In the final game before Christmas, the officials working Tuesday’s game between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers decided that MacKenzie Weegar belonged on the naughty list.

5:48 into the second period, Weegar was chucked from this season’s second instalment of the Battle of Alberta for protesting the officials’ initial call of an unsportsmanlike conduct minor.

The initial call came as a result of rising tensions in the game between the two clubs. After Oilers netminder Connor Ingram froze the puck following a shot on net by Flames forward Morgan Frost, Weegar did a fly-by skate past Oilers defender Darnell Nurse and whacked the stick out of Nurse’s hands, sending it flying into the air.

It was, well, not a very smart hockey play and referee Cody Beach, located in the corner of the Oilers’ zone, immediately called an unsportsmanlike conduct minor to Weegar.

Weegar skated after Beach and verbally protested the call as he was escorted to the penalty box by linesman Travis Toomey. (It’s worth noting that Weegar was not serving as an alternate captain for this game, so his ability to argue about rule interpretations under letter of the law was fairly minimal.)

Weegar sat down in the penalty box and whacked his stick against the glass a handful of times. On the broadcast, commentator Jack Michaels noted “he just got to 10,” indicating that Weegar was going to be levied a 10-minute misconduct penalty for continuing to protest the call – as officials are allowed to hand out under Rule 75.4.

Weegar whacked on the glass several times again, which led to Beach whistling and declaring “Get out of here” and sending Weegar to the locker room area. The penalties were announced by Beach as “two minutes for unsportsmanlike, and now a game misconduct.” Officials are allowed to toss players from the game for continuing to protest under Rule 75.5.

(We don’t have the broadcast feed in the Rogers Place press box, so there was some initial confusion as to whether Weegar received a misconduct or a game misconduct, with the confusion being allayed when the game sheet – eventually – revealed that he had been given both.)

Yes, Weegar officially received 22 minutes in penalties for whacking Nurse’s stick away and then tapping the penalty box glass with his stick repeatedly in protest of the call.

As of this writing, the Flames trail the Oilers by a 4-1 score.

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