AHL Defender shockingly takes out goaltender; faces major discipline

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Tom Banks
November 9, 2024 (12:05)

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Being a goaltender in hockey is a hard enough job as it is, but now an AHL defender faces discipline after he directly and intentionally charged an opposing goalie in a scene that shocked everyone in attendance.

Given how tough and violent of a sport hockey is, we've seen most brutal things happen on the ice, but on Friday, we saw something that is rarely ever seen. In a blowout game between the Rochester Americans and the Hartford Wolf Pack, 29-year-old defenseman Ben Harpur was looking to get his revenge, and in a not-so-subtle way, directly charged the goaltender of the opposing team.

This move had the commentators, the fans, and the media all baffled by the move, but then, the context was given in the comments of the original post, and unfortunately for the Rangers depth defenseman, it doesn't make Harpur look any better.

According to that, Felix Sandstrom accidentally tripped Harpur moments earlier as he was lunging to make a save, and despite there being absolutely no intention behind the move, Harpur believed he needed to get revenge for the play.

With that context, things look even worse for the former fourth-round draft pick, who has played 198 games at the top level in his career, but given that experience, it's safe to say that he should have known much, much better.

Unsurprisingly, Harpur was given a five-minute major and a match penalty for his actions, and given how hard the league is on attacks on goaltenders, it's safe to say that one so intentional and unnecessary is going to result in a major suspension. There's truly very little precedent for this type of action on a goaltender, so it's unclear how lengthy of a stint he'll be facing on the sidelines,