minutes left in the game. It's a tough one to swallow," Islanders defenseman Brendan Witt said. "We were undisciplined, and it cost us."
McSorley was suspended for the final 23 games in the 2000 season for knocking out Brashear with a swinging stick. The ban was extended until February 2001 by Bettman, and McSorley never played in the NHL again.
Bertuzzi missed the final 13 regular-season games and the playoffs because of his blindside punch to the head of Colorado's Steve Moore on March 11, 2004. But the banishment was extended to 17 months and prevented him from playing anywhere during the yearlong NHL lockout.
He was reinstated by Bettman before the 2005-06 season.
"I think that's just as bad as what Marty McSorley did to Brashear," Rangers agitator Sean Avery said of Simon. "You can't just two-hand a guy in the face with your stick."
NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell, a former coach of the Rangers, recently handed down a three-game suspension to New Jersey's Cam Janssen. Janssen landed a late hit last week on Toronto defenseman Tomas Kaberle, checking him headfirst into the boards.
"Let's just see if Colin Campbell finally does something about this stuff and doesn't give him three games like he gave that other meathead from New Jersey," Avery said.
The Rangers made Simon and the Islanders pay right away when Petr Prucha scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:14 left, just 1:17 into the power play.
"The best retaliation is to score," Hollweg said. "I couldn't feel any better than when that puck went in."
Hollweg expects to play Saturday when the Rangers visit Pittsburgh.
"I feel good, we got the win," he said. "I kind of lost my hearing for a bit after it happened. I might've been out for a second or two. The pain goes away when you get those two points.
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But TSN.ca does. Yes Simon should be suspended! I'm not against Clean hits or fighting but this brings a whole new meaning to GOON.
