Mike Green and Donald Brashear will be suspended for Game 7 at the Verizon Center, according to reports from the Washington Post, as reported moments ago on ESPN’s SportsCenter. However I can’t find any information related to this on the Post’s website. I assume they are still working on the report. Brashear was involved in a huge hit of Blair Betts at center ice in Sunday afternoon’s contest. There were also allegations that Shaone Morrisonn bit Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky. Maybe it was really Green? I guess we’ll soon find out. This article will be updated once more details are available. However as of writing this, I cannot find any confirmation from NHL.com or TSN.ca concerning a Donald Brashear or Mike Green suspension being handed down. So considering the lone source of ESPN at the moment, take this with a grain of salt.
More, including ESPN’s retraction, and then a retraction of the retraction, after the jump.
TSN does report :
Washington Capitals forward Donald Brashear has a 1pm et hearing with the National Hockey League to discuss his actions in Game 6 against the New York Rangers. Brashear will face supplemental discipline for both his exchange with New York’s Colton Orr in the warm-up prior to the game and his late hit on Rangers forward Blair Betts in the first period.
** UPDATE : ESPN just retracted on SportsCenter, stating that Mike Green and Donald Brashear have not been suspended, yet. However they both now have a hearing at 1pm today. This is according to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun. They also quoted George Mcphee, whose phone must have rung off the hook after to the previous report. The biting incident with Shaone Morrissonn is alleged to have happened after Dubinsky boarded Green, so Green would have been on the ice, and involved in that scrum. Is it possible that he bit an opposing player?
I am fairly certain this isn’t the worst bit of misreporting that the World Wide Leader has ever had, but its pretty big. Green is a Norris candidate, and one of the best young players in the league. To report that he will be suspended for a Game 7 in the playoffs, and then to later retract is a pretty big error. At the moment it isn’t even clear that they have the right player. There is some speculation that they really meant Shaone Morrissonn, unless having a bad haircut is a suspendable offense. We’ll keep on this story, and report again this afternoon on the results of the hearings. In other news, the Capitals are dominating the series, and the Rangers are doing more whining than winning.
**UPDATE #2 : ESPN has now retracted their retraction, stating that Mike Green is NOT under consideration for suspension, nor is Shaone Morrissonn. The only player to have a hearing today at 1PM will be Donald Brashear. ESPN states that Brashear’s hit on Betts is the reason for possible suspension, while Capitals Insider reports that it is actually the pregame incident that is under review. Seriously ESPN, why do you even try to report on the NHL?
