NHL Steps In and Reduces Suspension for Owen Beck at Memorial Cup

It's a bit of a strange situation, and one I'm not sure I've ever heard of. Owen Beck of the Ontario Hockey League's Peterborough Petes, an early second round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, will be able to take part in game 1 of the Memorial Cup after serving just one game of a two-game suspension in the OHL Final. The NHL is reportedly responsible for making the ruling.

Slew-Foot

Beck was suspended for two games against the London Knights for a textbook slew-foot on Jackson Edward. The five-minute major and game misconduct triggered an automatic review by the OHL's Disciplinary Committee, which made the initial two-game ruling.




The Petes won the OHL Championship the next game, punching their ticket to the Memorial Cup, which involves the top teams from the Ontario, Quebec Major Junior, and Western Hockey Leagues. The assumption was Beck would be out for the first game of the tournament. However, reporter Julia Tocheri said the NHL's Department of Player Safety is in charge of discipline at the Memorial Cup. It has ruled the suspension over.



That means DoPS clearly felt a two-game suspension was too much for the infraction. It's worth noting that Beck triggered an OHL review earlier in the series against the Knights for an illegal check to the head. It was ruled that the five minute major was enough.