Darcy Horichuk fights Todd Fedoruk. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan

Shelley and Letourneau-Leblond Suspended

Jody Shelley and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond were both suspended by the NHL yesterday.

The Flames Letourneau-Leblond was handed a suspension for the remainder of the preseason, as well as one regular season game.

Letourneau-Leblond drew the ire of disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan with a boarding minor on the Vancouver Canucks' Matt Clackson. The Flames forward doesn't have a past record of these kinds of hits nor was Clackson injured on the boarding infraction.

Longstanding heavyweight Jody Shelley of the Philadelphia Flyers was given a suspension for his boarding major on the Toronto Maple Leafs' Darryl Boyce. Shelley was suspended the remainder of the preseason with the addition of five regular season games.

Shanahan explained the rationale for a lengthier suspension was that Shelley was suspended twice last year for checks from behind and that Boyce suffered a broken nose as a result of the hit.

Here is Shanahan's explanation of Letourneau-Leblond's suspension:

Oilers & Canucks renew rivalry

It's still preseason, but that didn't matter to the Vancouver Canucks or Edmonton Oilers last night when the bitter Northwest division rivals stopped the game four times to punch each other in the face. Leading the charges for their respective clubs was Darcy Hordichuk of the Oilers and Todd Fedoruk of the Canucks, fighting each other twice.

Hordi and Fedoruk's first fight wasn't anything to write home about, or in Fedoruk's case, anything to try and impress management with, so a second fight was conjured up late in the third. The action was fast and furious as each combatant's gear ripped apart and ended with some wild haymakers that missed and took both to the ice.

Steve Pinizzotto of the Canucks fighting Alex Plante of the Oiler; and feisty middleweights Aaron Volpatti from Vancouver dropped the gloves with Edmonton's Theo Peckham, rounding out the series of fights.

No need for racial taunts

There was a ugly episode in London last night when a banana peel was thrown onto the ice as Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds was taking a penalty shot.

Simmonds, who is of African-Canadian descent, was unfazed by the incident and scored on the shot in the Flyers' 4-3 defeat to the Detroit Red Wings.

There is no place in sports - or society - for acts like this. Simmonds kept professional and all have supported him and his reaction to this. If there's a silver-lining, it's the outrage over what happened.

Videos added

Ryan Hollweg vs Kyle Clifford Sep 21, 2011
Todd Fedoruk vs Darcy Hordichuk Sep 22, 2011
Steve Pinizzotto vs Alex Plante Sep 22, 2011
Todd Fedoruk vs Darcy Hordichuk Sep 22, 2011
Aaron Volpatti vs Theo Peckham Sep 22, 2011