International hockey is all about pride and respect, two factors that contributed to Canada’s captain Barrett Hayton receiving some flak for mistakenly leaving his helmet on during the Russian national anthem. Saying that, it’s still competitive hockey and it’s bound to get a little chippy.
Unfortunately for the Canadians, that chippiness has resulted in a suspension for one of their key players, Joe Veleno.
Veleno was suspended by the IIHF for headbutting. While you never want to hear “headbutting” in the confines of a hockey game, a lot of fans are disagreeing with the decision to suspend. As it turns out, so does Hockey Canada to the point that they actually issued a statement of disagreement.
For the most part, fans seem to agree that the headbutt was not drastic enough to warrant a suspension. Veleno will now sit for Canada’s game against Germany, and return for a date with the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
(H/T Mark Masters)
