Tootoo's sucker punch

[psh 25]

Tootoo is known for borderline play and is rightly being criticized for has reaction to Robidas, but why isn't anybody commenting on Modano's hatchet chop on Tootoo after the fact? I'm a long tim fan of Modano, but Modano swung his stick. With the Simon incident so fresh in our memories, it strikes me that Modano's wielding of his stick should garner at least as large a suspension as Tootoo's punch with his glove. Tootoo's action may well have been a defensive reaction to Robidas bearing down on him, while Modano's stick work was clearly intended to injure Tootoo.

In the end, I think no suspension is called for and that the refs basically got it right last night. Though Modano wasn't penalized, was he?

[BigT 4]

How the Hell can Modano watch one of his teammates get decapitated while trying to stand up for him and then not do anything?

I won't go so far as to say he's a pussy, But what the hell?

exactly....and i stand by what i said earlier in the thread, he is a pussy..should have helped out his teammate there

[CCC8190 0]

If somebody is going to go after a guy like Tootoo, he has to be able to handle himself, or he should just stay out of it.

yea, because everybody expects a suckerpunch when they go to confront someone...

if they wanted to fight, fine. theres no problem with that. its just a shame that people see these nasty clips on sportscenter and think that THAT is hockey. hopefully they can appreciate the skill and great plays involved, but the stereotypical image hockey has makes me tend to doubt that.

i also find it interesting to think about what the penalties issued to Tootoo would be if Robidas wasnt knocked out cold. id have to imagine substantially less, even though its still the same exact play.

[ExitTwoEighty 7]

Yeah, I wouldn't call Modano a pussy, I'm surprised no one else on the ice jumped tootoo at that moment. Modano is a key player for the Stars, if he gets a concussion or breaks his hand or anything from fighting then he puts his team at a disadvantage. Considering the playoffs are coming, it takes alot of guts for him to keep his cool about it considering how important he is to the team.

[huffer4 0]

If somebody is going to go after a guy like Tootoo, he has to be able to handle himself, or he should just stay out of it.

yea, because everybody expects a suckerpunch when they go to confront someone...

I don't think it was really a suckerpunch. Robidas had full view of Tootoo the whole time. Its not like he came at him from behind(like bertuzzi). He punched him in the face, and he wasn't ready for it. Is Tootoo not supposed to defend himself just because Robidas might not be ready to be punched?

[CCC8190 0]

no he should defend one of his teams stars (no pun intended), defintely. but when you dont even drop the gloves or square off or do anything known to symbolize the start of a fight, that is wrong. robidas didnt have enough time to react, tootoo's punch was fast as anything (see also: sneaky, suckerpunch...)

and also, to 280, when your teammate gets obliterated right in front of you, it doesnt matter who you are (in this case what shouldve been a leader, no wonder they stripped the C), you must do something. the guy even came right at you.

[huffer4 0]

no he should defend one of his teams stars (no pun intended), defintely. but when you dont even drop the gloves or square off or do anything known to symbolize the start of a fight, that is wrong. robidas didnt have enough time to react, tootoo's punch was fast as anything (see also: sneaky, suckerpunch...)

Tootoo didn't even have time to drop his gloves. as soon as he turned around Robidas was in his face. he barely got his hand up in time to punch.

[MDE3 0]

Robidas was skating in with his gloves still on and stick in hand, and down. I think he was coming in just to run some interference.

Maybe re-watch the video....I cannot believe you are watching the same one....Not only were his hands "UP", but he actually jumped at Tootoo with his hands and stick extended at Tootoo's head... you can see his feet leave the ice(before being hit lol)

Tootoo's hit on Modano was a bit high too, but not much different than 60% of the hits thrown in the NHL. However Tootoo was not playing the puck and was facing away from the guy charging him as he got to his feet...when he saw him coming hard at his head he just reacted...not condoning the level of reaction....but it was spontaneous to someone who is about to clean your clock.

[ExitTwoEighty 7]

usually when hockey players fight, they drop the gloves and acknowledge one another before throwing any punches. This was just dirty. Robidas looks like he was just going to do the typical shoving the other guy in his chest. Tootoo is just shorter than the average guy. Robidas isn't known as a tough guy.

I found this, looks like his feet are still on the ground.

[huffer4 0]

In the last 2 frames you can see he is on his toes. Not quite in the air, but he was in the process of getting in the air.

[ExitTwoEighty 7]

in the last 2 frames he was already punched in the face. Looks as though he was knocked out and falling over already. His right skate looks completely flat and he's just trying to get some force into his push.

[MDE3 0]

Just look at the video, he was driving upwards to hit Tootoo. Not trying to justify Tootoo's reaction, just stating that it was as much a defensive reaction as anything else when you see someone coming at you like that.

[hockeyplaya97 0]

Tootoo looked like he was drunk the whole time, stumbling everywhere...

[Alias81 0]

Agree with what your saying MDE3 and 4 games IMO based on previous suspensions this season.

[DamnLocust 0]

Why is it that nobody's saying anything about Robidas getting suspended?

(not sure if I actually want to open this can of worms, but here goes anyway)

Robidas' attempted hit on Tootoo was well after the puck was gone and away from the play. He went in high and deserved the fist to the face that he got. Sure, Tootoo's punch was somewhat dirty, but he really had no other option at that point. Robidas put himself into that position by attempting a dirty, late hit. Sure tootoo hit Modano, but if you've got a problem with that, either square up, or clean his clock when he's got the puck, not when he's looking the other way, away from the puck.

If Tootoo gets a suspension, Robidas should get the same. His play was dirtier than Tootoo's.

[huffer4 0]

Very well said.

[DarkStar50 679]

My money is on neither one getting suspended. I'm probably wrong but ........

[Eazy_b97 1]

are you kidding. The guy came in to run him and he swung and connected. If he had not hit him, who knows what would have happened to him. Robidas should have been prepared, or not done anything at all.

Move out of the way! That's All Tootoo had to do, get his hands up, and then circle around and square off. Tootoo's an idiot and this is a sucker punch. If you fight in hockey, you are supposed to circle around and set-up. He's been in trouble for this all throughout his NHL career.

Tootoo is known for borderline play and is rightly being criticized for has reaction to Robidas, but why isn't anybody commenting on Modano's hatchet chop on Tootoo after the fact? I'm a long tim fan of Modano, but Modano swung his stick. With the Simon incident so fresh in our memories, it strikes me that Modano's wielding of his stick should garner at least as large a suspension as Tootoo's punch with his glove. Tootoo's action may well have been a defensive reaction to Robidas bearing down on him, while Modano's stick work was clearly intended to injure Tootoo.

In the end, I think no suspension is called for and that the refs basically got it right last night. Though Modano wasn't penalized, was he?

It's a 1-hand slash which has little to no force, stupid on Modano's part, but hardly vicious when it hits Tootoo in the back.

If somebody is going to go after a guy like Tootoo, he has to be able to handle himself, or he should just stay out of it.

yea, because everybody expects a suckerpunch when they go to confront someone...

I don't think it was really a suckerpunch. Robidas had full view of Tootoo the whole time. Its not like he came at him from behind(like bertuzzi). He punched him in the face, and he wasn't ready for it. Is Tootoo not supposed to defend himself just because Robidas might not be ready to be punched?

Does it look like he had much to defend? Wasn't Robidas carried off on a stretcher?

Why is it that nobody's saying anything about Robidas getting suspended?

(not sure if I actually want to open this can of worms, but here goes anyway)

Robidas' attempted hit on Tootoo was well after the puck was gone and away from the play. He went in high and deserved the fist to the face that he got. Sure, Tootoo's punch was somewhat dirty, but he really had no other option at that point. Robidas put himself into that position by attempting a dirty, late hit. Sure tootoo hit Modano, but if you've got a problem with that, either square up, or clean his clock when he's got the puck, not when he's looking the other way, away from the puck.

If Tootoo gets a suspension, Robidas should get the same. His play was dirtier than Tootoo's.

You mean Robidas late, but slow and relatively low hit?

It's ironic you tell him to square up when it's EXACTLY what Tootoo should've done.

[D-MaN88 0]

I'm 100% with DamnLocust on this one. We can't tell from the video but how far did Robidas come from skating what looks like full speed to cheap shot Tootoo? If we could see the whole frame then we would probably see that Robidas took off from a pretty lengthy distance to take a run at a non-suspecting Tootoo. I don't really condone what Tootoo did, but I don't disagree with it either. Robida should keep his head up and learn how to stand up for his teammates. Clean hit by Tootoo and a very concievable reaction to the charging, late, dirty, oncoming shot by Robidas. If anyone should be suspended I think it should be Robidas. (1 for taking a dirty run at him and 2 for going in with your hard ass hat on going after a guy that will whoop the in this case "stars" out of you). Just my .02 though. Conversation and debate can now proceed!

[warrior37 0]

i think in this situation you have to look at the consequences of each players actions. granted robidas may have been taking a run at tootoo, but who was the player who left the ice on a stretcher. i also like how tootoo was looking like he was going to have to go with modano, what a classy guy

[DamnLocust 0]

Eazy, slow and "considerably low" (Granted, Robidas didn't connect, but his hands were up around the head, something that has become too common in the league) could be used to describe the Robidas attempt.

The fact that he was blindsiding Tootoo from behind makes it indefensible. Tootoo turned to rejoin the play (where the puck was) whereas Robidas had no intention of joining the play. If Tootoo had not turned, he would have been creamed into the boards and Robidas should have recieved at least a 5 for boarding.

Had Tootoo simply squared up, he would have been obliterated into the boards, and by the time he got up, Robidas would be in the penalty box.

Warrior, far too many incidents in the league in recent years have been punished based on the end result as opposed to the act in question. There is no doubt in my mind that history will repeat itself. Modano also swung his stick at Tootoo, Tootoo was ready to stand up for himself after that. Modano's the one with no class in that situation. He hit you. get over it.

[huffer4 0]

Move out of the way! That's All Tootoo had to do, get his hands up, and then circle around and square off. Tootoo's an idiot and this is a sucker punch. If you fight in hockey, you are supposed to circle around and set-up. He's been in trouble for this all throughout his NHL career.

Like I said, Tootoo didn't have time to move out of the way. He barely got his hands up. Tootoo isn't the type of guy to back down from a fight, and people know that. Maybe if Robidas wanted to do something about it, then he should have squared up with him instead of trying to take his head off.

[Stampeder 2]

Tootoo hit Modano clean, Modano was fine. Why does anyone need to defend that? Thats what seems stupid to me. I would want to knock someone out too for coming after me after a clean harmless hit. Someone needed to send a message that clean hits are alright no matter who they are on and coming to defend them is just stupid.

[wallin2199 0]

People who are saying that Tootoo should have just gotten out of the way, have you ever played check hockey? If a guy is coming at you full speed, you have to defend yourself. Granted, he did knock the guy cold, but I think Tootoo was merely defending himself from Robidas in what was a clean hit on Modano. Anyways, Tootoo will get suspended but it was in self defense and if he didn't knock him out cold he wouldn't have been suspended I believe.

[warrior37 0]

ive been thinking about this situation. decent hit on modano, kind of dumb move by robidas to come at tootoo, and bad move on tootoo's part to wind up with a punch like that. i want to give tootoo the benefit of the doubt here, but given his track record of reckless and questionable play i want to say shame on you jordan tootoo. just some stats, tootoo makes $500K, 61gp, 3g, 7pts, -12, 104pim, and 65shots