I have created a petition to have Mike Liambus reinstated.
If you feel the suspension of the rest of the season and playoffs is too long, please sign the petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?Wexdog55













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WEXDOG is a Cowboys Fan ! 5-2
09,11,01
Lest We Forget
11,11,11

A couple of my friends, over coffee, after last night's game, said the same. That the suspension was too severe.They would probably sign the petition if they were forum contributors.

One said he thought about 5 games would be about right and the other felt something in the order of 20 games.

I doubt that I could sign it, in good conscience. I have to agree with thekid1987 .

Liambus's career is now over with the season and playoff suspension. I read it the paper that OHL commissioner David Branch does not like negative publicity and is really stepping forward to make a statement here in this incident.

Like it or not.

Wayjoy

What do YOU think of the hit ?
Just looking at Liambas and thinking of the current rules by which the OHL plays.
What are kids taught ?
Liambas does not leave his feet/skates. He does not target the head.
It is unfortunate that Fanelli is injured but how much is that Fanelli's own fault(turning at the last instant) ?
Was his helmet properly straped or was it loose like the other OHLers wear it ?
Fanelli is 16 which means he was wearing a helmet with a full cage up until last season.

Wayne is it fair to Liambas that he is suspended for ... not breaking the rules as they are now ?
The rules of engagement in sports must catch up with technology. Players have better, lighter equipment today and can skate faster and with the harder equipment, something like this was bound to happen and will happen again.

I ask you, Wayne, would Branch be so quick to ban an undrafted Tyler Hall if he had thrown the hit ?











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WEXDOG is a Cowboys Fan ! 5-2
09,11,01
Lest We Forget
11,11,11

Actually, he did hit the head intentionally or not, he skated a significant distance to make the hit and he used the boards to excess. All that makes it an unclean hit that warrants some kind of supplemental discipline. What that is is up to the league. For crying out loud the poor recipient is still in hospital and has only recently had his condition upgraded.

I find the fact that many are calling it "finishing a check" and a "clean hit" and saying "the kid turned his back" quite disturbing. The whole point of a body check is to separate the player from the puck and gain an advantage namely creating a turnover. The advantage is not and never should be ending a player's playing career or inflicting a severe head injury.

Whether the offending player should be reinstated or not is up to the league and I assume there is some sort of appeal process that his team will pursue if they really want him back.

According to the Star, Liambas (is that the correct spelling?) is not going to file an appeal on his behalf, whether the team will or can without Liambas's approval remains to be seen.

I personally think without Liambas being part of an appeal, the appeal will not be granted.

Agree with you K2, if they want him back they can appeal, that is part of the process. Maybe he is hurting his club with his penalties, etc.
Look at the different angles of the hit. Fanelli turned because he was shooting the puck back the other way. Liambus wasn't completing his check, the puck was gone, he had his stick and hands up and drove whatever part of the body he could hit, unfortunately it was the back part of the shoulder driving the head into the boards.
Look at other videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow7csCcRSKs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Qo2B7imkI&feature=related

Everyone who talks about completing the check, that means taking the man off the puck, not the head off the man. In addition, Liambus after the hit gave a cross check to the head of the other Kitchener player beside the net.
Question why is everyone blaming the victim, what a reflection of our game. This kid may never be able to play again, may never be able to play any sports again. In our society we are responsible for our actions, and you pay the price for your actions, right or wrong.
Respect for the game has left the arena, we need to bring it back.

Just read SMC post, maybe he is taking responsibility for what he did. From all reports, he is very distraught over the incident, and this will definitely help him move forward with his life.
I hope both young men recover fully, and move forward with their lives, with or without hockey.

"Actually, he did hit the head intentionally or not, he skated a significant distance to make the hit and he used the boards to excess. All that makes it an unclean hit that warrants some kind of supplemental discipline. What that is is up to the league. For crying out loud the poor recipient is still in hospital and has only recently had his condition upgraded."

No K2Four, he did not hit the head. The players head hit the boards and even in your post you are still directing the point of your arguement based solely on the result of the injury and not the result of the action. Yes it is tragic that the young man is still in critical condition in the hospital, but that doesn't mean that Liambus deserves to get suspended for the entire season because of that reason alone. IMO, this was a fluke, tragic incident that is not being handled right by the OHL.

That hit and many others of worse and more violent intent happen all the time in hockey and often go un-penalized, let alone un-suspended. It is not right to suspended a kid based on how badly another kid has been injured, especially when there are legitimate points that the hit was not breaking any rules.
Don't get me wrong, i fully understand that some people feel he did break some rules, but i think the general consensus is that more don't feel he did and for a kid to be suspended for an entire season, you would sure hope that the majority of people that saw the hit would lean on the side of illegal and that doesn't seem to be the case. The OHL is using this kid has a scapegoat, because he's an 20 year old fourth line, enforcer with very little points and they can essentially get away with throwing the book at this kid.


as for the kid (liambus) saying that he won't appeal the decision, keep this in mind. and i'm just speculating, but say he appeals and wins the appeal and is allowed to play again this season, i can guarantee you that other players around the league and other fans will use that against him and maybe he feels he doesn't have it in his make-up to be able to deal with that kind of verbal comments and he's chosing Not to have to deal with those in that environment.

Again, its a tragic, tragic accident that happened to Ben Fanelli, but at the end of the day, that's what it is, an accident and it is NOT worthy of a lifetime ban.

I respect your point of view Fossil but even if he hit the shoulder and rode up to the head it was still a head shot in my opinion. The action, which was everything that lead up to the hit (skating across the ice, lining him up etc.)is what I base my support of supplemental discipline on. Perhaps I didn't get that part of my argument across. The fact that the young man was severely injured weighs into the decision by the OHL for sure but it was the nature of the hit that was wrong.

Suppose you were coaching a junior hockey team and one of your players was victimized by a similar hit. Wouldn't you feel that a stiff penalty with a suspension should be assessed?

I don't think it was a fluke, it was an intentional hard hit.

Is Liambus being used as a scape goat? Sure he is but its not the first time that has happened and it won't be the last. Mr. Liambus is feeling quite low right now and has indicated he won't pursue an appeal. That is unfortunate because the OHL's decision ends his junior hockey career.

Fossil, take a bow, you are absolutely correct in your assessment.
I don't understand all these people saying it was a head shot. Liambas' shoulder clearly hits the back of Fanelli when the kid turns an instant before contact. And those two other videos of Liambas are questionable as well. The second one where he has to immediately fight after throwing the check, the kid he hit had the puck a mere second before contact, another great hit. And they say he hit Tavares from behind and it was actually from the side and momentum spun Tavares into the boards head first.
Apparently heavy contact is too frightening for some of the ladies on this forum.
I can't explain it any better than: KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, DON'T ADMIRE YOUR PASSES AND BE AWARE AT ALL TIMES ON THE ICE. If players don't want to do those things, they're going to get hurt, plain and simple.
If Liambas chooses not to appeal, that's his choice and he has to live with it. But he's the one that actually winds up getting blindsided by this ridiculous suspension.
It's a sad day for our game when playing hard and finishing your check is condemmed by do-gooders who would obviously rather watch glorified shinny than competitive contact sport.

The debate will rage on.

Was thee suspension too severe, the hit dirty, Fanelli, in part, to blame for not securing his chinstrap tightly enough, turning his back prior to the hit and on and on.

We can debate it until the cows come home.

It won't change a thing in the lives of these two young men now.

I am with K2four and Sayitaintso on this one, one hundred percent.

Who would have thunk that Fossil and Wexdog could possibly agree on anything. They appear to here. Both think the suspension was far too severe.

I respect both of their points of view too.

What I do hope for is that both young men will go forward after this incident.

It truly was most unfortunate incident in which Mike Liambus, in a moment of poor judgment, will have to pay for the rest of his life. And so will Ben Fanelli.

We all need to get on board and pray in our own ways that these two youngsters will come through all of this as even better people.



Wayjoy

Mike Liambas sat on a couch and spoke in measured tones, trying to articulate his thoughts as his parents quietly wept and held each other's hand for support.

"It's terrible. I have really mixed emotions about everything," he said Thursday. "First and foremost I feel terrible for Ben, for what he and his family are going through. It doesn't matter whether I was right or wrong or deserved to be suspended. I did that to him. I put that 16-year-old boy in hospital."

The Woodbridge-born Liambas unwittingly became Canada's latest poster boy for violence in hockey after a shocking incident last Friday during an Ontario Hockey League game between the Erie Otters and the Kitchener Rangers.

The 20-year-old Liambas, playing for the Otters, crushed Kitchener blueliner Ben Fanelli with a seemingly legal but fearsome bodycheck into the end glass, sending Fanelli to hospital in critical condition with facial and skull fractures.

The good news is that Fanelli, an Oakville-area resident, is showing some improvement. Liambas, meanwhile, was still reeling 24 hours after learning he had been suspended by OHL commissioner Dave Branch for the remainder of the season.

As an overage player, the ban effectively ended his junior career draped in infamy.

"Just last week I was on Cloud Nine," he said wistfully in an exclusive interview at a Niagara Falls hotel. "I had missed some games with injuries, but I was back playing a game I love. I felt part of it again. Now I can never go back."

As happens every time a dramatic episode of hockey violence is played out in Canada, Fanelli's injury and the suspension to Liambas touched off a powerful debate, but this time different to those that have followed controversial incidents in the past.

As a player, Liambas is no shrinking violet, but neither is he an enforcer or a goon. When he hit Fanelli, a highly regarded OHL rookie, his feet didn't leave the ice, there was no elbow or stick involved and if it was in any way a hit from behind, it was because Fanelli turned at the last moment to pass the puck in the opposite direction.

Seasoned hockey people at the NHL and other levels suggest the hit was clean and may not have even warranted a penalty.

"Sometimes injuries aren't anyone's fault," said one veteran observer.

Yet the damage done by the hit Fanelli's visor cracked, his helmet flew off, his head hit the glass and then the ice was extraordinary.

"Anything that could have gone wrong, went wrong," said Liambas.

In banning Liambas, Branch essentially ruled that the hit was, if not illegal, unnecessarily forceful, a philosophy contrary to traditional thinking in a sport that usually preaches the harder the hit, the better.

"It was the force, the absolutely terrifying force," said Branch. "If you're going full-tilt to hit somebody, you're showing disregard and disrespect for your opponent and you're not concerned with the consequences. It's ... become more and more prevalent in our game and we've got to put a stop to it."

So far, the Fanelli family has preferred not to comment on the incident.

Kitchener coach Steve Spott has yet to look at video of the hit.

Erie coach Robbie Ftorek, a former NHL coach and player, said he didn't see anything illegal.

"When I played you went into the corner and you had to protect yourself," he said. "Over the years people who weren't able to play the game changed the rules. Now when we go into the corner, I have to protect you. That's not the way the game is supposed to be played."

Liambas is in most ways your typical Canadian hockey story, the son of a TTC electrician who grew up playing hockey in Woodbridge and Downsview, graduated to the Toronto Young Nats and ended up attending St. Mike's.

He recalled breaking his thumb at St. Mike's and at one point being hit so hard by an opponent he was knocked cold and had to miss exams.

Undrafted by OHL teams, he attended Erie's camp on a tryout and made the roster as a gritty, bruising defenceman who accumulated 169 penalty minutes in each of his first two junior seasons, earning himself the nickname Bus.

By his third season, he was beset by hip problems that required two surgeries and was moved to forward. This season he returned as an overage player hoping to use his final season as a springboard to a possible pro career despite his smallish 5-foot-9, 195-pound frame.

He was invited to Atlanta's prospects camp, but couldn't attend after suffering a wrist injury the day before showing younger Otter teammates the finer points of fighting on skates.

Some suggested his hit on Fanelli was precisely the kind of bodycheck that helped one-time Leafs like Wendel Clark and Darcy Tucker become fan favourites.

"Now, with this suspension, they've put a tattoo on this kid," said one NHL executive. "Bad person."

The day after the incident, Liambas returned home to find 50 anonymous hate messages on his Facebook page and hasn't returned to the Internet since.

He has received calls of support from many well wishers, including some of Fanelli's Kitchener teammates and NHLer Mike Rupp of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For his part, Liambas has sent letters of condolences to both the Rangers and to Fanelli personally.

"But I don't know who has read what," he said. "I've had to fight for everything I've earned. But this is a big speed bump."

His parents, George and Maggie, were at the game when the incident occurred.

"He keeps telling us he's sorry for what he's done to us," said his tearful mother. "We're concerned for Ben. But we're concerned for our son, too."

Liambas said that while he believes his check was clean and no different than hundreds of others he's thrown during his OHL career, he has no plans to appeal the suspension.

"I would never have thought I had the power to do that to another human being, but I'm having trouble understanding what the lesson is," he said. "But what's done is done.

"Appealing would make my family look bad and it would make Ben's family feel even worse.

"I just hope one day he and his family can forgive me."

Wow.
I am a believer the hit was vicious and unneccesary and Liambas should do the time for the crime But I think Liambas is sincerely remorse and is taking the responsibility for his actions. Now is the time for reconciliation. In hockey you should always have the opportunity for redemption, a second chance, and Liambas will probably become a better hockey player because of it. I hope the Otters appeal on his behalf and the league reduces to 20 to 25 games.
This is probably not the end of Liambas hockey career, as he will find a position with a minor pro team.
As for Fanelli, lets hope what they say about the healing power of the youth is true.

Clean hit all the way...Liambas should not have been suspended. Kid turned, his helmet flew off, head hits metal and ice...unfortunate incident...hope Fanelli recovers well...No way Liambas should have been suspended.

This is a joke...if a 16 year old is too small or too weak to play in this league or David Branch wants to play non-contact...than put it in writing for next season or retire and go play in the beer league...

I remeber going to see the marlie's play at maple leaf gardens, great hard hitting hockey.

The diffrence was you played juvinile hockey and went to the ohl at 18 and the nhl at 21.

Old scribe i know you have coached some Trenton hockey teams. If you took your 11 year old kids to a tourney and saw a 15 year old hulk on the other team, well as we know this would not be allowed and this result of the body check is the reason why.

Who in their right mind belives that a 16 year old kid should play against 20 year old's. Answer Dave Branch and in fact this dope thinks in some cases its ok to have a 15 year old play against 20 year olds.

AS far as i am concerned Dave Branch should be the one held accountable, but he comes down on the guy who played the game the way he was taught.

Just my thoughts

GO HAWKS GO

A radio reporter said the 16 yr. old had been released from hospital today
. Cant wait for the neanderthals saying see he wasnt that hurt.

right or wrong on the hit...ive spoken to a few people who have said unequivocally this was branch protecting his turf. if young players and their families begin to think that theres a good chance of career enders from 'goon' 20 year olds at the ends of their ohl career they will opt for choices that give them better longevity. aka ncaa. talk about a catch 22 for branch. suspend someone on a no-rules basis or leave the door open to bad PR for prospects.

now say for example, that tavares did this. dropped a younger player to the ice with a 'clean' but bone-jarring career ending hit on a 16 year old. do you REALLY think branch would have suspended the league poster-boy at all let alone to end his ohl career? no of course not. it was just super easy to do it to an undrafted 20 year old playing an american based team. no local uproar to contend with in ontario (like kitchener was doing) etc. this stinks of a railroad for liambas regardless of the injury to fanelli if there was no 'book' rule broken how do you suspend? easy. just do it apparently.

$$PM87$$

Right on, PM.

Consider Windsor's Taylor Hall (who, by the way I think is an exceptionally skilled player and I love to watch him play), who violently drilled a kid into the boards partially from behind earlier this year, in the 'O' zone, behind the net, same type of play (vs. London perhaps?) when the team was behind. The kid was down, no penalty called and it ended up resulting in a goal on the same play for Windsor, sparking them to a win.
There was a mild furor after the game which fizzled quickly, but if Taylor had made that hit on Fanelli do you think the OHL would have banned this year's poster boy for the season with the NHL lads attending each game? Uh.....no.
Maybe for 10-20 games? No.
3 games max, more likely none, but with a stern warning though to show they care.
Hypocritical to be sure.
Poor Fanelli.
Poor Liambas.