There are a couple of things in hockey (Or any sport for that matter) that can get an immediate suspension for and one of them is touching a referee in any way – let alone pushing one to the ice.
Hockey players know that, so in these scenarios, we assume that this isn’t what they meant to do. For example, in the scenario below Givani Smith (Drafted by the Red Wings in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft), in an attempt to fight an opposing player ended up tossing the referee to the ground.
It’s hard to fully know what happened. You can see at the beginning that there is a stick floating around their skates that could have tripped the ref up, but Smith definitely helps get him to the ground.
It wasn’t quite the Dennis Wideman hit, but he wasn’t concussed at the time either, so we wouldn’t be surprised to do a hefty suspension.
Still, no news has come yet, so maybe he’ll escape scot-free. In the future, we recommend the official takes some notes from this beer-league ref. He knows how to stay out of the way and still break things up.
