You can't help but wonder what games the referees were watching while all this was going on. A vicious choke hold in an AHL this week caused a player to tap out in order to get out of it.
The game was between the Grand Rapids Griffins and Iowa Wild. William Lagesson, who has a contract with the Detroit Red Wings, cinched in a rear choke hold on Adam Raska, a prospect of the Minnesota Wild.
Raska tried his best to get out of the hold, but it was one too tight. If I had to guess, the tap out came just before Lagesson completely choked him out.
Apparently, there was another scrum going on at the time which had the game's linesmen tied up. Amazingly, William Lagesson was given just a two-minute minor penalty for roughing.
There's really no call for any of this. Perhaps William Lagesson was frustrated by being sent down to Grand Rapids by the Red Wings a couple of days earlier, but that's still no excuse.
The supplemental discipline has been announced by the AHL in this situation, which really makes you wonder what the heck their department of player safety is doing. Adam Raska seemed very close to losing consciousness.
It's been a while since I've seen a play like this one from a high-level league like the AHL. Hopefully, it's the last time.
UPDATE
The AHL has suspended Lagesson three games for this offense.
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2 HOURS AGO | 8 ANSWERS Former Montreal Canadien and Toronto Maple Leaf Under Fire for Vicious MMA Move During Game Should there have been more than a minor penalty on this play? | ||
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Sebastian Aho | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
Nico Hischier | 3 | - | 3 | |
Macklin Celebrini | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Jakob Chychrun | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
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Alex Iafallo | 2 | - | 2 | |
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Jets | 22 | 18 | 4 | - | 36 | |
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Wild | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 30 | |
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