Campbell ban leaves Hull short on bodies

The East Yorkshire club had no option but to jettison the Canadian forward following an off-ice incident during the 2-1 home defeat to Gardiner Conference rivals Dundee Stars on Saturday night. It came after he had been ejected from the game deep into the third period for ‘excessive roughness’.

Hours after Hull revealed the 33-year-old was to be released with immediate effect, the Elite League’s head of discipline Moray Hanson announced that Campbell would face a 47-game ban for his actions at the Hull Arena.

The lengthy ban was made up of various offences by Campbell – 15 matches for fighting off the ice, 12 matches for an attempted eye gouge, 10 matches for a knee to the head and a further 10 matches for excessive force to the head resulting in an impact to the ice.

“I have studied the game tape in great detail and I have spoken with the three officials,” said Hanson.

“This is a very nasty incident and there is no place for any of these actions in our sport.”

Hull are expected to seek talks with league officials to see whether they will be able to bring in a replacement for Campbell at some point in the future.

Rules currently state that is not allowed, meaning Hull – currently seven games without a win – would be forced to play an import down until just before the end of the regular season.

Hull player-coach, Sylvain Cloutier, said: “We don’t condone what happened off the ice at all.

“If we’re not allowed to bring in a replacement it’s going to leave us short for the rest of the season – but that wouldn’t be anything new for this club. We will have to fight through this adversity.”