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John Tortorella and Mike Gillis met with NHL authorities in New York today to go over the situation last game involving Tortorella losing his cool and charging the Calgary Flames' dressing room after Bob Hartley had iced thugs to start the game:
The verdict? Guilty. You can't cross enemy lines like that. The NHL has suspended Tortorella for 15 days. That will be the equivalent of 6 games on the Canucks' schedule.
"Mr. Tortorella's actions in attempting to enter the Calgary Flames locker room after the first period were both dangerous and an embarrassment to the league," NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell said today. "Coaches in the NHL bear the responsibility of providing leadership, even when emotions run high, and Mr. Tortorella failed in his responsibility to the game."
Flames' coach Bob Hartley was slapped with a $25,000 fine. Campbell's explanation for that:
"We are holding Mr. Hartley responsible for the actions of Flames' right wing Kevin Westgarth, who took the game's opening face-off and attempted to instigate a premeditated fight with an unwilling opponent -- the Canucks' Kevin Bieksa."
Not Johnny's first suspension. He was suspended for 1 playoff game for this incident in 2009:
So, that puts Mike Sullivan and Glen Gulutzan at the helm for 6 games. No worries there. Sully and Torts are on the same page anyway given their history together. They can all talk about things behind the scenes, in some sort of way, see below.
Many are thinking Torts should have gotten more. As a Canucks fan, I disagree! I love what he did, even though it was against the rules.
What I am wondering now is how the team will respond. The coach just stuck up for his guys and takes a "bullet". I think it's an excellent thing for the coach to do so the players had better see that and put out great efforts starting tomorrow in Edmonton.
REACTION
— Strombone (@strombone1) January 20, 2014
Of course Luongo had to get in on it!
"@strombone1: #FreeTorts" Do it!!
— Kevin Bieksa (@kbieksa3) January 20, 2014
And Juice.
— Strombone (@strombone1) January 20, 2014
And Kesler.
Torts unleashing a can of whoopass in gif form:
This is golden #Canucks #Flames #Tortorella #Anchortorts pic.twitter.com/5mg1BSuVTI
— Timothy Lau (@generalfromm) January 19, 2014
To be clear, during 15 days, total no contact with the team for John Tortorella. #canucks #nhl
— Renaud Lavoie (@LavoieRenaud) January 21, 2014
Bah! Enjoy the 2 week holiday! Stay on the ringer with Sullivan, it's all good.
-Flames' Prez Brian Burke is "perplexed" that Hartley was fined.
VIDEO: The TSN Panel Discusses.
Via TSN, players and coaches talk about the brawls and the between-period madness. "Who wouldn't want to watch that?" asks Joe Thornton.