Friday, February 13, 2009

James DeLory Suspended for 12 Games

Oshawa Generals defenseman turned forward James DeLory was suspended for 12 games today, after a vicious attack on Kingston forward Nathan Moon.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the incident...



DeLory was drafted as a defenseman by San Jose in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He went unsigned, however was picked up by the Florida Panthers in the offseason. DeLory failed to make the AHL, so the Panthers opted to send him back to Oshawa for his overage season. They also opted to convert him to forward.

Nathan Moon is currently the leading scorer for Kingston and a Pittsburgh 4th rounder from the 2008 Entry Draft.

Quite frankly, I'm very surprised by the shortness of the suspension. Zach Fenwick received a 15 game suspension earlier in the season for sucker punching Generals forward Conor Stokes. Attack forward Garrett Wilson also received a 15 game suspension for slew footing Rangers defenseman Dan Kelly. The DeLory offense was IMO significantly worse than either, because of the use of stick and because of the general malicious intent. I'm pretty sure Wilson's intent on his slew foot on Kelly, was not to break his ankle. Where as I think that it's pretty clear from the clip, that DeLory's intention was to severely hurt Moon.

If I was the Frontenacs, I would be quite unpleased by this, especially considering their guy (Fenwick) got 3 games more earlier in the season. I think DeLory should have been suspended for the remainder of the season, or for at the very least the 15 games that have been used as somewhat of a precedent this season.

Here is the official OHL press release.

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