"Simply put, this was a bad act with a bad result, and neither will be tolerated in our game," Bettman wrote in his appeal. "I note that Mr. Thornton has a reputation for being a 'good actor' and a model NHL citizen, but that does not eliminate the need for him to be punished appropriately for his bad act in this case."Thornton and the union could next decide to take the case to a neutral arbitrator, which has never happened before and is certainly possible.That failure to "acknowledge an obvious motivation (if not the only obvious motivation) for his conduct is an aggravating circumstance," Bettman wrote, and factored into the 15-game decision."That is not a credible explanation," Bettan wrote. "Moreover, it is inconsistent with the testimony that Mr. Thornton provided at the December 20 hearing, where he acknowledged that he identified Mr. Orpik before he crossed the Pittsburgh blue line. Clearly by the time he had identified him, Mr. Thornton was targeting Mr. Orpik and the aggressiveness of his actions (during an otherwise uneventful scrum) has to be viewed in the light of events that had occurred earlier in the same period, namely the check that Mr. Orpik delivered to (Loui) Eriksson and Mr. Orpik’s subsequent refusal to fight Mr.Our store can offer buy Dsquared Long Sleeve T-Shirts, welcome choose! Thornton.paper honeycomb""Interestingly (and disturbingly),honeycomb paper balls Mr.Buy High quality Coach Grade Sunglasses, Custom Fit Stripe Shirt and more. Thornton testified at the hearing that he knew exactly what he was doing and that he was in complete control of his emotions," Bettman wrote.
The union didn't debate that Thornton's actions were "harmful" or "wrong," but believed that Thornton's clean record combined with shorter suspensions for comparable hits should've led to a 10-12 game suspension.Those are at least understandable arguments, though Bettman obviously disagreed. The other point, though, was a weird one: "(Brendan) Shanahan erred in concluding that Mr. Thornton’s actions were premeditated and that they were not part of a 'hockey play.'"If a slewfoot/double face-punch combo several seconds after the whistle is a "hockey play,cnbattachment" the sport is in trouble."(The) protection of Players’ heads has been a matter of intense and increased attention over the course of several years. A Player who today blatantly flouts the rules in a manner that causes a head injury can and should expect to be severely disciplined," Bettman wrote.That might as well have been footnoted "we're taking concussions seriously" and set directly to whichever court winds up hearing the class-action case filed earlier this month by ex-players who are arguing just the opposite.
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