Kings suspend rookie defenseman for three games

Updated: November 3, 2003, 12:56 PM ET
ESPN

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings suspended rookie defenseman Joe Corvo for three games after he pleaded guilty to assault and battery charges earlier this week.

"We felt this was the appropriate course of action," general manager Dave Taylor said Thursday in a statement.

Corvo, 26, received a three-year suspended sentence Monday after pleading guilty in Boston to assaulting a woman in a restaurant last year when he was with the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL. He also was ordered to complete counseling and perform community service.

Prosecutors said Corvo grabbed a 34-year-old woman's buttocks last November. Restaurant staff told him to leave, but Corvo returned, punched the woman and then kicked her when she fell to the ground, prosecutors said.

The woman was treated for bruises and swelling on her face.

"I certainly regret my behavior and any embarrassment it may have caused my family, the Kings' and Monarchs' organizations, or the fans," Corvo said Thursday in a statement.

Corvo has three assists in eight games this season.

Another Kings' player, forward Ziggy Palffy, was arrested last weekend for investigation of domestic battery after a confrontation with his girlfriend in Manhattan Beach, police said. Palffy was arrested Sunday and released a short time later on his own recognizance, police Sgt. Steve Tobias said.

Palffy's lawyer declined comment. Kings spokesman Mike Altieri said the team would have no comment because it is a legal matter.

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

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