Former 1st rounder Nick Richie ejected for on-ice attack on defenseless opponent!

Former NHLer Nick Ritchie is in hot water in the Finnish Liiga. A video of the forward has been trending on social media after it was reported that Ritchie was ejected from Thursday night game between TPS Turku and Oulun Kärpät when he ruthlessly attacked Ottawa Senators 2016 sixth-round pick Marcus Nurmi.

Sure, it’s been said that Nurmi has a special talent for getting under the skin of the opposition, but he did not deserve to be attacked this way. Ritchie didn’t want to put up with being pestered, but this was uncalled for.

The incident occured minutes after Nurmi scored the goal early in the second period. Ritchie got himself engaged in an altercation with Nurmi near the corner and grabbed his neck. He then dragged him down to the ice, and delivered a barrage of blows to the back of his head. Nurmi, who did not engage, was down on the ice and defenseless. It’s all here:

No teammate rushed to the defense of Nurmi as it was the officials who got there first and put an end to the one-sided scrap. They issued Ritchie a major penalty along with the game misconduct, and it is expected that the former NHLers will get his hearing with Liiga’s disciplinary committee.

The game ended with the TPS Turku losing to the Oulun Karpat 5-3 as Ritchie clocked 8:54 minutes of ice time and recorded 29 penalty minutes in the matchup. He is now on pace for 252 penalty minutes in 36 Liiga games…
Before heading overseas, he recorded 26 career fights in the NHL. The eight-season NHL veteran, who was selected 10th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in 2014, also played for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes and Calgary Flames.

He was acquired as a last-minute deadline acquisition in the first brother-for-brother trade in NHL history when he and Troy Stetcher headed to Calgary in exchange for Brett Ritchie and defenceman Connor Mackey on Mar. 3, 2023.

He was without a contract heading into the 2023-2024 season and finally signed a professional tryout agreement with the St. Louis Blues. He was however released from his tryout and signing a one-year with Kärpät.

So far this season in the Finnish Liiga, Ritchie has tallied a goal and four assists - and I bet we don’t know to repeat how much time he’s spent in the penalty box!

Recommended articles:

• Ex-Maple Leaf Nick Ritchie gets bad news
• Former Leafs and Bruins forward signs with Blues
• Nick Ritchie signs new deal
• Nick Ritchie signs PTO deal with new team
• Nick Ritchie has been suspended.