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Boston Bruins prospect Tyler Randell gets 10 games from OHL for head check (VIDEO)

Neate Sager

So much for the belief/hope/notion that there's a conversion rate for suspensions in the regular season and those meted out in the playoffs.

Few would have imagined a double-digit-game ban suspension when rugged Kitchener Rangers winger Tyler Randell was placed on suspension last weekend for a check to the head of Owen Sound centre Artur Gavrus in the opener of the teams' playoff series. Missing games in the post-season hurts a lot more for a player than it does to sit out in the regular season. Just ask Gavrus' teammate, Mike Halmo, who could end his junior tenure on Wednesday watching from the press box.

However, the league has come down hard on Randell. He's been suspended 10 games, which could potentially end his time in junior. The Rangers are up 3-0 on a depleted Owen Sound team in their first-round series, so the most realistic scenario is that they would have to reach the third round before Randell could return. It is a surprise insofar as it's the playoffs. However, it is in line with what the league has handed down when someone makes direct contact to the head of an unsuspecting player, to borrow the OHL's terminology.

From Josh Brown:

OHL vice president Ted Baker said playoff games don't carry more weight than regular season contests when awarding suspensions.

"Every incident is dealt with under its own merit," he said. "You have to look at the situation, go through your process and come up with what you feel is the appropriate number. There are a number of factors involved."

Owen Sound officials had been calling for a minimum 10-game suspension. The Attack feel Randell's check was worse than Mike Halmo's elbow on Sarnia's Nail Yakupov late in the season. Halmo received 10 games for that hit. (Waterloo Record)

The Rangers do not lack for neither depth nor size up front, with big-bodied forwards such as Andrew Crescenzi (6-foot-5, 213 pounds) and Ben Thomson (6-4, 212). However, there is no pretending that being deprived of the use of an overage player such as Randell does not alter their plays for the rest of the playoffs. Say whatever one wants about longer suspensions not being deterrents and these decisions being made in a split-second, but it's clear how such incidents are going to be punished, even if it goes unpenalized at the time.

Zanetti gets 5

Meantime, another overage player, Ottawa 67's defenceman Marc Zanetti, is gone for five games for his pregame spearing match penalty last Friday vs. Belleville. The league is counting the game he was ejected from toward the suspension, so he could return for Game 7 of the Bulls-67's series or early in the second round, if necessary.

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