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Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas receives automatic one-game suspension for boarding penalty

robidasonegames

James O’Brien

At first I was surprised to hear this news, but it could be that I was fooled by local announcers Daryl “Razor” Reaugh and Ralph Strangis into thinking it was a bit more of an “incidental” hit.

But now it all makes sense: Stephane Robidas received a one-game suspension today because the league automatically does so in these situations. I can’t find video at the moment (feel free to link it if you find it in the comments) for the hit, but it certainly was a scary fall for Matt Beleskey. Going off my memory - and, again, the persuasive powers of somewhat biased home team announcers - it didn’t seem like a malicious hit by Robidas.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News provides the key details and an explanation for the one-game ban.

In addition, they lost defenseman Stephane Robidas to an automatic one-game suspension for his second boarding major in the last 41 games. Robidas took the penalty on Matt Beleskey in the third period and received a game misconduct. Because he also had a boarding major March 16 against San Jose, Robidas will have to sit out Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Stars could call up Philip Larsen from the Texas Stars to take Robidas’ place.

“I didn’t want to hurt him at all, and I hope he’s not hurt,” Robidas said. “It was just an unfortunate play.”

Beleskey left the ice with help, but he will receive further testing for a possible concussion.

It’s an automatic suspension, though, so the only real debate is whether or not Robidas deserved more than a one-game suspension. Hopefully Beleskey will bounce back from the hit and be concussion-free. It seems like that’s rarely been the case lately, unfortunately.