Ohio State’s Josh Healey Suspended Two Games

As we wrote on Sunday, Ohio State senior defenseman Josh Healey was facing a possible suspension for a game misconduct penalty for contact-to-the-head given in the semifinal of the Big Ten conference tournament last Friday.

Today, the Big Ten announced their ruling. Healey received an automatic one-game suspension for receiving his third game misconduct of the season, and the Big Ten added an additional game to his suspension.

That means Healey will be ineligible for both of Ohio State’s games next weekend, should they advance past Minnesota Duluth in the first round and play in the regional final, but would be eligible to return for the Frozen Four should Ohio State win twice next weekend.

Healey was suspended for a hit to the head of Wisconsin’s Luke Kunin late in the third period, shortly after committing a similar infraction that also could have earned an suspension(via CJ Fogler, @cjzero):

If anything, Healey is lucky that only one game was added onto his automatic suspension, given that this is now the fifth time since November of 2015 that Healey has received supplemental discipline from the Big Ten, all for contact-to-the-head penalties.

Healey is a major loss as he is the Buckeyes leading scorer among defensemen with 25 points in 35 games.