Mississauga’s Owen Tippett thought he’d make one lucky fan’s night and send him home with a souvenir. That generous act earned Tippett a one-game suspension.
Tippett was hit with a game misconduct after the second period of Friday’s game against the Oshawa Generals when the Steelheads forward flipped a foam puck over the glass into the crowd. The puck appeared to have been tossed onto the ice by a fan as the buzzer sounded.
Annoyingly, it looks like it was off-camera. You can see the foam puck land on the ice, and Tippett head towards it, then the camera moves and you see the ref talking to him a second later. pic.twitter.com/tEVPuf1TRv
— caitlin berry (@caitlinsports) December 10, 2018
Tippett returned to the ice for the third period, only to be told by the referees that he’d been given a game misconduct.
Despite the fact that it was, in fact, a foam puck, the penalty was still assessed under Rule 53:
A game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on a player who unintentionally, accidentally or intentionally throws his stick or any part thereof or any other object or piece of equipment (including the puck) outside the playing area.
If the object thrown hits the protective netting and returns to the ice surface then a Misconduct penalty is to be assessed.
The OHL levied an additional penalty – the one-game ban – on top of the game misconduct, as reported by Iain Colpitts:
Owen Tippett is out for Mississauga, suspended after flipping a puck up to a kid in the stands after the second period Friday.
I’m told a puck into the stands is usually a five game suspension but because Tippett flipped a foam puck, the league took that into consideration and suspended him just for today, meaning it won’t affect his status for the World Juniors. (2/2)
It’s worth noting that tossing the foam puck would have been fine. The fact that he flipped it with his stick made it a more serious offense.
Tippett, a Florida Panthers’ first-round draft pick in 2017, sat out for Saturday’s game against the Saginaw Spirit. Hi’s 33 points are second on the team in scoring, and his 114 career goals for Mississauga are a team record. Tippett has been named to Cana’d World Junior selection camp.
He’ll be back in the Steelheads’ lineup on Friday when the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds visit Missisauga.
