Arizona State hockey suspends player

Arizona State hockey head coach Greg Powers has suspended sophomore defenseman Tucker Ness for a fight that occurred in the Sun Devils’ loss to Alaska Fairbanks last Friday. The game was cut 11 seconds short due to fighting and a grand total of 247 penalty minutes were passed out. ASU fell 3-1 before bouncing back and beating Fairbanks the next day 4-3 in OT.

Arizona State hockey suspends player for fighting

Ness was involved in a brawl late in the game in which he and an opposing Fairbanks player exited the penalty box and met each other on the ice. Ness and Fairbanks’ Dawson Bruneski began fighting before it eventually was broken up by the referees. Here is a video.

🚨COLLEGE HOCKEY FIGHT 🚨

ASU’s Tucker Ness and Alaska’s Dawson Bruneski JUMP OUT OF THE PENALTY BOX for this scrap.

Suspensions surely incoming for both players and the refs should be ashamed for letting the game get away like this. @Buccigross @chnews #cawlidgehockey pic.twitter.com/WtdjndMWeu

— Brevin Monroe (@BrevinMonroe) February 24, 2024

Both players were given two-game disqualifications, which automatically carries a three-game suspension. ASU has four games remaining in their 2023-2024 season but Powers announced that Ness would be suspended for the rest of the season.

“There is no place in college hockey for what happened,” Powers said. “The ASU player who left the box was suspended indefinitely from all team activities immediately after the game. There is a difference between something that may happen in the heat of the moment and what did happen, and we are taking our player’s decision to leave the penalty box very seriously.”

Ness, a defenseman from Minnesota, has two points on the season, both being assists. His first points of his ASU hockey career came against Stonehill on Nov. 3.

Against Fairbanks, he tallied six penalties for 42 minutes. Arizona State hockey will have to finish their season without one of their defensemen.

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