Portland, ME – The American Hockey League announced today that they’ve suspended defenseman Joe DiPenta for one game as a result of his actions in the Pirates’ season opener in Springfield Mass. on Saturday night.

DiPenta, 30, was hit by Falcons’ enforcer Kip Brennan late in the third period and took exception to it. He skated toward Brennan, taking a two-handed baseball like swing toward Brennan.

You can see the hit here.

As a result, he was suspended for under the provisions of AHL Rule 29.1 (supplementary discipline).

During the game, he received no other penalty other than a two-minute minor for slashing on the incident, while Brennan was called for charging and a subsequent fighting penalty for his tilt with Jeff Cowan.

DiPenta will miss the Pirates next game which is on Friday when they travel to Albany, NY to take on the River Rats. With DiPenta out of the lineup look for TJ Brennan to get his first start of the season after being a healthy scratch back on Oct. 3.

NOTES: Maxime Legault has been added to the Pirates roster after having a solid camp with the Pirates. Legault was in a rather odd position of being able to play in Portland or be sent back to his junior team in Shawinigan. The Sabres wanted to keep him in Portland as did Pirates’ head coach Kevin Dineen and it was a matter of getting a contract done.