IIHF slaps Canada's Joe Veleno with a massive suspension.

The International Ice Hockey Federation has come down hard on Canadian forward Joe Veleno, and given the severity of what transpired over the weekend you can hardly blame them for doing so.

On Sunday, the IIHF issued a 5 game ban to Veleno after he stomped on the leg of Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter with the blade of his skate. The international governing body has suspended Veleno under their "kicking" rule and quite frankly Veleno is lucky he did not receive an even more severe punishment.

A 5 game suspension is a large one at the international level and unfortunately it will cost his team dearly at this tournament with several games left on the schedule. This also effectively knocks Veleno himself out of the tournament, something that was no doubt the intent of this suspension, and you have to wonder how this could impact any future opportunities he might have received to represent his country in the future.