Ottawa 67's Travis Konecny felled by blindside hit from Plymouth Whalers' Gianluca Curcuruto (VIDEO)

Travis Konecny sees the ice about as well as any player in the Ontario Hockey League and even he could not see Gianluca Curcuruto coming. Curcuruto, in turn, is in his fifth season in the OHL, which is presumably long enough to have learned by osmosis where the line is drawn on contact to the head.

Nevertheless, during the Plymouth Whalers-Ottawa 67's game on Sunday, Konecny was chasing the puck as it rimmed along the left-wing boards in his end when he received a blow to the head from the Whalers' 20-year-old defenceman. Curcuruto, whose feet might have been off the ice before initiating contact with the 17-year-old Konecny — who never did get to touch the puck on the play — received a checking to the head major/game misconduct.

All checking to the head ejections are subject to an OHL review; you might be looking at the OHL's first significant head suspension of the season.

Supplemental discipline should be meted out on the basis of intent, not the damage done. One can appreciate that Curcuruto saw a chance to step up and throw a heavy check on an opponent's best player (this was also in an interconference game, which often tend to be chippier in the OHL since the teams only play two times a season, which to some players means less fear of repercussions). Still, the rules have been pretty clear that contact to the head is unacceptable. It's tough to see whether Curcuruto elbowed Konecny, but that might not be relevant.

Konecny, according to a 67's media release, was "walking throughout the arena after and watched the remainder of the match from the stands." The risk involved in him getting a second blow to the head within a short span would have been too great to merit a return.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (video: Rogers Television).