Hockey is a game of emotions, and sometimes they get out of hand. Every once in a while, a referee or linesman gets caught up in that.
So what happened during Wednesday night’s game against the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames? While skating to the bench, Dennis Wideman took a strong shot at the back of linesman Don Henderson.
Am I the only one that thinks this Wideman hit on the linesman was intentional, or? #CGY #NShvsCGY: pic.twitter.com/T51rREqWLw
— Mark Harris (@MCHisTweeting) January 28, 2016
Wideman hits linesman Henderson. https://t.co/NwflrAHO7c
— Jim Diamond (@diamondhockey) January 28, 2016
#NSHvsCGY pic.twitter.com/RsQJVTrq8k
— Thomas Willis (@TomAWillis) January 28, 2016
Willy Daunic and Stu Grimson called the play as if the contact was incidental, but that doesn’t really make much sense. Wideman was skating slowly from the faceoff circle to the bench, and had the linesman in full view the entire time. There’s no way he thought he was a player, but maybe a brain fart? Maybe he was trying to nudge him out of the way and the adrenaline took over and it looked more vicious than intended?
Who knows, but from the replays it looks anything but accidental. The former All-Star may be hearing from the league in the very near future.