Ovechkin Slapped with Two-Game Suspension for Hit on Hawk's Campbell

Tarik El Bashir over at Capital Insider reported on the suspension of the Great8 handed down late this afternoon by the NHL's king of inconsistency, NHL VP Colin Campbell. Ovi was slapped with a two-game suspension for his hit from behind on Chicago's Brian Campbell, which may leave Campbell out for the season with a broken clavicle and broken ribs. There's been much discussion today surrounding the controversial hit, in which the league was reportedly trying to "define" boarding and determine whether there was intent to injure (to which HM replies "absolutely not" - it was a stupid play maybe but Ovi was not out to maim Campbell unlike the action that went down in Cooke's hit on Marc Savard last week).

The Caps are in Florida for tomorrow night's meeting with the Florida Panthers and GMGM had this to say about the suspension:

"We have no problem with the way Alex tried to finish his check. Unfortunately, an injury resulted. We are disappointed with the suspension but do not want to comment further.”

As Ovechkin is marked as a repeat offender, this probably had something to do with this latest punishment courtesy of the NHL's maddening and inconsistent "wheel of justice" system in handing out disciplinary action. Matt Cooke is the poster boy for "repeat offenders", yet he will be skating on Thursday to face the same team he faced when he blatantly knocked out one of their top scorers. Meanwhile, Ovechkin will be drinking Coke and eating nachos from the Press Box at the Panthers game.

On a more positive note, a huge Hockey Mom high five to the fabulous Sedin wonder twins, who are great both on and off the ice. The two high-scoring Swedes recently donated $1.5 million to a children's hospital in Vancouver. Sigh - makes me love you even more boys....