page_title: Matt Cooke
section_title: Suspensions
hierarchical_section_title: Matt Cooke / Suspensions
caption_attribution_description: English: New York Rangers defenseman is slow to get up following an elbow to the head delivered by Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke during a March 20, 2011 game. Cooke received a 17-game suspension for the hit, including the entire first round of Pittsburgh's 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which the Penguins lost in 7 games.
context_page_description: Matthew David Cooke is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played sixteen seasons and 1046 games in the National Hockey League. Cooke won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2008–09 NHL season and was a member of the Team Canada team that won the gold medal at the 2004 World Championships. In addition to having previously played for the Penguins, he has also played in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild. Cooke was born in Belleville, Ontario, but grew up in Stirling, Ontario.
  Cooke's playing style has earned him the reputation as one of the NHL's "pests". During his NHL career, Cooke has been criticized and often suspended for hits, some involving head-shots, or knee-on-knee collisions that have injured opposing players. Most notable was a hit to the head of Marc Savard, which was an important factor influencing NHL rule changes intended to deter such conduct. Years later, during a lawsuit against the league, an email produced during the litigation from the then disciplinarian Colin Campbell revealed that he—an NHL executive—blamed Savard for keeping his head down.
context_section_description: During his career, Cooke has been criticized by the media, league, fans, and team executives, and other players for his hitting in ways more likely to cause injury such as hits to the head. In the 2008–09 season, with the Penguins, Cooke was suspended on two different occasions. In November, he received a two-game suspension for a check to the head of the New York Rangers' Artem Anisimov. In January 2009, he received another two-game suspension for a hit to the head of Scott Walker of the Carolina Hurricanes.
  On March 7, 2010, in a game against the Boston Bruins, Cooke delivered a blow to the head of Boston's Marc Savard, concussing Savard and forcing him to miss almost two months. Cooke said he was not intending to hurt Savard; Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli, however, characterized the hit as "a very surgical hit to the head." 
  Fellow Penguin teammate Bill Guerin also analyzed Cooke's hit on Savard to Pittsburgh reporters. "If a guy gets hurt like that with a shot to the head, there's got to be something," said Guerin, adding that he expected Cooke to be suspended. "I understand he (Cooke) is on my team but, hey, he's in a tough spot." In a ruling, which has received wide criticism, Cooke was not given a suspension for the hit on Savard. On March 24, in response to the outcry over Cooke not being suspended, the league implemented a new rule aimed at prohibiting blindside hits to the head like the one Cooke delivered to Savard. In announcing the rule, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, "The elimination of these types of hits should significantly reduce the number of injuries, including concussions, without adversely affecting the level of physicality in the game." Earlier, Bettman appeared on Leafs Lunch on Mojo 640 in Toronto to discuss the Cooke hit on Savard. "I was very unhappy and upset with that hit," said Bettman. "I was more upset there was nothing (in the League rules) to do to punish it." 
  On February 9, 2011, Cooke was given a four-game suspension for a hit from behind on Columbus Blue Jackets' defenceman Fedor Tyutin. On March 21, Cooke was suspended for the final ten games of the Penguins' regular season schedule, as well as the first round of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, stemming from an elbow to the head of New York Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonagh. The suspension was the longest of Cooke's career and was supported by the Penguins. Penguins General Manager Ray Shero said in a statement that the hit was "exactly the kind of hit we're trying to get out of the game," and that Penguins officials had told Cooke "in no uncertain terms" that such play was "unacceptable." Speaking to two Pittsburgh newspapers the day after the incident, Cooke apologized for the hit. "I realize and understand, more so now than ever, that I need to change," Cooke said.
caption: Rangers Ryan McDonagh is slow to get up after the elbow delivered by Cooke.
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