NHL Hockey thread

[Barrister]

Wtf does is matter where Chara's arm is anyways?

You tell us - you're the one who posted the pic, apparently saying it showed something.

[crazy canuck]

That this play can be consider "ok" is yet more evidence hockey just needs to die and let more civilized sport take its place.  For example the speed, grace and athletic excellence that is the NCAA basketball tournament.

[jimmy olsen]

If the police don't scare the NHL, losing sponsers will

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/42014399/ns/sports-nhl/

grows over escalating NHL violence
Politicians, fans, sponsors speak out following string of scary hits to head

By Steve Keating
updated 4:04 p.m. ET March 10, 2011

TORONTO - The National Hockey League was under attack from all sides on Thursday as fans, sponsors and politicians expressed outrage at the rising levels of violence in the sport, following a devastating hit on Montreal Canadiens' forward Max Pacioretty.

The romantic image of children playing hockey on a pond that appears on Canada's five-dollar bill was replaced by disturbing pictures of Pacioretty lying unconscious on the ice on Tuesday after having his head violently slammed into partition at the end of the players' bench by the Boston Bruins' hulking 6-foot, 9-inch, 260-pound defenseman Zdeno Chara.

As a sellout crowd at Montreal's Bell Center watched in stunned silence, Pacioretty was carefully loaded onto a stretcher and rushed to a Montreal hospital where he remains with a fractured vertebrae and severe concussion.

Despite being assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct, Chara escaped further punishment for his role in the gruesome collision, sparking a firestorm of anger that has been building for months following a string of on ice fights, and ugly hits that have sidelined some of the NHL's biggest names, including Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby.

That outrage could even be heard in Canada's House of Commons on Wednesday, as politicians from all parties voiced concerns about the escalating violence.

The Conservative government stopped short of saying it would intervene if the NHL did not clean up its act but Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn called the hit "unacceptable" adding: "We would do everything to ensure that NHL does not allow this kind of action to continue."

Unless the NHL acts quickly, it could also find the league's finances taking a hit. Air Canada, one of the NHL's major backers, has threatened to withdraw its sponsorship if the league does not take serious action on hits to the head.

Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick confirmed to Reuters that director of marketing and communications, Denis Vandal, had sent a letter to all six of Canada's NHL clubs making it clear the airline expects the league to take action or risk losing it as a financial partner.

"We are contacting you (Wednesday) to voice our concern over (Tuesday night's) incident involving Max Pacioretty and Zdeno Chara at the Bell Center in Montreal," wrote Vandal, in a letter printed in the Ottawa Sun. "This is following several other incidents involving career-threatening and life-threatening headshots in the NHL recently."

He continued: "From a corporate social responsibility standpoint, it is becoming increasingly difficult to associate our brand with sports events which could lead to serious and irresponsible accidents; action must be taken by the NHL before we are encountered with a fatality.

"Unless the NHL takes immediate action with serious suspension to the players in question to curtail these life-threatening injuries, Air Canada will withdraw its sponsorship of hockey."

The NHL was also staring at the possibility of courtroom battle on Thursday after Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions requested a police investigation into the Pacioretty incident.

While the NHL ruled the hit just another hockey play, incensed fans have seen it as something much more calculated and sinister, venting their anger through social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

In the United States, where hockey is rarely water cooler talk of the day, replays of the violent hit were replayed repeatedly and debated on sports television and radio.

Even before the Pacioretty incident, the NHL was under increasing pressure to do something about hits to the head and the issue of concussions that have robbed the league and fans of some of their most popular and talented players.

Not seen on the ice since absorbing two cranium-rattling hits in early January, Crosby's continued absence has reignited the debate, which has stubbornly refused to be pushed from the spotlight despite compelling playoff races in both the Western and Eastern Conferences.

"The NHL does track, monitor and pay attention to public reaction," Neal Pilson, head of Pilson Communications and former president of CBS Sports told Reuters. "At some point the league has to assess whether changes will affect the competitiveness and entertainment value of the sport.

"I would pay attention to what is going on."

[Grey Fox]

That this play can be consider "ok" is yet more evidence hockey just needs to die and let more civilized sport take its place.  For example the speed, grace and athletic excellence that is the NCAA basketball tournament.

I like you better when you talk about Baseball.

[Zoupa]

Wtf does is matter where Chara's arm is anyways?

You tell us - you're the one who posted the pic, apparently saying it showed something.

You're an idiot. The picture shows that Chara pushed him, illegaly, head first into the post. PRC claimed that Chara did not go after the guy's head 

He could have pushed him with his butt of pinky or pancreas that it wouldn't have mattered. He pushed him, illegaly, head first into the post.

[PRC]

You're an idiot. The picture shows that Chara pushed him, illegaly, head first into the post. PRC claimed that Chara did not go after the guy's head 

He could have pushed him with his butt of pinky or pancreas that it wouldn't have mattered. He pushed him, illegaly, head first into the post.

Bullshit.  It shows that Chara checked him on Pacorietty's side, legally, into the boards.  It happened to be at that part of the ice where the stanchion that caused the injury was and that is irrelevant to whether the hit was legal or not.  The hit was just fine, other than the fact that Chara should only have been assessed a minor interference penalty because Pacorietty did not have the puck.

[Grey Fox]

You didn't read my post from the last time you said this earlier today, eh?

Major penalties are assess on illegal play that incure injuries. Chara deserve a 5min & got a 5min.

[Zoupa]

You're an idiot. The picture shows that Chara pushed him, illegaly, head first into the post. PRC claimed that Chara did not go after the guy's head 

He could have pushed him with his butt of pinky or pancreas that it wouldn't have mattered. He pushed him, illegaly, head first into the post.

Bullshit.  It shows that Chara checked him on Pacorietty's side, legally, into the boards.  It happened to be at that part of the ice where the stanchion that caused the injury was and that is irrelevant to whether the hit was legal or not.  The hit was just fine, other than the fact that Chara should only have been assessed a minor interference penalty because Pacorietty did not have the puck.

There is no legal check when the player does not have the puck. That's the whole point of the check, to separate player from puck. That's the whole point of the interference call.

Chara didn't have to make that illegal check to begin with (what with being illegal). Furthermore in a 4-0 game, furthermore with 10 seconds left in the period, but foremost considering where they were on the ice, which he knew full well. What's the point of arguing about the other side of the rink? How is that relevant in any possible way? They were on the bench side, Chara knew it, still made an illegal hit.

It's an incredibly dirty play that should have had him suspended.

[PRC]

Bullshit.  It shows that Chara checked him on Pacorietty's side, legally, into the boards.  It happened to be at that part of the ice where the stanchion that caused the injury was and that is irrelevant to whether the hit was legal or not.  The hit was just fine, other than the fact that Chara should only have been assessed a minor interference penalty because Pacorietty did not have the puck.

There is no legal check when the player does not have the puck. That's the whole point of the check, to separate player from puck. That's the whole point of the interference call.

Chara didn't have to make that illegal check to begin with (what with being illegal). Furthermore in a 4-0 game, furthermore with 10 seconds left in the period, but foremost considering where they were on the ice, which he knew full well. What's the point of arguing about the other side of the rink? How is that relevant in any possible way? They were on the bench side, Chara knew it, still made an illegal hit.

It's an incredibly dirty play that should have had him suspended.

Glad you agree that the hit was only illegal in the sense that it was an interference play.  Still... Chara had to make the check.  If a defenceman can't take the puck then he takes the body.  That is taught to every single defenceman starting at a very young age and every single coach in the league would call an interference penalty in that situation a "good penalty".  That thinking is ingrained and drilled into every defenceman in the league.

[Zoupa]

Nobody's a robot.

A hit at that time of the game serves no purpose.

A hit like that is illegal.

A hit there is dangerous, and as we saw potentially lethal. The guy broke his neck, for fuck's sake.

Add to that Chara's history, the history between the two players and it starts to stink. A competent disciplinary comittee takes context into account.

[Barrister]

The guys on HNIC Radio were universally saying Chara does not have a history for dirty play, and that was part of the reason he wasn't suspended.   

I can't say I've followed the guys career anywhere near enough to be able to say one way or another.

[Strix]

Nobody's a robot.

A hit at that time of the game serves no purpose.

A hit like that is illegal.

A hit there is dangerous, and as we saw potentially lethal. The guy broke his neck, for fuck's sake.

Add to that Chara's history, the history between the two players and it starts to stink. A competent disciplinary comittee takes context into account.

I agree with all your points.

Throw in that Chara had a history with the guy and that the score was 4-0 with less than 20 seconds left in the period and it was clearly an attempt to send the guy a message. Did he mean to cause such a severe injury, no. That doesn't excuse him from responsibility for what resulted. I am not sure there was much difference between what Bertuzzi did and what Chara did. They both intended to send a message to a player that involved previous history and both actions resulted in severe injury that Bertuzzi and Chara didn't intend to do.

[PRC]

Nobody's a robot.

A hit at that time of the game serves no purpose.

A hit like that is illegal.

A hit there is dangerous, and as we saw potentially lethal. The guy broke his neck, for fuck's sake.

Add to that Chara's history, the history between the two players and it starts to stink. A competent disciplinary comittee takes context into account.

You said they know where they are on the ice at all times... that seems pretty robotic. 

The injury was severe but that's what you want a suspension for, the severity of the injury.  The hit was what any defenceman in that situation would do... it was a clean check, illegal because it was an interference play.  The lowered boards because of the bench and the stanchions make that area a dangerous spot on the ice just like in the corners where many many hits take place and that hole in the glass for cameramen are (check out Darryl Boyce's recent adventure with that).  As for the history of the players... as just noted, Chara does not have a reputation for dirty play, sure though he has a reputation for hard physical play.

[Zoupa]

I give up. If you think sending a player head first into a solid pole is a hockey play, then I guess we want different leagues.

[Neil]

He's a Canucks fan.  Neck-breaking is just a part of the game for them.