AHLer Suspended 10 Games For Abuse Of Official After Sending Referee Into Orbit

It's been a rough week to be an on-ice official.

Earlier this week, we checked in on ex-NHLer Brendan Lemieux, who accidentally hit a linesman in the jaw during some rough play in front of the net. 

That earned him a four-game suspension, but it's nothing compared to what Bridgeport Islanders winger Adam Beckman did to earn himself a hefty 10-game suspension.

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As you may have guessed, the Islanders (they'll always be the Sound Tigers to me) are the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders. On April 5, they were taking on the Charlotte Checkers, the top minor league affiliate of the Florida Panthers.

At the halfway mark of the third period, with the Islanders trailing 4-,1 Beckman hustled toward the corner in the Checkers' zone, but before he got there he crashed directly into referee Mike Dietrich.

The collision sent the official careening hard into the boards, and he stayed down, needing help from the Bridgeport training staff to get back to his feet.

It's tough to tell if there was an intent behind that because it all happened so quickly, and Beckman was clearly apologetic as soon as it happened and stayed with Dietrich while he was helped off the ice.

On Wednesday, the AHL Player Safety Committee announced that Beckman has been suspended for 10 games, under Rule 40.3 for physical abuse of an official (Category II).

This rule states that "Any player who deliberately applies physical force to an official in any manner (excluding actions as set out in Category I), which physical force is applied without intent to injure, or who spits on an official, shall be automatically suspended for not less than ten (10) games."

Beckman is done for the season, with only five games remaining on the Islanders' schedule, and the team is sitting in last place in their division.

He is set to be a free agent this summer, per The New York Post, and will serve the rest of the suspension wherever he signs.

Beckman was a 2019 third-round pick of the Minnesota Wild and arrived in Bridgeport via a trade after starting his season with the Utica Comets, the top affiliate of the New Jersey Devils.