NHL suspends Ruutu for biting
The National Hockey League has suspended Ottawa Senators forward Jarkko Ruutu two games for biting the thumb of Buffalo Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters during Tuesday night's game in HSBC Arena.
Replays showed Ruutu biting Peters' gloved right thumb during a confrontation near the Ottawa bench with 6:47 left in the first period of Buffalo's eventual 4-2 win.
The NHL's senior disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, conducted a hearing by phone with Ruutu this morning. The suspension was announced this afternoon.
Ruutu will miss Thursday's game against division-leading Boston and Saturday's matchup with the New York Rangers. The punishment will cost him $31,707.32 in salary, according to NHL.com.
Ruutu has already served a three-game suspension earlier this season for delivering an elbow to the head of a Montreal player during a game. He denied after Tuesday's game that he bit Peters.
"It definitely looks like there's something there," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said today when asked for his review of the video. "Andrew's thumb is cut and it looks like there's some indication of biting. The league is going to look at it and we'll just deal with it. We're not going to overreact to it."
The play is getting national attention as a 2 1/2-minute piece on the incident ran much of Wednesday morning on ESPN's "SportsCenter" and on its Web site, and the Associated Press was working on a national story.
"We need a lot more attention on SportsCenter than a biting incident," Peters said today. "It just doesn't look good on the game is basically what it comes down to. I'm just sorry it happened. There's a lot of kids out there who watch and it sets a bad example. We're supposed to be role models.
"Things happen on the ice that are part of the game but what happened last night isn't," Peters said. "I just hope kids don't think that's acceptable. It's not acceptable at any level. ... It goes too far for any player. It doesn't matter who you are. It's just not part of hockey."
The Sabres did not practice today in the wake of their third straight victory, instead opting for off-ice conditioning work. Ruff said defenseman Toni Lydman (flu) will be back for Friday's game against the New York Rangers and so will center Tim Connolly, who has missed six weeks with a broken rib.
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