THE HAMMER COMES DOWN

The Saint John Sea Dogs will be without their captain for the next six games.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Disciplinary Prefect, Raymond Bolduc, today announced that three players have been suspended following incidents which occurred over the weekend. Among those three was Sea Dogs captain and tough guy Mike Thomas.

The Fredericton native has been suspended for six games (one is believed to have been already served as of Sunday due to an automatic one game suspension) following a hit on Alex Wall of the Moncton Wildcats on Friday night at Harbour Station. The league called the hit “illegal” in a press release.

Thomas will miss the Sea Dogs’ three remaining regular season games (Cape Breton, PEI, and Moncton) as well as the first two playoff games. That means when he returns for playoff action in game three of the opening round, he will have not have played in over two weeks.

The hit came in the third period of Friday’s game behind the Saint John net. Thomas left his feet on the play as video shows. Hs shoulder hit Wall in the face, forcing him to go into the boards while falling to the ice.

Wall, who was acquired by the Wildcats at the trade deadline, laid on the ice for several minutes before leaving under his own power. He missed Moncton’s game on Monday against his former team, the Montreal Junior, with a reported concussion.

With "The Hammer" on the sidelines, Mike Hoffman will likely wear the captain’s “C” on his sweater for the remainder of the season. Hoffman has worn the letter four times this year when Thomas has been out.

Thomas is a repeat offender as he was suspended for six games earlier this season following a fight against the PEI Rocket.

Most expected that an announcement on the hit would have came yesterday if he was going to be suspended. That didn’t happen, making many to believe that Thomas may have gotten away with one.

In 51 games played this year, the left winger has nine goals and 10 assists and was only three points off of breaking his personal point high in a season set last year. He has 115 penalty minutes and is a +9. His spot in the lineup will likely be filled by 16-year old Saint John native Aiden Kelly.

Also suspended today was former Sea Dog David Stich. The Montreal Juniors defenseman has been suspended for a total of six games (an automatic one-game suspension plus five additional games) for a hit from behind which occurred during last Saturday’s game versus the Lewiston MAINEiacs.

Finally, Rimouski Océanic forward Félix Lefrançois has been suspended two games for kneeing an opponent during last Sunday’s game versus the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

The decisions were rendered after reviewing the videotapes of the incidents, gathering testimonies from the players and the organizations involved, reading the officials’ reports and consulting the independent committee in the matter of disciplinary sanctions.

The Disciplinary Prefect will not be available for further comment.