A Victoria Royals player’s fiery outburst has likely cost him the season.
The Western Hockey League (WHL) announced Thursday that Kody McDonald, 20, from Lethbridge, was suspended indefinitely following a match penalty during the WHL playoff game in Kamloops Wednesday.
After an embellishment penalty in the third period, McDonald seemingly boiled over while on the bench during Game 4 of the best-of-seven- first-round playoff series. He swung his stick at Kamloops forward Zane Franklin, connecting once with the Blazers’ head and hitting Kamloops trainer Colin (Toledo) Robinson on the second swing.
McDonald was escorted from the ice and issued a five-minute match penalty for intent to injure at the 7:58 mark of the third period. He also received an automatic one-game suspension.
Kamloops RCMP says there are no charges pending but McDonald is now facing an indefinite suspension from the WHL.
“The WHL takes incidents of this nature very seriously,” said WHL Commissioner Ron Robison in statement. “Actions of this kind are unacceptable to the WHL. The WHL Director, Player Safety is undergoing a complete review of the incident at this time.”
Victoria lost the March 27 game 6-3 to Kamloops. The teams return to Victoria Saturday, March 30, for Game 5 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, with the opening faceoff at 7 p.m.
Victoria Royals could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
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nina.grossman@blackpress.ca
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