Flyers' Richards not suspended for hit on Florida's Booth

It happened in a split second on Saturday night, but the reverberations were felt in the far corners of the hockey world.

David Booth's head is probably still feeling them.

That's what happens when a questionable hit is made in a physical game with 200-pound players hurling themselves at each other at speeds the same as cars driving on local roads.

The blogosphere and Twitter lit up just minutes after Flyers captain Mike Richards blindsided Florida's Booth with 2:55 remaining in the second period of what would become a 5-1 win for the Flyers.

Richards skated across the Flyers' zone and leveled Booth after he dished the puck to a teammate. Booth was sent flying in another direction, his face scraping the ice on the way down.

Booth laid motionless on the ice before he was carted off on a stretcher. A pool of Booth's blood was left on the ice. He was taken to Pennsylvania Hospital, where he was kept overnight; he was released yesterday. He suffered a concussion but no other serious injuries.

Many fans, just hours after hearing that Carolina's Tuomo Ruutu was suspended three games for a check to the head of Colorado's Darcy Tucker, were calling for the same verdict for Richards.

Others, saying Richards never left his feet and kept his arms down, barked that Richards shouldn't receive any supplementary discipline by the NHL.

As first reported by the Daily News, the league's hockey operations department reviewed the hit - which resulted in a 5-minute major and game misconduct - and decided not to suspend or fine Richards.

The hit was examined by Mike Murphy, the NHL's hockey operations director, instead of Colin Campbell, the league's usual dean of discipline. Campbell wanted to avoid any perceived bias because his son, Gregory, plays for the Panthers.

For the Flyers captain, no news yesterday was good news. He played last night against San Jose.

"I was preparing for a hockey game since [Saturday] night,'' Richards said. "I didn't hear anything and I just continued to prepare.

"The league ruled it was a clean hit. I thought it was a clean hit. The end result was something that you don't hope for, but nothing came of it, it was a clean hit."

Richards played his junior hockey under Florida's coach, Pete DeBoer, in Kitchener, of the Ontario Hockey League. He called DeBoer yesterday to send his regards to Booth and wish him a speedy recovery.