Kip Brennan suspended 15 games

[Rayven]

As per the AHL website

Bridgeport Sound Tigers forward Kip Brennan has been suspended for fifteen (15) games as a result of delivering a hit to the head during an AHL game between the teams on Feb. 9. Brennan was assessed a match penalty at 16:39 of the first period under AHL Rule 47.14 for punching an unsuspecting opponent and causing injury.

This is BS...we should call him up instead.

[kbarbdamnit]

That sucks, no way does he deserve 15 games! I would have been pissed if he DIDN'T react that way after Morency got elbowed!

[nyislesfan45]

Wake up Nolan! Call him up!

[enforcer05]

15 games is waaay too much. I would have thought 3-5 games would be sufficient.

[enforcer05]

origin.connpost.com/sports/ci_8245301

BRIDGEPORT — Defending his teammate Saturday came at a high price for Bridgeport Sound Tigers forward Kip Brennan.
The AHL suspended Brennan for 15 games Tuesday for punching Portland forward Geoff Peters, who had just laid out Pascal Morency with an elbow. Brennan said he didn't expect that long a suspension. "Unfortunately, it was," Brennan said. "I apologize to the organization as well as to my fans and teammates. I like to think of myself as a big part of the organization. I didn't mean to put my team down at all with my absence." The Brennan suspension — by 12 games the longest in the Sound Tigers' seven-year history — will keep the big, tough left winger out of the lineup until March 15. It begins tonight when the Sound Tigers meet Worcester at home.

"I support Kip. He's a great teammate, and I understand why he came to the defense of Pascal Morency. Peters' attack against Morency was needless," said team president Howard Saffan, who was sitting with AHL executive vice president Jim Mill when the incident happened. "I don't necessarily agree with the way (Brennan) went about it, but I support him wholeheartedly."

Peters' part wasn't on the video; the play was going the other way. The camera panned up-ice just as Peters started toward the side of the Portland net and Morency, who had hit both Portland defensemen that shift. The camera panned back to Peters after Morency was already knocked down, in time to see Brennan skate in from the top of the circles and drop the unsuspecting Pirate with a right hand that broke his nose. There have only been 10 longer suspensions in the AHL since 1981-82, and only two longer in the past 15 years. Hamilton's Alexander Perezhogin received the longest, 85 games — the remainder of the 2004 playoffs and the entire 2004-05 season — for slashing Cleveland's Garrett Stafford in the face. Earlier this season, former New York Rangers defenseman Dale Purinton earned a 25-game suspension when the Lake Erie defenseman punched Iowa's Marius Holtet from behind during a brawl.

Like Purinton, Brennan has a history.

When Brennan was with the Chicago Wolves in 2005, he received another 15-game suspension from the AHL when he came back onto the ice to join a brawl in warmups. He was suspended 10 games in the NHL in 2003 for coming back onto the ice during a fight, and he got a seven-game ban in the ECHL last season. And last spring, as a Hershey Bear, he was suspended for the Calder Cup Final when he fought back against a fan who reached into the penalty box in Manchester. "Unfortunately, my role as a hockey player tends to be much greater when I'm trying to be able to protect my teammates as well as play the game," Brennan said. "It kind of comes with the territory. I like to think of myself not as a dirty player or a malicious player, but a pretty heads-up enforcer. I know when to fight and when not to fight. It was spur-of-the-moment, to protect my linemate."

Given that split-second decision to do over, Brennan doesn't know what would happen.

"I made that decision based on protecting one of my teammates," Brennan said. "Whether I would have or wouldn't have, I'm not sure."