The Scheifele Hit

 Game one in the Montreal/Winnipeg series and it was obvious that Scheifele had bad blood for Montreal.  It was a gross display of excessive force.  The suspension of 4 games was given to Sheifele as punishment.  Was that penalty severe enough?  In the early thirties Eddie Shore of the Boston Bruins body-checked Ace Bailey of Toronto into the boards with a cross-check.  The injury to Bailey signified the end of his career.  At the end of the year Shore publicly apologized to Bailey and was forgiven and the two shook hands at center ice.  The NHL held an all-star game the following year in Ace Bailey's name as the Toronto Maple Leafs played against the NHL All-Stars.

  In defense of Sheifele many would say he isn't a dirty player but delivered a dirty hit.  There is a difference.  In Scheifele's career this suspension carries weight towards further disciplinary action against Sheifele if he uses excessive force like that in the future.  This was however, his first serious offence.  The problem in the NHL, NFL, and CFL is that they can't demand of their players past a point.  At some level there has to be discretion used by the players in the deliverance of physical play within boundaries.  These are PHYSICAL sports and the players understand the risk they take in playing on ice or on the grid iron.  What do we make of Angelo Mosca, a man who once threatened Harold Ballard and said something along the lines of 'if your Sheppard looks at me funny I'll slug him in the chops'.  For all intensive purposes this incident won't be forgotten but dealt with in the off-season and during the next Montreal/Winnipeg game of next year.  Nothing dirty but a fight at center ice - Shea Weber versus Mark Scheifele.  My bet is for Weber to deliver a shit-kicking.