Brad Marchand suspended two games for slew-foot (Video)

By Robby Sabo | Jan 16, 2015

Jan 15, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) skates with the puck as New York Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi (5) and Rangers center Derick Brassard (16) defend during the second period at TD Garden. The Bruins won 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand has been suspended two games for his dirty slew-foot on New York Rangers forward Derick Brassard.

Beyond the rule book, there are always unspoken tactics that players do not perform out of respect for the game and opponents. Of course, these tactics are already illegal, but they’re placed above the rules as absolute no-no’s.

In basketball you do not ever undercut a guy and take his legs out from under him. In baseball you never intentionally throw at a batter’s head. In football you should never specifically target the knees of an opponent. While sometimes there’s gray area for the latter two, the athletes on the field or court know when something unforgiven occurs.

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In hockey, and especially the NHL where everything is bigger and faster, players should never slew-foot somebody else, especially when heading into the boards.

Along with spearing and just plain swinging a stick at somebody, slew-footing is the most dangerous move a hockey player can commit.

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand apparently doesn’t care about his reputation.

In a game last night that featured the Bruins and the New York Rangers, Marchand slew-footed Rangers center Derick Brassard while heading into the boards. The NHL announced today that Marchand is suspended two games.

Marchand will forfeit a total $43,387.10 of his salary. Worse than that for him, though, is that his reputation as being a dirty player continues to get worse.

With this latest dangerous move, the outrageously dirty Marchand now builds on his already suspect history.

This marks his third fine or suspension by the league involving on-ice incidents, including the second time for a slew-foot. In 2011, he was fined $2,600 for slew-footing Matt Niskanen.

Brassard made it pretty clear how he felt following the game.

Via ESPN:

“You go to the corner with him and you go shoulder to shoulder, but he brings his leg in the back and I felt like I had a slew-foot there,” Brassard said. “I don’t want to find any excuses about it, I don’t want to be crybaby or anything, but it could’ve been dangerous and it could be a game-changer. It could’ve been a 5-on-3 and probably could be back in the game, but the referees said it was a clean hit.

“The way I fell on the ice, I maybe could’ve missed the rest of the season if I hurt my knee there . . . Marchand’s a pretty good player, he’s feisty, competes hard, but those kind of things, we don’t want that in our game.”

As Brassard referenced, there wasn’t even a penalty called on the ice which makes everybody wonder what the hell the refs were looking at. The Bruins were on the penalty-kill at the time, and as every hockey fan knows, the team down a man always gets away with a little more than at even strength.

Still though, a move like this is disgusting and Marchand should’ve been suspended for more than only two games. There’s no place for that blatant disrespect in the game of hockey.

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