The Halifax Mooseheads are having a hard time accepting the suspension of defenceman Sawyer Hannay.
The QMJHL handed down an additional three-game ban to Hannay after the 18-year-old defenceman served an automatic one-game suspension on Sunday against the Rimouski Oceanic for an aggressor penalty he was assessed in Saturday’s game against the Quebec Remparts.
Hannay jumped Remparts forward Frederick Roy after Roy delivered a hard hit on Mooseheads rookie Martin Frk.
The Mooseheads don’t necessarily mind Hannay’s suspension, but head coach and general manager Cam Russell can’t understand why Chicoutimi Sagueneens defenceman Andrew O’Brien wasn’t suspended for a similar attack on Frk in a game on Friday.
“You’ve got a 16-year-old European (Frk) who doesn’t know how to fight, his gloves weren’t off, the refs didn’t intervene and he was in just as much danger as Roy,” Russell said.
“It’s tough for us to see a top defenceman out for four games and not see O’Brien out for any games.”
Russell, who asked the league to review the O’Brien incident, said the “video in Chicoutimi was so grainy” that it was hard to tell what happened between O’Brien and Frk. But that wasn’t sitting well with him.
“It goes back to the old school of thought: If referees don’t protect the players, the players have to do it,” Russell said.
