D2 Dragons' Rhys Howells (photo by Lewis Cleveland)
D2 Dragons duo Rhys Howells and Cameron Kusnirenko missed the weekend’s games,
having both been handed disciplinary bans following incidents in the previous
week’s game away to Nottingham.
Kushnireno
– who was playing only his second game back with the D2 Dragons after serving a
3-match suspension for an incident before Christmas - was expelled from the
game in the 33rd minute for unsportsmanlike conduct and received a
2-game ban.
Howells
picked up an eye-watering 59 penalty minutes in the game at Nottingham – 47 of
them for racing out of the penalty box at the final buzzer and instigating a
fight. He also had a 2 minute penalty for tripping that put him in the sin bin
in the first place and a 10 minute major penalty for spearing earlier in the
game. Two Nottingham players also got major penalties for the post-match
altercation.
Rhys
received a 2-game ban for his part in the fracas and also an extra game
suspension for exceeding 10 disciplinary points.
The
England Ice Hockey Department of Player Safety (DOPS) has a system which
involves the accumulation of disciplinary points for committing offences and
receiving penalties prior to, during and after games. When a player or team has
accrued a certain number of points – according to a fixed scale – sanctions
such as suspensions or fines can be imposed.
