Saturday, November 8, 2014

Sabres' Tyler Ennis looking at suspension for tapping ref with stick (VIDEO)

The final buzzer had already sounded when Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis gave an innocuous tap with his stick towards linesman Derek Nansen Friday night. The move ended up getting Ennis a game misconduct.

It's kind of bizarre getting the penalty considering that there was already no time remaining on the clock after the Sabres 3-2 loss to the Oilers.



The tap did appear to be on purpose and maybe of the mocking kind but there didn't seem to be anything leading up to the poke. Whether or not the two shared some words probably won't be known until the NHL investigates — since Ennis could be looking at a suspension for abuse of officials — if that is the case, according to CBS Sports.




Nansen, a 12-year veteran, looked like he got hit on his hand, which may not have been Ennis' intent, but probably hurt. No matter how hard it was, it rose to the level of a game misconduct. If the referees deemed it an abuse of officials misconduct, they would have to submit a report to the NHL detailing the incident and decide the category of the offense. 

Ennis could be looking at a suspension of three games or more here as the league probably won't allow physical contact with a referee go without at least some form of punishment. It will be interesting to see what kind of decision gets made, but a lot of that depends on what kind of report the referees filed Friday night.

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