Former Devils prospect loses appeal of suspension

BY foxsports • February 19, 2010

Former New Jersey Devils prospect Patrice Cormier has lost his appeal of a suspension for the remainder of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season and playoffs for a violent hit on an opposing player.

Cormier, a 19-year-old forward selected in the second round of the 2008 draft by New Jersey and traded to the Atlanta Thrashers in the Ilya Kovalchuk deal earlier this month, was disciplined by the QMJHL on Jan. 25 for elbowing Mikael Tam of the Quebec Remparts.

The blow to the head sent Tam into convulsions on the ice and the 18-year-old spent two days in the hospital because of brain trauma.

Cormier appealed the penalty in a hearing before QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau on Feb. 11. Courteau announced his decision Friday.

Cormier's team, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, can still appeal Courteau's ruling to an independent arbitrator.

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