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Hockey players are usually given a bit more leeway than other athletes when it comes to dishing out their own brand of justice during a game. However, William Lagesson firmly crossed the line by choking out an opponent on the ice during an AHL contest and will be missing a few more as a result.
One of the best parts of hockey is the virtually unparalleled self-policing nature of a sport where players are technically allowed to literally take certain matters into their own hands during the fights that are frequently used to settle the score after someone crosses the line.
Those tilts are far from the only time things get chippy over the course of a typical game, as there’s usually plenty of pushing and shoving between players who are routinely testing the referees to see what they’re going to be able to get away with while trying to gain a physical and mental edge over their opponent.
It goes without saying one of the most important jobs those officials have is knowing when to step in to prevent things from getting out of hand, and the crew working a recent AHL game between the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Iowa Wild firmly failed on that particular front.
Those two squads met on Sunday in a game that took a pretty wild turn with around five minutes to go in the third period.
Griffins defenseman (and NHL journeyman) William Lagesson got engaged in a tussle with Wild winger Adam Raska that led to the former placing his opponent in a chokehold on the ice before a linesman swooped in to separate them after the latter visibly tapped out.
Lagesson with a headlock and gets the tap out! He is the champion!
This game is getting wild!#GoGRG #LGRW pic.twitter.com/wp0yntDHAE
— Hockeytown West Podcast (@HockeytownWpod) November 24, 2024
It’s not entirely clear why the referee who was standing just a few feet from Lagesson and Raska declined to intervene a bit earlier, although he did ultimately opt to hit the offending d-man with a two-minute minor for roughing.
That’s not the only discipline Lagesson ended up dealing with, as the AHL announced its decision to suspend him for three games over what it referred to as a “roughing incident” in the press release that was issued on Tuesday.
It’s pretty hard to argue he didn’t earn it.