In the first period of the Toronto Marlies and Belleville Senators game today, Marlies forward Marc Johnstone took a dangerous open ice hit to the head from Senators center Ridly Greig. Former Leaf enforcer Kyle Clifford immediately responded to avenge his teammate, appearing to injure his hand in the process.
The play resulted from a pass up the center of the ice in the neutral zone, a recipe for disaster. Greig looked to have no intentions of playing the puck. After the hit, Clifford instantly chased down Greig, ensuring that the Sens prospect had to answer the bell. A scrum by the Senators bench and Clifford appeared to have gotten a few good punches in before being separated by the referees but was then shortly seen holding and shaking his hand in distress whilst he made his way towards the penalty box.
Despite the vicious hit to Johnstone by Greig, it was Clifford who was awarded five minutes and a game misconduct for being the aggressor, ending his afternoon early. In spite of all this chaos, the Senators walked away with a five-minute power-play with no extra strings attached for the play that started it all, the hit to the head by Greig.
