Two Minutes for "Being the Bitee"

by Ryan



Before we talk about the game itself, we should probably get this out of the way. I'm not really sure how to react to it because I've never seen anyone get bit during a hockey game. These are the kinds of things I'm just not prepared to discuss, so I apologize if this is meaningless.



I guess we should start with what actually happened, as in "did Jarkko Ruutu bite Andrew Peters?" From what I've seen that answer has to be yes. From then on the severity of the bite, the reaction by Peters, and all that other stuff is rendered moot. Jarkko Ruutu freaking bit someone. Isn't that what really matters here? No matter how badly Peters may have been acting, the very fact that Ruutu was biting in the first place lets Peters off the hook for the potential Oscar bid.



As far as the penalty on Peters, well, I have no idea. I suppose the bite was pretty hard to see at first glance, so that's probably why no penalty was called on Ruutu. In fact, I'd say it was almost impossible to see the bite because who actually looks for that sort of thing in a scrum? After the game Lindy said he had played in games where people have been bitten, so maybe I'm just not old enough to have experience with this kind of thing.



So I guess the question left to answer is whether Jarkko Ruutu should be suspended. If what we think we see in the replay really is there, then he will get suspended for a short period of time. Since Andrew Peters still has a thumb, I wouldn't rule out the idea of Ruutu getting no suspension. We've seen crazier things go without punishment over the last few years, and if he says he didn't do it, well, that's good enough for Colin Campbell!

It's a shame that this is all you'll hear about tomorrow morning, because it really was an important win for the Sabres. Let's address this again when an announcement is made about suspensions; there are more important things to talk about today.