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You can’t fight city hall: Bettman upholds Bouchard suspension

Gary Bettman

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman talks to the media before the Winnipeg Jets’ inaugural game against the Montreal Canadiens at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Woods)

AP

While the NHL has an appeal process for players who are suspended, Pierre-Marc Bouchard found out it doesn’t go too well when fighting for your right to play.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman upheld Brendan Shanahan’s initial ruling of a two-game suspension for Bouchard after his high sticking incident Saturday night. We can only imagine that Bouchard’s agent, Allan Walsh, is having a fit over this.

While Bouchard has no history of doing dirty things to opponents, in the NHL’s eyes he got too careless with his stick and that lack of responsibility resulted in injuries to Matt Calvert’s face. The Wild will lose Bouchard for this afternoon’s game against the Islanders and Tuesday’s game against Ottawa.