Just when you thought you’ve seen everything …
Wisconsin’s John Mitchell was ejected from Saturday night’s game against Denver in the third period for excessive roughness on a hit up high on the Pioneers’ Tyler Ruegsegger.
If only that was the end of the story.
Outside the Kohl Center media room after the game, we were informed by Jeff Sauer, the assistant to the WCHA commissioner, that an excessive roughness penalty carries an automatic game disqualification, which means Mitchell would be sitting next Friday’s game at Minnesota State.
If only that was the end of the story.
A little while later, after finishing up my story for the Associated Press, I got a phone call on which the phone at the other end was passed around a few times before Sauer got on the line to say he needed to talk to Paul Capobianco, Wisconsin’s assistant director of athletic communications. I found him and passed off the phone. Long story short, the penalty was now a double-minor for roughing and a game misconduct. In other words, Mitchell was off the hook for next Friday.
If only that was the end of the story.
Capobianco called back the number on my phone a short time later after we discussed, among other things, that Mitchell had served a five-minute penalty during the game (actually, it was Patrick Johnson because Mitchell was in the locker room, but that’s beside the point). He then found out that the call was again being changed, this time to a major for contact to the head and a game misconduct.
I think that’s the end of the story. Then again, the night is young.
I’m still a little confused. Make that baffled. Just when you thought you’ve seen everything …
