AHL upholds 20-game suspension for Admirals' Downie

The American Hockey League upheld its 20-game suspension of Norfolk Admirals forward Steve Downie on Tuesday in a unanimous vote of its board of governors.

Downie, who has already missed seven games, will not be eligible to return to action until the Admirals' regular-season finale April 11 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

On Thursday, the AHL banned Downie for deliberately striking an official with his stick with 12 seconds left in Norfolk's 6-4 loss at Hershey on Feb. 28.

Norfolk immediately appealed, arguing that Downie's stick struck lineman Mike Hamilton accidentally while following through after winning a faceoff. But the AHL board interpreted the force with which Downie attacked the faceoff as an "intent to injure." The AHL defines intent to injure as "any physical force which a player or goalkeeper knew or should have known could reasonably be expected to cause injury."

The Tampa Bay Lightning, Norfolk's NHL parent club, said in a statement that while it disagrees with the findings, the organization will respect the decision. And while this is Downie's second 20-game suspension in the past two seasons, Tampa Bay remains bullish on the 21-year-old.

"We think he is a player with a bright future and a quality person," Lightning general manager Brian Lawton said. "We look forward to his remaining a part of the Lightning organization and developing into a consistent NHL player."

Also on Tuesday, Norfolk traded popular enforcer Jay Rosehill to Toronto for future considerations. Rosehill led the Admirals in penalty minutes in each of the past two seasons.

Admirals general manager Mike Butters said Rosehill, in search of more ice time, requested a deal two weeks ago.