Apparently You're Not Even Allowed To Bash An Opponent's Face Into The Ice Anymore
What ever happened to old time hockey? Guys like Eddie Shore and Ace Bailey. It wasn't even considered an actual hockey game in those days unless someone had to get their face stitched together from eyebrow to chin. That was back when men were men.
Nowadays, you can't even try to smash someone's skull through the ice anymore after losing a faceoff. You're not allowed to take your forearm to the back of someone's helmet, drive their head down, and attempt to break every bone in their face simply for the fun of it anymore. 10 game suspension for that? We might as well just start playing soccer.
Poor Ryan Hartman. Sure, he might be a bit of a scumbag and known as. one of the dirtier guys in the league as a repeat offender. But he's a good ol' boy who grew up in the Chicago area. Just a good American kid who plays hard. Where is Tim Stutzle from? Well he's from Germany [insert Windhorst fingers here]. Maybe Ryan Hartman got a little carried away watching too many WWII documentaries before the game or something. Would you suspend Indiana Jones for beating up some Germans? Didn't think so. All I know is that 10 games for attempting to violently, and unnecessarily, shatter someone's face into a hundred pieces isn't the sport that I know and love.
Sidenote: This has to be the worst way anybody has ever spent $487,804.88, right?
Like, for starters, you didn't even really hurt the guy. Stutzle finished the game and had a couple of assists later in the night. You lost the game 6-0. Now you have to sit out for 10 more games while adding another suspension to your record. There wasn't a single thing to take away from that incident that would make even a dime of that fine worth it for Ryan Hartman. Brutal way to blow through half a million.
Not only that, but I don't think Stutzle has ever looked more bad ass. This is the face of a Hockey Guy if I've ever seen one.
Tough break any way you slice it for Ryan Hartman.