Ontario Hockey League commissioner David Branch brought the hammer down on Windsor Spitfires’ Zach Kassian late Thursday afternoon.

He hit the forward with a 20-game suspension for his check on Barrie Colts’ Matt Kennedy.

While the penalty is substantial, Kassian is fortunate he was merely hit with a hammer, rather than a sledgehammer.

With headshots and cheapshots front and centre in hockey, the OHL finally ruled on the Jan. 14 incident.

Kassian, who had just been picked up in a trade by the Spitfires, was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for his hit on Kennedy.

Kennedy suffered a concussion, had a three-stitch cut and needed three staples in the back of his head which slammed on the ice.

Kennedy was skating through centre ice, looking to collect a pass from a teammate. The puck never reached him. It bounced off a stick high into the air. Kennedy was looking up for the puck when Kassian came from across the ice and hit Kennedy with the player in a vulnerable position.

Branch has become the poster boy among hockey executives for his tough stance on this type of play.

Earlier this year, he suspended Erie Otters’ forward Michael Liambas for the remainder of the season and playoffs when Liambas nailed Kitchener Rangers defenceman Ben Fanelli against the boards, leaving the 16-year-old with a fractured skull and orbital bone and in critical condition in hospital.

In announcing the suspension Thursday, Branch said the league believed that Kassian did not leave his feet before hitting Kennedy.

“(But) it is the position of the league that player Zack Kassian checked the unsuspecting Barrie player while such player was in a vulnerable position without having been in the possession of the puck,” the statement said. “Players must understand that they shall be held accountable for their actions and we must continue to work to improve the level of respect players have towards opposing players”.

Kassian has missed three games waiting for the decision. He will be eligible to return to the Spitfire lineup just before the end of the regular season.

Kassian is a first-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres and is known for playing the game with a real edge.

“We are obviously disappointed with the length of the penalty. We have seen worse incidents receive half the number of games. We felt the hearing went well when we pleaded our case. The Windsor Spitfires will respect the decision of the league,” Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel said in an interview.

Kassian is fortunate Kennedy wasn’t more seriously hurt or he could have suffered the same fate as Liambas.

In many ways, that’s the problem with the penalty.

While 20 games is a substantial penalty, what Kassian attempted to do was no better than Liambas’s attack on Fanelli or Patrice Cormier’s assault of Mikael Tam.

When Kassian went after Kennedy, there was no intention of separating him from the puck, considering Kennedy never touched the puck. He had no intention of merely breaking up the play, no intention of coming up with the puck and going the other way with it.

His intention was clear. Kassian was focused on Kennedy. His intention was to hit Kennedy as hard as he could and punish him.

There was no doubt Kassian knew what he’d done was wrong because in a blink of an eye, Kassian had his gloves off ready to defend himself.

If Kennedy had suffered the same injuries as Fanelli, there’s no doubt Kassian would be gone for the year and the playoffs.

The suspension should never be measured by how badly a player is injured. It should be about the action itself.