AHL Suspends Rechlicz

Absurd.  That is the simplest way I can explain what the AHL did today.  They suspended Phantoms Tom Sestito and Oliver Lauridsen 1 game each for grabbing Hershey's Joel Rechlicz while on the bench.  Good for them.

1 game. Weak, but ok, I understand.

Wrecker got the same.  A 1 game suspension.  Wait...WHAT?

To help understand this, let's recap what took place on Saturday:

Player A is standing on the ice after getting checked, watching other players start to fight;
Player B, ON THE BENCH, grabs Player A and starts pounding on him;
Player C, ALSO ON THE BENCH, assists Player B in pounding on Player A.

So....

The player standing ON THE ICE, minding his own business gets the same suspension as the player who WHILE ON THE BENCH began punching him. 

Oh, now I understand.  Wait, no I don't.

Ok let's try again...you want to suspend Wrecker for pulling the linesman back to the melee...fine.  But didn't you kind of do that on Sunday when he was suspended for accumulating 3 game misconducts (2 in this game) on the season?  But fine.  Suspend him again.  1 game.  Done.  Accepted.

But to hand out equal suspensions to Wrecker, Sestito, and Lauridsen is absurd.

This is a ruling that I just do not understand. 

Pardon the language, but this pretty much summed up my feelings.

And apparently the other Phantoms didn't get noticed, but I can assure you that they were taking swings at Danny Richmond while he was pinned against the boards at the Adirondack bench.  The AHL's video surveillance is obviously not up to par with the NHL so they likely didn't catch any of the punches, so no suspensions were handed down.

But I can assure you that the Bears know who the culprits were.

The Phantoms return to Giant Center on Friday, March 16.  Get your tickets now.