Oilers prospect receives 21-game suspension from ECHL

Oilers prospect Kristians Pelss did a bad, bad thing.

The Latvian product was suspended for 21-games and fined an undisclosed amount by the ECHL for delivering a two-handed slash to the face of an unsuspecting opponent, causing an injury.

Pelss, currently playing for the Stockton Thunder, committed the brutal penalty on December 1 in a game against Bakersfield. What may surprise you is that he’s not exactly a goon. In 13 games with the Thunder, Pelss had just 15 penalty minutes. Now he’ll have until mid-January to think about what he did.

That kind of suspension is rare to see in any level of hockey, although we’ve seen Phoenix’s Raffi Torres get a similar suspension for his head-hit on Marian Hossa in last year’s playoffs.