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Portland Winterhawks’ Brendan Leipsic gets WHL’s longest suspension of season

neate sager

The Western Hockey League is sitting down Brendan Leipsic for just long enough that it doesn't have to explain the suspension.

Considering the centre's past trespasses and the WHL's baseline, a seven-game suspension for a headshot in in a game against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Dec. 14 seems right in line. The longest previous suspension in the Western league was four games, Leipsic has priors and Seattle's 16-year-old Keegan Kolesar has not played since, although that only amounts to one game.

One idle thought is there might be a long-term blessing in disguise for Portland, the defending WHL champion.

The combination of world junior assignments and the Kelowna Rockets' 13-game road win streak has altered the race for first overall. Kelowna, which only lost defenceman Damon Severson to the world junior, also faces the Winterhawks on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 while it will still be without four of its best players. Kelowna's eight-point lead at the midpoint isn't insurmountable, but its odds should be significantly better than 50/50, especially if it takes both ends of that series.

That might shift Portland's focus to having to win at least one playoff round without benefit of home-ice advantage. At least the reduced numbers provide a chance to extend the role of Portland's depth players.

From Kerry Eggers:

Some of the Hawks' regular younger players doubled their normal work load [during Tuesday's loss to Everett]. Everett was minus two of its players due to World Championships participation, but it wasn't an even tradeoff.

"We're going to be shorthanded for a while," Johnston said. "You try to use this situation to your advantage. We prepare for the playoffs by giving these guys major minutes and big-time opportunities. By playoff time, if somebody goes down (to injury), these guys have done it before, and they can handle it."

"Mike knows exactly what he's doing," said center Chase De Leo, who scored his 22nd goal Tuesday night, the only player on hand in double figures on the goal-scoring ledger. "That's why we called up the young guys, in case something does happen. It's a great time for them and for the other guys on the team." (Portland Tribune)

Meantime, Vancouver Giants captain and No. 1 defenceman Dalton Thrower will sit for two games after his headshot on Prince George's Klarc Wilson on Sunday. This wasn't as bad as Thrower's hit on Portland's Taylor Leier in the Memorial Cup in May, but it still crossed a line.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.