Darrell Davis: Save the goalies!

SJHL president Bill Chow sent a strong message to his league’s players:

Goalies are sacred.

A 25-game suspension to the Yorkton Terriers’ Greg Mulhall proves that. Mulhall barged full speed and full impact into Melville Millionaires goalie Berk Berkeliev on Saturday, during the second game of a home-and-home series between the long-time rivals.

The goalie was hospitalized overnight after Mulhall received a match penalty for attempt to injure. The supplemental justice came quickly afterwards. Although some fans believe Chow’s decision is too harsh — it’s almost half of Yorkton’s regular season — players on all 12 teams will now avoid running into goalies.

Goalies used to be considered “fair game” when they wandered from their nets, until hockey people decided it was better to let goalies play the puck without fear of being seriously injured.

If Mulhall had tried to take away the puck, if he tried even slightly to avoid the collision, his suspension certainly would have been shorter. Instead if was a filthy play that deserved a noteworthy punishment.