Wildcats’ Smith will sit for five after knee-on-knee hit on Remparts' Donaghey

The QMJHL's league disciplinarian Raymond Bolduc made Moncton Wildcats forward Will Smith pay for his second suspendable knee-on-knee altercation of the season.

The Wildcats’ 18-year-old winger will sit for five games after his knee-on-knee hit on Quebec Remparts blueliner Cody Donaghey from Wednesday.

In the second period, Donaghey had cleared the puck out of the zone when Smith, the forechecker, engaged him, right knee leaning forward. Donaghey shifted direction a bit, allowing for firmer contact from Smith to connect knee first. The knees collided and made pure contact.

As demonstrated on the video (the hit is at 0:04), Smith leads with the knee and Donaghey tries to get out of the way, leading to a knee-on-knee collision, and one that looks very painful, judging by Donaghey's reaction.

Smith received a five minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing on the play.

The league added that the opponent being injured and Smith’s prior suspension history had an effect on the decision. Smith was suspended a game in October for another knee-on-knee hit.

Donaghey will not require surgery, though he will be sidelined for up to two months. The blueliner has 15 points in 27 games this season. He turned a camp invite from the Toronto Maple Leafs into a three-year entry level deal last September.

The Remparts need Donaghey for solid depth on their back end. It will make for interesting discussions heading into the trading period, opening December 19, as the Remparts host the 2015 Memorial Cup and will be looking to buy.

The blue line is an area they are looking to upgrade specifically, as head coach and GM Philippe Boucher admitted last week.

The league has seen three kneeing suspensions so far this season, and all three, coincidentally, have been Wildcats players suspended. Smith has had two suspensions for kneeing, and defenceman Zach Malatesta took a one-game ban for kneeing in October.

Smith, from outside of Boston, has 17 points in 27 games so far for Moncton this season. He is one point off his total of last year.

The five game ruling is tied for the second longest suspension by the Q this season. Only Saguenéens netminder Storm Phaneuf’s nine game ban for kicking was longer.

In some ways, Smith got off easy. In 2011, Jonathan Lessard, then of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, injured then-Remparts forward Nick Sorensen with a knee-on-knee and sat for 15 games. The hit ended Sorensen’s season.