The instigator rule has cost the Keyano Huskies dearly recently, and a multiple game suspension was given to both Sam Rockwell and the team’s head coach Nate Bedford for violating this rule. Bedford has let his displeasure over this turn of events show, and he has been vocal about his plans to appeal the suspension. The Keyano Huskies lost the game to the Portage Voyagers, and they received the 3 game suspension because the team has received 3 instigator penalties. Coach Bedford does not have a problem with the instigator rule, but he does take issue with the fact that this rule is not consistently called. The third instigator penalty for the team was given to Sam Rockwell, and he was given a 5 minute major and an instigator penalty, along with a two game suspension.
Because Bedford is the head coach of the Keyano Huskies and his team received 3 instigator penalties he also received a 3 game suspension. Bedford said “I think the intention is right, If you want to try to limit how much fighting in hockey I think it’s a good rule that way. The problem is, it’s so inconsistently called. Out of the three instigators that we have right now, one of them was a fight and the other two weren’t fights. I had a pretty good idea on Sunday when I started looking back at some of our games It’s hard to be an instigator if you don’t throw the first punch.” Coach Bedford also took issue with 2 of the 3 instigator penalties, saying that Rockwell deserved one of the penalties but that two of them were not the right call.