Tootoo's sucker punch

[Hidious 0]

Wow. I understand you guy's point on self-defense and all that bullshit but... Robidas was going for a late hit to start a fight IMO. When you want to fight to defend your star player, you don't just go there and tell the guy he's an asshole, you gotta hit him to start a fight.

I have no problem with Tootoo getting his hands up to defend himself, even a jab would have been ok, but a powerpunch like that, how can you guys defend that?

[Stampeder 2]

Because he deserved to get punched. Sure nobody deserves to get knocked out like that, but to go after a guy like that after a clean hit is just stupid. Most times the guy with the clean hit will be getting hurt not the idiot coming after him. Look at Steve Moore.

[rinkrat94 1]

We see players go after a guy who has put a big hit on a their teammate or star player all the time. How many times have you seen that guy get sucker punched.? I've seen guys end up dropping the gloves and fighting, but I have never seen anyone react to way Tootoo did. Tootoo is a dirty asshole and he should be suspended for at least 5 games. What did he think was going to happen after he took a run and Modano? No team in the NHL would put up with their star being run at like that. This type of crap is going to lead to another Chris Simon type incident. Someone is going two hand Tootoo in the head, he has been doing this crap for years.

[Eazy_b97 1]

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.

If he doesn't have time, brace himself for the hit, then fight. Tootoo is a coward, that punch was cowardly. It's not self defense, how often do you see a player come into a scrum like Robidas? It happens every night. How often is a player sucker punched for it? Rarely!

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.

Have you played hockey before? When has your first instinct, when a guy is coming at you, been to punch him in the face because he is going to hit you?

Ask yourself this, when has ANY hockey fight been started the way Tootoo did in this situation.

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.

Tootoo knew he was coming, thats why he gets up with his fist cocked like that. He doesn't return to the play at all, he gets up specifically to sucker punch him.

This 5 minute major your throwing out for boarding it a few steps and a slow hit. Robidas is actually following the play up-ice until he sees the hit. He turns around the top of the circle and gets suckered before the top of the hash marks.

I can't believe anyone is even considering defending this cheap shot.

[djinferno 2]

Lots of people would of done the exact same thing. Its retarded in the NHL when you put a nice hit on a star player, the goons always have to go fight them for a clean hit. Good for Tootoo

i second that, if Robidas pops right back up, this is not even an issue, he got KO'd.. Thats 2 minutes...

[Eazy_b97 1]

The same logic applies to all suspensions. It's the resulting injury that draws attention. Afterall if nobody felt pain or was ever severely injured by blows we could just whack each other in the face all day long since it would have no real impact on us.

[DarkStar50 679]

Just thinking of another angle and view to this: Lets say you are a player on the Preds, do you think Tootoo deserves a suspension? Same question for Stars players, does Robi deserve a suspension or even Tootoo? Say your name is theo and you play for the Rangers or Easyb and you play for the Leafs or Lego and you play for the Flyers or DarkStar50 and you are the stick boy, do you think Tootoo or Robi deserves a suspension? This question assumes we are players in the NHL and NOT fans. Tough questions, how do you answer as an NHL player?

[Doctor Hook 0]

It's obvious the guy was coming in to clean Tootoo out, so he just reacted accordingly. I see nothing wrong with a man defending himself.

[Wayne 0]

You are correct. If Tootoo doesn't throw that punch he is going to get nailed. If the player wants to do something about the hit then he can fight him, not try to run him 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.

I was out of town this weekend and didn't see this hit until this morning. I haven't even made it through 5 posts in this thread and I'm already outraged at how some of you guys are viewing this incident. You can't be serious about this "well tootoo was going to get drilled so he went proactive and sucker punched Robidas in self defense." Tootoo got up facing away from Robidas and he got up with his fist cocked and back before he even saw Robidas coming. He knew he was going to be confronted and had already decided to throw a punch in the direction of whoever was coming. I don't even know if I feel like wasting my time sifting through the crap like what is quoted above....

[DamnLocust 0]

TSN- Bob McKenzie's viewpoint.

Now the term sucker-punch has been used to describe the incident on Saturday night, but in fact, it was not a sucker-punch.

Tootoo's punch came from the front. A sucker-punch - by its nature - is a blindside punch that the victim never sees coming.

Now that that's out of the way, Robidas stepped into Tootoo's fist, facefirst. I'm not saying what Tootoo did is right, I'm simply saying that Robidas put himself in the situation by going apeshit over a clean hit. Eazy, you said it yourself: Robidas was rejoining the play UNTIL he saw the hit, and turned around, away from the play, to take a run at Tootoo who wasn't looking. I'm not necessarily defending what Tootoo did, just rationalizing. I am, however villifying Robidas for going after a guy for a clean hit.

[Eazy_b97 1]

Tootoo see's him, you can take a look at replay and he looks over his shoulder on his knee and gets up to punch him. He knew he was coming.

I'm not saying what Robidas did was right, just that Tootoo's reaction was way over the top and not necessary.

[djinferno 2]

TSN- Bob McKenzie's viewpoint.

Now the term sucker-punch has been used to describe the incident on Saturday night, but in fact, it was not a sucker-punch.

Tootoo's punch came from the front. A sucker-punch - by its nature - is a blindside punch that the victim never sees coming.

Now that that's out of the way, Robidas stepped into Tootoo's fist, facefirst. I'm not saying what Tootoo did is right, I'm simply saying that Robidas put himself in the situation by going apeshit over a clean hit. Eazy, you said it yourself: Robidas was rejoining the play UNTIL he saw the hit, and turned around, away from the play, to take a run at Tootoo who wasn't looking. I'm noecessarily defending what Tootoo did, just rationalizing. I am, however villifying Robidas for going after a guy for a clean hit.

I'm sick and tired of guys in the NHL going after guys for hitting a so called STAR player with a clean hit, the other sports don't do this, I don't see the Packers jumping a guy that Hit Brett Farve...

The fact of the matter is, Tootoo, is a bruiser, he hit Modano clean and Robidas was going to take a liberty on him to protect his player blah blah blah...

Many other guys have fallen into this trap and have paid big prices for this, ask Bertuzzi if defending Nazy was a good idea? This is a grown mans contact game, if you are to weak to get hit, you better make dam sure you can avoid it, with most of the clutching and grabbing gone, the body check is the only type of contact left in the game, Robidas got caught up in this and was trying to put an illegal hit on a guy, Good for Tootoo, he caught him flush and if you ask me it was funny as hell, I wish no harm on anyone but if you are trying to hurt someone yourself, I'm happy to see you pay a price....

TKO baby TKO, down goes Robidas, he'll think again before attempting that noncrnse again... :lol:

[Methane 0]

I'd say Tootoo's punch to Robidas is dirty. It doesn't matter if the hit you are about to take is late, behind the play or anything else. A check is not to be responded to with a punch. If you take issue with the hit, you can square off and then fight.

Again, look closely at the following picture:

Robidas is still on his way in and Tootoo is already waiting to let fly. Look at the lettering on the board and it's relative position to BOTH players. The "S" that Tootoo is in front of appears to be the same width as the "co" that Robidas is passing. Given this it looks like they were traveling the same speed over those 4 frames when they met. This means that Tootoo was not surprised by Robidas, he was intent on delivering the punch.

[wallin2199 0]

Well I wouldn't much say they were moving at the same speed as Robidas moved 3 letters while Tootoo only moved about a 1/2 to 1. And somebody asked what hockey incidents have I been in? I've played Major Junior A in the US and have seen and been in my fair share of altercations. As you can see from these latest pictures, Robidas is going in their to absolutely drill Tootoo. While we will never know the result of what could have happened from that hit, I still believe Tootoo was in self defense and I said earlier, had Robidas not been knocked out, this would not have been as big of a deal.

Also, for people saying that he shouldn't have hit Modano? Why not, it wasn't a run, it was a clean hit from the front. Their was no intent to injure him and Tootoo is a bruiser, it's what he does best. All I'm saying is, if that punch had not knocked Robidas out, their wouldn't even had been a thread about this.

[chris68 0]

to me it didnt look like robidas was even going that fast, the most i thought that was going to come from robidas is a big shove, nothing more

[Methane 0]

Another great series of pics from the video:

[Methane 0]

I still have not watched the game, it's on my DVR though. I like Tootoo, or at least his story of how he and his brother (RIP) made it to the Show. I am also a Stars fan.

I do know that if I saw the punch coming I'd try to guard my face. Who knows if that is what Robidas was doing or if it was arms/elbows to the chest on purpose. I don't think anybody needs to be laid out like that, retribution for what seemed to be a clean hit, other than Tootoo's stick being straight up in the air doesn't need to happen either. It all seems to be an unfortunate series of events, hopefully Robidas is fine and suffers no lasting effects.

[warrior37 0]

terrance tootoo never made it past the echl

[Stampeder 2]

He never really gave himself the chance to, he sure was exciting to watch in the MJHL.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Five Games

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=200808&hubname=

Secondary to this....did anyone see Modano come over the back of Tootoo with his stick? Is that getting a look from the league or no?

[EDIT] TSN was just talking about it. No action taken against Modano.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Five Games

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=200808&hubname=

Secondary to this....did anyone see Modano come over the back of Tootoo with his stick? Is that getting a look from the league or no?

[EDIT] TSN was just talking about it. No action taken against Modano.

I noted the modano thing earlier and said if anyone should get suspended he should be the first to look at. But Cambell messes up

Oh...must've missed that post as I skimmed the thread.

[DarkStar50 679]

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

This is why I am not in charge of discipline. OK, 5 games, I guess so....

[Eazy_b97 1]

Funny Methane....The fellow outlining the pics forgot to write (Elbows up) for the two most important slides...The slides where Robidas would have made contact

You realize the reason he gets up is to punch Robidas in the face right? He couldn't just stayed down or got his arms up to protect himself, but instead he decided to be the agressor and start a fight out of nowhere.

[Buzz_LightBeer 974]

I missed the whole thread but i think deeming that a sucker punch implies a- Tootoo hits him from behind, or b- Robidas has no idea its coming his way. Its quite obvious Robidas was going into tootoo to make trouble, good for tootoo to clean his clock.

i dont think there would be any reprocussions for this had drury not gotten smeared so recently.

Thank god modano didnt break a hip :)

[Eazy_b97 1]

I missed the whole thread but i think deeming that a sucker punch implies a- Tootoo hits him from behind, or b- Robidas has no idea its coming his way. Its quite obvious Robidas was going into tootoo to make trouble, good for tootoo to clean his clock.

i dont think there would be any reprocussions for this had drury not gotten smeared so recently.

Thank god modano didnt break a hip :)

The definition is debatable. Some say unexpected, others say blindsided. Depends on the interpretation.