Shelley suspended; Hyka goes to juniors
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Shelley suspended; Hyka goes to juniors
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
LONDON, Ontario _ Veteran left winger Jody Shelley, the Flyers' enforcer, was suspended by the NHL for 10 games on Thursday for his flagrant boarding hit on Darryl Boyce during Wednesday’s 4-2 exhibition loss to the visiting Toronto.
Shelley will miss the last five preseason games and the first five regular-season games. The suspension will cost him about $67,000.
“Shelley hit Boyce squarely from behind into the glass,” said Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's new discipline czar. “Boyce’s back was turned toward Shelley well before the contact, requiring that Shelley avoid or minimize the check. He did neither.”
Shanahan said Shelley’s two suspensions last season “weighed heavily” in this decision.
Reached at home, Shelley said he was expected to be penalized, but was “definitely” surprised at the length of the suspension. He added that Shanahan “set the tone in a sense” for how he will handle matters this season.
Peter Luukko, the president of the Flyers’ parent company, Comcast-Spectacor, said the league was showing it was “trying to get serious” about these type of incidents. “When it’s your own player, you always think it’s wrong,” he said of the suspension’s length. “The important thing is that it’s consistent all year.”
Shelley will be permitted to practice with the team during the suspension.
“Camp is all about getting into team mode,” he said. “Now I’ll just practice and try to help out in other ways.”
Will the suspension open the door for 6-foot-5, 228-pound left winger Tom Sestito to win a spot in camp?
Stay tuned.
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The Flyers are facing Detroit Thursday at the Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. Goalie Michael Leighton got the starting assignment for the Flyers.
Thursday's game is on WIP radio, and it can be seen on the webcast shown on the Flyers' website.
Earlier Thursday, the Flyers sent smallish left winger Tomas Hyka back to his junior team in Gatineau. Hyka (5-10, 158), 18, has been impressive in camp, but he was not eligible to be signed as a free agent because he played in Europe last year. If he had played in North America, he could have been signed.
Look for the Flyers to try to select him in the 2012 draft.
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Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter at BroadStBull.
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The NHL hands out a 10 game suspension while the NFL fines Dunta Robinson with no suspension.— Fan74- Please Homer get rid of this imbecile!— younged
- How stupid can you be to get a 10-game suspension in an exhibition game??? Bring in Sestito or someone else, Shelley is done although I like the guy.— flyerdommo
- SHELLEY SUCKS! Knew it was a mistake to let Asham go last year & here's more proof. While Asham wasn't the same caliber heavy-weight Shelley is, he had a TON more TALENT, SMARTS & DRIVE/HUSTLE. Shelley cant even dress for playoff games. He's totally worthless. I'd rather they kept Carcillo than this guy. & that isn't saying much cause we all know #13 was prone to making dumb mistakes as well.— kennedy2
- If that was a Flyer star that was hit face first into the glass all these shocked Flyer fans would be calling for a year suspension of Shelly. He has always been a thug and it's about time the NHL puts a stop to him.— farley
- petemagoop - Shelley is certainly NOT one of the Flyers top 4 forwards...— Mythos13
- ...he wasn't a year ago, but he's risen dramatically in the depth charts with the departure of your 2 best forwards — petemagoop
It was a stupid move on Shelley's part and a suspension was certainly appropriate, but 10 games? If Matt Cooke does that he gets 3 games.
I'm beginning to believe that those here calling for Shelley's permanent departure may have a point. That was a PRESEASON game Jody.
The Flyers wasted no time in sending Hyka back to juniors. I would have preferred to see him play more games with the big club.- ...tough loss, your 4th best forward suspended for the first 5 games - good luck trying to recover from that— petemagoop
- Pete, you think Shelley is the 4th best forward on the Flyers roster, or the best forward on the 4th line? Either way I have to disagree.
Shelley + stupid = time for a new tough guy. They're not hard to find, and it'll help the cap to boot. That was boarding and a dumb hit in any era. It was absolutely brainless during a crackdown.— icarus- 10 games for a play that only gets whistled about 40% of the time.— Pelti
- Prediction: Jody Shelley will be waived and sent to Adirondack when his 10 game suspension is completed.— schultz8
- Anyone else notice that 'Shanahan' is not introduced? What is his role in this epic? He appears to be an important component, but no background whatsoever as to his reason for being. The casual reader is left with no context. I should write these damn things. Wow.— clete1329
- Brendan Shanahan replaced Colin Campbell as the NHL vice-president of Hockey Operations and Chowder Society. He is the one now making decisions on player suspensions and runs the War Room in Toronto for video reviews.
Shanahan played for the Rangers, Devils, Whalers, Blues, and Red Wings. He played right wing. In 1,524 NHL games he scored 656 goals and had 698 assists for a career total of 1,354 points. He also racked up 2,489 minutes in penalties so he was no wall flower. - How the hell are your readers supposed to know who Shanahan is? Does Shanahan have a full name? Is it Dick Shanahan? Who the hell is Shanahan? Don't expect all of your readers to previously watch the game!— sofa_butt
- How the heII do you draw a 10-game suspension during an exhibition game? Stupid idiot!— ANGRY AL 2
- The webcast SUCKS!— quigly46
- Nothing to see in this game.. after 30min of play 8 SOG and Giroux with a horrible turn ove ron PP that resulted a SH goal against.— Nitroglycerin
- these webcasts are always screwed up!!!— Njtod10
- actually I have FIOS so it must be from their end, why can they never get these webcasts right, not to mention its about a 1/2 hour behind.— Njtod10
- Everyone has probelsm with webcast. Thanks comcast— Nitroglycerin
- anybody else having trouble with the webcast?????? keeps stopping every 5 seconds.— Njtod10
- good, now wiave him.— Nitroglycerin
