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Carcillo choked about suspension: “I’m giving some serious thought to changing my last name”

Philadelphia Flyers v Minnesota Wild

ST PAUL, MN - SEPTEMBER 25: Dan Carcillo #13 of the Philadelphia Flyers shouts during the game against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on September 25, 2010 in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

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Yesterday, it was revealed that Philly’s Dan Carcillo had been suspended two games for this hit on Carolina’s Joni Pitkanen:

Shortly thereafter, Carcillo expressed displeasure with the ruling.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reports that Carbomb is upset with what he feels is suspension based on reputation, rather than the actual hit.

“There’s not too much leeway for me in this league. I’m giving some serious thought to changing my last name,” Carcillo told the Tribune. “I just tried to make a play on the puck -- maybe I was leaning on him. I felt like he lost his edge and we both went into the boards. … I don’t really know what else I could have done to make it less reckless.”

Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville didn’t share in Carcillo’s frustration, but agreed his reputation probably cost him. “I watched the play. You can look at the play. He’s off-balance before there is contact in my eyes. That’s how I saw it. Whether he touched him or not, he was going down,” Coach Q told ESPN Chicago. "(Carcillo’s) leash for what he can and cannot do is very short. He knows that. I don’t want to slow him down, how he plays the game. His reputation might have been part of it.”

In Carcillo’s defense, he has done a lot this year to clean up his rep and become a legitimate hockey player (rather than his previous gig as the Tasmanian Devil.) He’s been a key contributor on a line with Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa and only taken one minor penalty in seven games played. He’s one of the Blackhawks leaders at plus-5 and, perhaps most amazingly, he’s yet to drop the mitts. For a guy that’s fought 30 times over the last two years, that’s pretty impressive restraint.