Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Minnesota coach “surprised and disappointed” over non-suspension ruling

Mike Yeo

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2011, file photo, Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo leads his team through NHL hockey practice in St. Paul, Minn. Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher could’ve opted for more experience with his next hire. But he wasn’t deterred, picking Yeo as the new bench boss straight from the team’s top minor league affiliate. (AP Photo/Andy King, File)

AP

Mike Yeo is none too pleased with NHL discipline czar Brendan Shanahan.

A day after learning Colorado’s Cody McLeod wouldn’t be suspended for his hit on Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon, the first-year Wild head coach expressed dismay with the decision.

“Surprised and disappointed,” Yeo told the Pioneer Press. “I thought it was a dangerous and dirty hit.”

Realizing the gigantic turd he was about to step in, Yeo quickly checked himself (lest he wreck himself.)

“Here I am, sitting here talking about it,” he said, “and the next time we play Colorado, it’s going to look like we’re going out and targeting if one of our guys goes and hits one of their skill guys. It’s going to look like it’s premeditated, and so I’d just as soon leave it alone.”

It’s not surprising Yeo briefly lost his cool. On December 15, the Wild were the first place team in the NHL.

Today, they’re sixth in the Western Conference.

They also just lost Spurgeon -- third on the team in average TOI per game -- to a lower-body injury, which Yeo must find equally frustrating. Minnesota was already without Devin Setoguchi, Guillaume Latendresse, Casey Wellman and Clayton Stoner and only just got captain Mikko Koivu back from a leg injury.

The rash of injuries has sapped Yeo’s team of much of its offense -- the Wild have scored just nine goals during the seven-game losing streak and haven’t scored more than two in a single game since Dec. 10.