Ottawa 67′s Marc Zanetti suspended after ejection for pre-game spear (UPDATED)

Marc Zanetti wore the hair shirt, so to speak, to match his bristly playoff beard.

As the Ottawa 67's captain, he's supposed to lead by example. Instead, the overage defenceman missed all of his team's 3-2 Game 2 win over the Belleville Bulls after getting a match penalty for a spear during a kerfuffle with Bulls veterans Luke Judson and Stephen Silas during the warmup. Some of the Belleville players had crossed the centre-ice red line. Tempers flared and Zanetti jabbed Judson, the Bulls' captain, with his stick. Since all match penalties are reviewed by the Ontario Hockey League to see if supplemental discipline is required, that puts his status for the next game of the Eastern Conference series in jeopardy.

(Update: the OHL has indeed said Zanetti and Kitchener Rangers winger Tyler Randell are suspended while it reviews incidents from games on Friday. Broadcaster Terry Doyle said a three-game ban for Zanetti might be in store.)

"Emotions definitely got hot out there," Zanetti said. "That's something I definitely regret right now. I tried to make a statement by not letting them cross the red line around the two-minute, three-minute mark. I definitely regret it right now, if I could take it back I would. It sucks watching the game. I'm sorry for what I did."

"I just want to make it clear it was an accident," added the 20-year-old, who's in his final junior season "I was trying to push the guy away and my stick got lifted into his upper shoulder area. I'm really apologetic right now."

(Kats Jean has come through with video.)

The fracas, which was quickly broken up by the linesmen, might have fired up Ottawa, given that they opened the scoring just 2:21 into the game. The long view, though, is that it taxed a blueline corps whose other overage defenceman, Daniel Broussard, has been out with an injury. Likely NHL first-rounder Cody Ceci scarcely left the ice while Ottawa protected a one-goal lead in the third period. Michal Cajkovsky also stepped up his game and was +4 on the night.

"We're really deep and we just won the game with five D," Zanetti said. "If we can get other guys in there I know we can be strong."

The emotions also got to the Bulls' veterans. Nineteen-year-old Joseph Cramarossa, the Anaheim Ducks draft pick who probably possesses the best combo of speed, grit and playoff experience, missed nearly a third of the game after accruing 17 minutes in penalties during a first-period fight with Ottawa's Tyler Graovac. Cramarossa was the game's second star, so had he been available the whole game, the Bulls might have fared better.

Neither coach would say much about the incident.

"Didn't see it," Bulls coach-GM George Burnett said. "I'll let the right people take care of it. I really can't comment on it."

"I didn't see it," 67's coach-GM Chris Byrne said. "All I heard was the guys hooting and hollering coming in [after the warmup]."

Under OHL rule 21.2, a player who receives a match penalty is suspended indefinitely until the league can rule on the issue. The Belleville-Ottawa series resumes Sunday at 2 p.m. in Belleville.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.