Penguins Orpik leaves hospital, travels back to Pittsburgh with team

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, the victim of a brutal assault on the part of Boston Bruins' Shawn Thornton that left him unconscious on the ice, has been released from Mass General Hospital and was able to travel back to Pittsburgh with his teammates.

Thornton was issued a match penalty and will be meeting with league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.  The match penalty carries an automatic one game suspension, so Thornton will not be traveling to Toronto tonight with the rest of the team.

Obviously, I made a mistake, I'm aware of it. I've been told they're having a hearing and it's hard for me to say much more than that. It was not my intention. I feel awful. I felt sick all game. - Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton

Orpik was targeted by Thornton in retaliation for Orpik's blindside floor check on Bruins' forward Loui Eriksson, knocking Eriksson from the game with a concussion.

During a stoppage in play, Orpik and Penguins defenseman Chris Letang were engaged in a scrum with Bruins' center Gregory Campbell when Thronton skated up from behind, threw Orpik to the ice and pummeled him twice with his fist, knocking him unconscious.

As the referees worked to separate the two skaters and to keep other scrums from developing, Letang and Left wing Jussi Jokinen motioned fervently at the bench for the trainers to come out an attend to Orpik, who was eventually taken from the ice on a stretcher.

The Penguins lost the game as well, giving up two goals to the Bruins in the final 1:31 for a 3-2 final score.

http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2013/12/penguins-orpik-leaves-hospital-travels.html