OHL official details reasoning behind London Knights player's 5-game ban (2024)

The Ontario Hockey League rejected London coach Dale Hunter’s assessment that Knights forward Kaleb Lawrence’s collision with Kitchener defenceman Simon Motew Tuesday was an accident.

The league slapped Lawrence with a hefty five-game suspension Thursday and re-iterated its stance that it has zero tolerance when it comes to head checks.

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“We view this play with Kaleb to not be incidental contact,” OHL vice-president of hockey operations Barclay Branch said.

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“There was contact with the head from Kaleb to the Kitchener player who was injured on it (with a concussion). The Kitchener player did not even have a puck and it was a blindside hit to an unsuspecting player.

“We believe the suspension is warranted based on those elements.”

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The 21-year-old from the Ottawa area learned of the league’s decision ahead of London’s attempt to sweep away Kitchener in Game 4 of the second-round series Thursday night at the Memorial Auditorium. It is the second-longest suspension of the post-season after North Bay’s Liam Arnsby’s six-gamer for a head check on Kingston’s Linus Hemstrom in the first round.

The league uses comparables in these incidents, but didn’t see a co-relation to the head check by Sault Ste. Marie captain Bryce McConnell-Barker that forced Saginaw goaltender Andrew Oke to miss the past two-and-a-half games.

McConnell-Barker, a London native, was not handed any supplemental discipline and scored twice in the Greyhounds’ series-tying 4-0 win Wednesday.

“The one thing that is for certain is there are no two exact same plays,” Branch said. “If you follow the path of the player (Lawrence) as he enters the offensive zone, his stick is up off the ice and it looks like he’s going to make a physical play.

“We were happy with the call. We thought it was the right call and handled correctly. It’s a fast game and a lot going on. It’s easy to be a person viewing things from different angles and slowing things down on video.

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“On this play, it wasn’t, in our view, incidental contact.”

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Lawrence has been suspended before in his OHL career and a player’s history is often a factor in determining the number of games. But the league confirmed that wasn’t brought into discussion in this particular instance.

It also warned all teams against airing replays of controversial plays on their videoboard as the Aud did immediately after the hit.

“The league’s view is a play like that should not be shown on the big screen (prior to referee decision),” Branch said. “That’s something we will deal with.”

The suspension is the second issued to London in this series alone. Fellow centre Sam O’Reilly sat the past two games for a boarding major that knocked out Kitchener d-man Olivier Savard.

The 6-foot-6 Lawrence has been one of the best performers in the OHL playoffs so far. The Los Angeles Kings draft pick has five goals and nine points in seven games.

He will be eligible to return in Game 5 of the Western conference final if the Knights successfully sweep Kitchener.

rpyette@postmedia.com

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