The verdict is in, and Mark Borowiecki will be forced to sit one game for his elbow to the head of Urho Vaakanainen last night. The Department of Player Safety announced the suspension today, and included an explanation:
While we accept Borowiecki’s argument that he was not aiming for Vaakanainen’s head and only trying to defend his crease, Borowiecki is still responsible for the fact that he recklessly delivered a blow to the head of his opponent with sufficient force to cause an injury.
The Ottawa Senators defenseman has been suspended previously, as he was given a two-game ban for boarding Tyler Toffoli in 2016. Though the league mentions this prior suspension, it notes that it was several seasons ago and for a different type of incident. It would have been taken into account, but clearly the DoPS believed they should not hand out a more severe punishment this time around.
Unfortunately for the Boston Bruins, Vaakanainen is likely going to be out longer than the player who injured him. The young defenseman was in just his second career game, but suffered a concussion and was almost immediately ruled out for the remainder of the game. The team will have to take it slow with their prized prospect, given his importance to the team’s long term plans on the blue line. The Bruins are back in action tomorrow, and it would be extremely surprising to see the young defenseman available for the game.
That leaves the Bruins in a tough spot given that Torey Krug, Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller are all still out of the lineup. Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated to Eric Russo of NHL.com that the team will have to look at the Providence Bruins for help to get through these injuries, mentioning Cody Goloubef among other candidates.
Ottawa meanwhile will have Cody Ceci back in the lineup on Friday while Borowiecki sits out, giving them at least another experienced option to soak up minutes on the blue line. After that, the suspended defenseman will be able to rejoin the club and finish out their Western Conference road trip through Vegas and Arizona. He’ll have to stay on his best behavior for a while, or else face increased scrutiny from the league for his physical altercations.
I don’t understand the suspension. Borowiecki clearly didn’t intend to elbow Vaakanainen and the refs didn’t even call a penalty on the play. He’s supposed to accept responsibility for an an accident or bad luck? Wouldn’t a fine have sufficed in this case? Mark isn’t a dirty player.
Refs do miss calls at game speed in crowds. If one of the refs had seen it clearly he would have been in the box. If you watch the replay, you see he looks up, sees Vaakanainen and lifts his arm and plants his elbow into Vaakanainen’s chin. He is lucky he only got one game. Should not have brought his elbow up so high.
That’s your interpretation of the replay but Borowiecki said himself he didn’t intend to elbow him in the chin. He’s just not that type of player. He usually plays a clean physical game and is a stand up guy. He doesn’t take cheap shots. I’m not saying he didn’t elbow him in the face. I’m just saying he didn’t intend to. I understand you need to have control of your faculties but when a player high sticks another player in the mouth accidentally and knocks 10 teeth out, there’s no suspension for that. I’m also not saying the two injuries are comparable concussions are obviously far worse but you can’t use injury outcome as the barometer for the suspension. It has to be the act and the intent behind the act. It was just an accident.
i’ll have to disagree, boro isn’t necessarily a dirty player however he does play on the edge a little bit, like kadri but not as bad, but it did look like he intended to forearm him and that resulted in his elbow. guys are always going to say that they didn’t mean to and boro is a class act but i think this was intentional therefore a deserving supsension
Agreed morty. It was DEFINITELY intentional. Now the guy will have a goon reputation, especially in Boston. I look forward to watching that chump answer for the bell for his actions on a kid (Urho V.).
Oh yeah, hey sens fans, 2-0 losing streak JUST THIS SEASON against Boston. LOL better aim for the heads more often. Reminds me of ottawa cheating in the playoffs against Boston 2 seasons ago, just trying to knock all the Bruins players out of the series and get cheap rigged PP opportunities from the hometown refs. Pathetic.
gozurman Yeah, you WOULD THINK the refs would blow the whistle. Funny thing is the maple queef lovers rarely CALL THINGS FAIRLY up north, especially in the ontario region (toronto/ottawa) and montreal. The PP discrepancy in this game was 6 PP opportunities to 3 PP for the Bruins.
Funny HOW THAT WORKS, rigging PP’s etc, especially between two franchises like montreal and toronto. LOL. Fact is, the clowns of ottawa are just an afterthought to those 2 organizations, but that said, the sens did cheat to “win” a series against the Bruins in the playoffs 2 years ago. I remember is vividly.
I think he was trying to elbow him in the stomach to hold him off just like any other player in the league would. He missed though and that’s on Boro. I understand why he’s suspended and think he does deserve the one game.
If he was trying for his stomach he must have thought Vaakanainen is 6-10. No way was he trying to go for the midsection. He would have had to drop his shoulder to do that.
gozurman No need for LOGIC with jdgoatcheese. Doucher is just trolling…. weakly at that.
Trolol away yet again, jdgoatcheese?
Yeah chump, he was definitely going for the stomach on that play on Urho. Good call professor.
BTW, go BoSox. Sorry about YOUR DUDgers. LOL
Asinine comment from manos. Congrats on the lack of intelligence. Do you know “mark” personally? How do you come to the opinion that “mark” isn’t a dirty player? Did you EVEN WATCH the video of this goon elbow? That dbag looks plenty dirty based on THAT alone. Funny thing is, I don’t see Bruins players getting suspended for stuff like that.
I know, I know….. Brad Marchand. Amazing thing is that people are willing to crucify Marchand for “licking” guys, but an elbow SPEAR to the head of a 19 y/o KID from Finland WHO GOT A CONCUSSION and missed the rest of the game should only warrant a FINE from tards like Manos. HAHAHAHA clown. Thanks for the LOL. Just hope Urho is OKAY moving forward.
Deserved 3. Reckless play. Lucky to get 1.
Horrible dirty play by a scumbag player. 19 y/o Urho is going to MISS significant time (concussion) to an easily avoidable injury. The NHL and the Department of Player Safety continues to be a JOKE and a laughingstock to the sport. Quite embarrASSing honestly. That ‘wiecki douche should have gotten 5-10 games easily, IMO.