''He went way beyond the limits. That wasn't a punch. He was trying to grab the player's eye with his thumb!"
Colin Campbell, then the NHL's head of discipline, uttered those words during an interview with the Canadian Press back in 2005. The incident he was referring to was a preseason fight between rugged New York Rangers blueliner Dale Purinton and Colton Orr of the Boston Bruins. During the fight, Purinton dug his left thumb into Orr's right eye. Days later, Purinton was suspended 10 games for eye gouging and was subsequently sent down to the minors.