Boston Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton will not go through with a second appeal of his 15-game suspension, as per Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.
Thornton had an appeal hearing with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman earlier this month following his lengthy ban for an attack on Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, but the 15-game punishment was upheld just prior to Christmas.
Thornton had the option of a second appeal through an independent arbitrator.
As per Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com, Thornton believes he could’ve gotten perhaps a game or two taken off the suspension, but “didn’t want to become a distraction to team.”
“I know I made a mistake and I crossed the line. But there were a lot of circumstances leading up to it. It won’t define me,” said Thornton on Tuesday.
He continued: “I’m still not happy w/amount of games I got, but I respect the decision. I’d rather just move on mentally.”
On Dec. 7, in a game between the Bruins and Penguins, Thornton grabbed Orpik from behind during a scrum, brought him to the ice and delivered two punches to Orpik while he was down.
Orpik was stretchered off the ice, and suffered a concussion. He has since been taken off injured reserve, playing on Dec. 27 against the Carolina Hurricanes and Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Earlier in the game, Orpik delivered a thunderous hit on Bruins’ forward Loui Eriksson, who left the game and suffered a concussion on the play.
The NHL Department of Player Safety handed Thornton a 15-game suspension for his incident with Orpik - a controversial decision with those in the Bruins organization.