The Ontario Hockey League suspension of Attack coach Greg Ireland is curious for its severity.
At least curious to me.
Ireland was banished for 5 games for an incident that occurred late in the game Friday at Guelph against the Storm.
With just a few minutes remaining in the contest, referee Chris Carnegie turned one dime prior to a faceoff in the Owen Sound end and booted Ireland out, giving him a misconduct for abuse of official.
The first curiosity for me came from my observation of the scene.
Now, I know I’m not the greatest broadcaster in the OHL, but I was watching the bench area and all I could see, and all I could hear, was Kurtis Gabriel of the Attack in an animated verbal exchange with the Storm, particularly Tanner Richard.
At no point did Ireland’s actions nor his voice catch my attention, so I was surprised it was Ireland who got heaved and not the others.
It’s been suggested that Greg Ireland uttered a dirty word, and if so, he probably deserves to be suspended….but 5 games ?
And finally, I’m curious that Ireland gets fingered for this sort of punishment when, by my gauge, he’s far, far from the worst bashers of referees who operate OHL benches….it’s not even close.
Still, Ireland gets a 5 game suspension leading me to surmise that maybe, just maybe, this crackdown is in fact a follow through from a rumoured Attack-OHL brass
head to head a month ago in which the league strongly recommended Ireland change tactics when dealing with game officials.
I’m Fred Wallace