The 33 year old - who had been one of the club's standout players so far this season - received a match penalty for excessive roughness 54.55 into the game and was ejected having reacted to a hit from Dundee forward Nico Sacchetti - who received a game misconduct for boarding on the hit and was also ejected.
Having both been ejected, Campbell then decided against heading straight to the changing room in order to confront Sacchetti again, this time off-ice close to the Dundee dressing room. An altercation subsequently broke out with the unsavory incident seeing some fans caught up in the middle attempting to break it up.
Campbell was given an automatic one game suspension after receiving the match penalty for excessive roughness as per Elite League rules, ruling him out of the return leg in Dundee on Sunday - which the Stingrays lost 3-2.
However, the Stingrays have today decided to release the player following his actions.
On releasing Campbell - who had recorded four goals and six assists in 12 games this season - Stingrays owner and assistant coach Bobby McEwan said:
"I just felt we had to make the decision, and not let it drag on until the end of the week, so I called Derek and let him know. What he did on the ice in reaction to the challenge is part and parcel of the game, but I can't condone what happened off it, it's a business decision."
McEwan revealed to BBC Radio Humberside Campbell's reaction to the decision to release him:
"He's very disappointed and he understands it was a decision that we just had to make."The EIHL launched reviews of both the on-ice and off-ice incident on Saturday and have subsequently today banned Campbell for a total of 47 games.
The 47 game ban comprises of 15 games for fighting off-ice, 12 games for an attempted eye-gouge, 10 games for a knee to the head and a further 10 games for excessive force to the head resulting in impact to the ice.
Upon announcing the ban, Elite League Head of Discipline Moran Hanson said:
"There are many aspects to this serious incident and that is why I have broken it down into separate sections. I have studied the game tape in great detail and I have spoken with the three officials, who all were able to give me detailed reports. This is a very nasty incident and there is no place for any of these actions in our sport."
It is believed that the Stingrays were unaware of the length of Campbell's ban prior to releasing him today. However, if they had chosen to keep him on the roster, he would return from his ban on Saturday 15th March, ironically, against the Dundee Stars.
The last question remaining from the whole incident is now whether Campbell's ban applies to both he and one of the Stingrays import roster spots he filled or whether the ban remains only with the player should he ever return to the Elite League.
As the Stingrays have chosen to release Campbell from his contract it is thought that they will be able to replace him with a further import forward should they chose to, though this has yet to be confirmed by the club or the league. Sheffield's David Simms has suggested on Twitter that the Stingrays would have to play an import short for the full 47 game term but could appeal to the other nine Elite League clubs if they wished to replace Campbell. They would then have the final say on whether the ban applied to the import slot or not.
As it stands, it seems highly likely the ban may have marked the end of the Canadian's career, if not at least his career in the Elite League - which spanned over eight seasons, five clubs, 346 games, 110 goals, 224 assists, 334 points and, perhaps most memorably for some of the wrong reasons, 1434 penalty minutes.
