Wideman Takes Out Referee

The Calgary Flames 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators was overshadowed by an ugly incident involving Flames defensemen Dennis Wideman.

Midway through the second period, Wideman took a hit from Predators winger Miikka Salomaki. Appearing unstable after the hit, Wideman skated to the bench where linesman Don Henderson was following the play on the ice. Without any awareness that Wideman was behind him, the defensemen checked the referee, sending him to the ice.

Play was halted for a moment as Henderson picked himself up off the ice, yet Wideman acted as though nothing had happened and took his seat among his teammates on the Calgary bench.

The hit was deliberate as deliberate can be:

The minimum amount of games a player can be suspended for a hit on a referee in the NHL is 20 games if it is deemed that the players actions were intentional.

Wideman apologized to Henderson after the game and explained that the incident was caused by the hard hit he took.

"I took a pretty good hit down in the corner and had some pretty good pain in my shoulder and neck," Wideman said. "I was just trying to get off the ice and kind of keeled over. At the last second, I looked up and saw [Henderson] and couldn't avoid it. I went up to Donnie and apologized to him on the ice."

Do you think Wideman's hit was intentional? If so, how many games should he be suspended for?