Barrie Colts Evan Passmore Suspended For Aggressive Behavior & Violating OHL's Bullying Policy

Suspensions in the OHL are on the rise, and the league has passed down another lengthy verdict to Barrie Colts' second-year defenseman Evan Passmore.

Saturday night at Sadlon Arena turned out to be an extremely feisty affair between the Colts and Sudbury Wolves. Barrie ran away with the game, cruising to an 8-1 victory, but tempers started to erupt in the third period.

The two teams combined for 39 penalty minutes in the final frame with two game misconduct ejections and a match penalty assessed to Evan Passmore.

Sudbury forward Chase Coughlan left his feet, threw a check to the head on Passmore, and was assessed a minor penalty with under five minutes left to play. As he exited the box, Barrie forward Cole Dubowsky went right after him, tossed his gloves off, and jumped the veteran forward.

Dubowsky has been suspended for two games for his actions:
"One game of Dubowsky’s sentence is credited to being the instigator of a fight in the final five minutes of the game. The other game is assigned to this incident being his second fighting major in the same game. He is eligible to return on November 16," wrote the OHL.

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Wolves rookie forward Blake Clayton intervened in the scuffle to defend his teammate. However, since he was the third player to join the fight, the referees issued him a game misconduct penalty, and the league subsequently imposed an automatic two-game suspension for being a third man in. He will be eligible to return on Nov. 17.

Now we get to where Passmore earned his five-game suspension.

The 6-foot-4 defenseman got involved in the altercation during the scrum, but the OHL determined that his actions violated the league's bullying policy.

The OHL Bullying Policy states:
“Bullying in the OHL is an incident in which a player demonstrates an act of repeated aggressive, physical behaviour towards an opposing player who chooses not to respond to such action(s).”

Passmore repeatedly threw punches towards the back of Clayton's head in the scrum before the referee got in between the two. The Sudbury forward never turned to face him once and was more focused on trying to get after Dubowsky. This was what Passmore received a match penalty for.

However, since Clayton didn't respond to Passmore's punches, the league has viewed the NHL draft-eligible defenseman's actions as violating the OHL's bullying policy. He is eligible to return to Barrie's lineup on Nov. 24.

In fairness to Passmore, Clayton wasn't an innocent bystander in the altercation. Also, his teammate Dubowsky's actions were just as bad, seeing as he wasn't focused on the play at all when he went to jump and fight Chase Coughlan.

The OHL is making a statement this year with their disciplinary actions.

We've now seen two four-game suspensions for a goalie fight, a seven-game suspension for a hit to the head, an automatic five-game suspension for Saginaw captain Ethan Hay breaking the OHL Code of Conduct, and most recently, Landon Sim in the firing lines once again for words he said on the ice directing to an opponent.

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