Courtesy Winnipeg Sun:

The CFL handed B.C. Lions offensive right tackle Jason Jimenez a one-game suspension yesterday for his hit on Calgary Stampeders defensive lineman Anthony Gargiulo in the final game of the regular season.

Now Jimenez must decide if he wants to appeal the suspension, which would likely allow him to play in Sunday’s CFL West Final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“I have talked to Jason,” Wally Buono, the Lions coach and general manager, said at the team’s practice facility. “He’s going to get together with his legal counsel. They are going to make a decision on the next step.”

Deciding to appeal the penalty would be a gamble for Jimenez, a six-foot-seven, 319-pound native of Queens, N.Y.

If Jimenez takes the matter to an arbitration hearing it’s likely he would play Sunday. But if the hearing rules against him, he could miss playing in the Nov. 25 Grey Cup game, if the Lions beat the Riders.

On the other hand, Jimenez could sit out Sunday’s game and the defending Grey Cup champions could lose to Saskatchewan.

Yesterday’s announcement followed a video conference review hearing Friday. The CFL said Jimenez was being suspended for “rough play.”

Gargiulo suffered a broken leg plus torn ligaments and tendons when Jimenez blocked him on the last play of the first half in B.C.’s 25-24 win over Calgary Nov. 3. He needed surgery to implant a plate in his leg.

Jimenez was ejected from the game and the Lions were given a 25-yard penalty on the play.

Stampeders head coach Tom Higgins, speaking in Calgary before the decision was announced, said he was hoping the league would throw the book at Jimenez.

“I think they’re wanting to do the right thing, but the right thing might be difficult to do,” said Higgins. “In the players’ association collective bargaining agreement, the only thing you can do is suspend for one game and I hope that would be the case.

“I’d like the suspension to be as long as the player’s out.”

Jimenez was scheduled to meet the media yesterday. When the suspension was announced the Lions sent a news release saying he wouldn’t be available “on advice of counsel.”