Goon Update

I don't know if this helps or hurts Clarkson fans in the wake of their overtime loss today to Massachusetts.

Anybody remember Matt Nickerson? He was a big defenseman that was a third round draft of the Dallas Stars. He originally committed to play for Michigan, but that fell threw, and he ended up going to Clarkson. He played one season with the Golden Knights, racking up an impressive 179 PIMs. Yes, that's 4.7 penalty minutes per game. In a league where you can't fight. After that one season, Nickerson had worn out his welcome in the ECAC and decided to go pro.

How is his pro career going? Well, he is currently with the ECHL's Idaho Steelheads, though he won't be playing for them for a while. Nickerson was recently suspended for 16 games. Why? Well, according to the ECHL:

“During a third-period melee, Mr. Nickerson engaged multiple opponents who clearly did not wish to participate in an altercation,” said ECHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Rod Pasma. “At the conclusion of this incident, Mr. Nickerson delivered two blind-sided sucker punches to an unsuspecting opponent. The ECHL will not tolerate such inappropriate behavior from our players.”

I haven't seen any footage, but I'm guessing Nickerson earned his suspension. Especially since a teammate got 7 games. So Nickerson's actions were presumably more than twice as bad as whatever his teammate did. Thank goodness this idiot didn't stay in college hockey longer.