In a stunning turn of events, Rangers center Blair Betts has been suspended for two games for his obstruction against Donald Brashear during yesterday’s game:

NHL SUSPENDS NY RANGERS BLAIR BETTS FOR TWO GAMES
NEW YORK (Apr. 27, 2009) The National Hockey League announced today that New York Rangers forward Blair Betts has been suspended for two games for interfering with and obstructing Washington Capitals forward Donald Brashear during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Final Series.

The incident occurred 9:54 into the first period.

While it is a difficult decision to suspend a player at this point in a Playoff Series, it has been made clear to all of our Players that the National Hockey League cannotand will not tolerate any blatant obstruction fouls, said NHL Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. We do not take this action lightly. It is the result of an entire day of investigation and evaluation that included the retrieval and review of videotape of the incident and discussions with Mr. Brashear.

That investigation revealed that Mr. Betts purposely placed himself in the path of Mr. Brashear, obstructing his forward progress and preventing him from retrieving the puck and prevented a scoring opportunity.

While, in these circumstances, it always is easy to allege mitigating circumstances, the fact is we will not tolerate these actions. The reputation of the National Hockey League as an institution of fairness requires us to take the appropriate action.

Referees Brad Meier and Bill McCreary were also reprimanded for allowing Betts to cause a stoppage of play and not making the appropriate call of 4-minutes for Delay-of-Game and Interference.

Granted, in this NHL run by Bettman, this article is semi-believable.

No, I did not write this, nor did Stas. But he sent it to me and I had to post it. It’s really funny.

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