Long suspended automatically for leaving the players' bench

Giants forward receives suspension

Following the Jones hit on Foley, an altercation ensues involving multiple players from both teams. With the injured Foley on the ice and the Giants medical staff attempting to attend to him, Ciaran Long escorts medical staff towards the injured player from the team bench.

The rules on this play are clearly defined in the IIHF Rulebook and EIHL Casebook as follows:

• IIHF Rulebook (Rule 70): A Player who was the first or second Player to leave the Players’ Bench (or Penalty Box) during an altercation or for the purpose of starting an altercation, from either or both Teams, shall be assessed a Game Misconduct Penalty.
• Casebook (Rule 46: Fighting; Fines & Suspensions) A Player who leaves the players’ bench or penalty bench to join an altercation will receive either a 20 (Game Misconduct) penalty or 2 + 20 (Game Misconduct) penalty and shall be automatically suspended for a minimum of three (3) games, pending a review of the incident.

As the video shows, when Long gets close to the ensuing altercation instead of continuing with the medical staff towards Foley, he instead peels off and heads towards the altercation and initially starts a verbal confrontation with opposition players. 

Long has plenty of opportunities to leave the ice alongside his teammate and medical staff, but instead skates towards the scrum of players for a second time and starts both gesturing and verbally confronting Steelers Brandon McNally who engages and causes the scrum to continue. Long is then removed from this scrum by an opposition player.

As McNally is being escorted from the ice, Long chooses to further engage in a verbal confrontation with McNally before eventually leaving the area and ice surface as instructed by the officials. 

Upon automatic review of the Minor and Game Misconduct penalty assessed to Long, it was determined that while Long initially did not leave the players’ bench with the intention of starting or joining an altercation, whilst on the ice, instead of helping his teammate alongside medical staff, he chose to get involved in an ongoing altercation which is never acceptable considering that he left the bench and was not part of the original play.

Players are not excused from league rules due to the actions of their opponent. For the safety of officials and players alike, the rules and instructions by officials especially in situations like these are to be respected and followed at all times by all players without exception.

Effective immediately, Belfast Giants’ Ciaran Long is fined and automatically suspended for the minimum three games. This incident will remain on the player’s record for the remainder of the 2022/23 season.