McAmmond Injured

[D-MaN88 0]

For those wanting to see what happened after the hit, here's the first video I've seen of it:

After the Hit

[chippa13 1844]

Nice to see Jesse "Stick Swinger" Boulerice was on the ice with Downie. He can teach Downie what it is all about to never make the pros.

[oggy_3 0]

One thing with people say he ran down the ice, he was backchecking and was probably pissed about get dropped earlier and on the back noticed McAmmond going around the net and took advantage. I know i was taught a year ago on the back check skate hard along the boards and around the blue start cutting in slightly so if the other teams player cuts in you smoke him.

[Chadd 916]

I'm saying His feet hardly left the ice at contact, dont try and pretend he took a jump at him.

If you're already at the top of your jump, you have no more upward momentum. You do more damage by jumping into a player as you hit him. The height that Downie hits after impact shows just how much he launched himself into the hit.

"He'll get what's coming to him," McGrattan said. "He'll do it to the wrong guy and somebody will put him out of hockey. You do that at his level a couple of times, guys in junior won't do it, but guys at this level will.

"He'll get what's coming to him next time we play him, that's for sure," he said.

Here's hoping that all Downie suffers the next time they play is a couple of lost chicklets, otherwise, these words could come back to haunt McGrattan.

Not that the league would really miss him either.

[QandA 0]

20 games per tsn.ca

[troy 12]

So what would be worse for the NHL, giving Downie a lesser suspension or ending up looking like jackasses when they in all likelihood won't be consistent with this suspension length throughout the season?

[mrusse01 0]

You do more damage by jumping into a player as you hit him.

Why? Not trying to be a prick or anything, I know this is an age old hockey axiom, but I've never understood it.

I know in baseball the rule is to always run through first base, you don't dive because it will get you there slower than if you stayed on your feet and kept running, this is obviously true as evidenced by 100m sprinters never diving through the finish line.

My physics is like below a beginner level, but I know force = mass x acceleration. Your mass is constant, so if the above paragraph is true, wouldn't your speed and thus your acceleration (I know they aren't the same thing, maybe someone smarter can explain if this is where my theory falls apart) be higher if you didn't jump into someone? And if that is true than wouldn't you exert more force if you skated 'through' someone as opposed to leaving your feet?

I know people think you're going to hit people in the head if you jump, and thus it is more dangerous, , but look at the Campbell hit as an example, he stayed low and still hit Umberger in the face.

Again, not trying to be an asshole, just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this.

ps. and 20 games is retarded...they're going to be handing this out every week if they are consistent (which they won't be). Tucker throws like 5 hits a year at least where he jumps WAY higher than Downie here.

[Jarick 5]

I look at it like a coiled spring. If you stop the spring before it returns to full length, it's not releasing as much energy as if you let it spring off its surface.

The strength in the body check starts from the legs. Crouch down, then stand up really fast. Then crouch down and jump up as high as you can. Which do you think you released more force?

[BoDangles 0]

20 games is reasonable IMP.

[DarkStar50 679]

I didn't see the full play, but the only thing I would consider calling Downie on here would be 2 mintues for charging, simply because from reading Bob Mackenzie's blog it sounds like he ran him from the other end of the ice.

Please watch the full play. Its helps to see the full play to get a complete and thorough understanding of the hit Downie lays out.

20 games is a good start. If the next guy gets 20 games, he can't say squat. 20 games = 25% of your salary so maybe this will give the next guy something to think about. I know they minimum is still is a nice chunk of change but 25% is a lot in the short life of a pro hockey player. Also, the idiots pulling this stunt are usually on the bottom of the payroll feed chain. 25% is alot to those guys since they might have a 2 way contract that pays chump change in the A.

[RadioGaGa 162]

So, it's 20 games that he is a member of the Flyers 23 man roster...so he's still free to play in the AHL?

Or, will Mr. Andrews decide to honor the suspension as well? Or, can he even make that decision?

So...if they don't hvae him on the roster at all this year...does it carry over to next year, or is there a possibility that he never actually serves any suspension time in the NHL?

[mrusse01 0]

The strength in the body check starts from the legs. Crouch down, then stand up really fast. Then crouch down and jump up as high as you can. Which do you think you released more force?

Look at the hit, how much time elapsed between the point when his feet left the ice and when he hit him, like a tenth of a second?

If the check starts with your legs like you say (which I agree) then naturally you are going to be going upwards and leaving your feet as you hit someone, that's exactly what happened here. Maybe his timing was off by a fraction of a second, but if it wasnt and his feet were on the ice when he hit him are you saying that's a legal hit?

Here's what I think. That is a technically legal hit, it was just too hard and too vicious. That's really the bottom line isn't it?

There is nothing wrong with the form of that hit, the NHL just thought it was too hard and the outcome too devestating so they suspend him for 20 games. I think the league is turning into a joke when you can punch someone in the face as much as you want in a fight and get a 5 minute penalty, but if you hit someone too hard with a body check you are suspended 1/4 of the season. Do you see the NFL handing out 4 game suspensions when someone gets laid out too hard with an otherwise clean check?

[mack 44]

This is infinitely less clean than Pronger laying him out last summer.

[bdj 0]

20 Games is one hell of a suspension.

[mack 44]

Well deserved though. I'd say it's more of a message being sent rather than a punishment fit the crime, but not by much.

[chippa13 1844]

The strength in the body check starts from the legs. Crouch down, then stand up really fast. Then crouch down and jump up as high as you can. Which do you think you released more force?

Look at the hit, how much time elapsed between the point when his feet left the ice and when he hit him, like a tenth of a second?

If the check starts with your legs like you say (which I agree) then naturally you are going to be going upwards and leaving your feet as you hit someone, that's exactly what happened here. Maybe his timing was off by a fraction of a second, but if it wasnt and his feet were on the ice when he hit him are you saying that's a legal hit?

Here's what I think. That is a technically legal hit, it was just too hard and too vicious. That's really the bottom line isn't it?

There is nothing wrong with the form of that hit, the NHL just thought it was too hard and the outcome too devestating so they suspend him for 20 games. I think the league is turning into a joke when you can punch someone in the face as much as you want in a fight and get a 5 minute penalty, but if you hit someone too hard with a body check you are suspended 1/4 of the season. Do you see the NFL handing out 4 game suspensions when someone gets laid out too hard with an otherwise clean check?

Since obviously you won't get it when someone explains it to you again, I will simply say that you are wrong.

Actually, in the NFL it is a big no-no to launch yourself at an opposing player. Learn more, type less.

Well deserved though. I'd say it's more of a message being sent rather than a punishment fit the crime, but not by much.

They definitely have to do something about head shots. A good start, I say.

[bdj 0]

Well deserved though. I'd say it's more of a message being sent rather than a punishment fit the crime, but not by much.

Bingo

[mack 44]

That's not to say he doesn't deserve at least half of what he got though, if not more. It's still a gutless hit in my opinion.

[Wayne 0]

That is THE biggest hit I've ever seen in my life, not to mention gutless. Downie came in nearly full speed and left his feet- no doubt about it.

[TheBert 0]

So, it's 20 games that he is a member of the Flyers 23 man roster...so he's still free to play in the AHL?

Or, will Mr. Andrews decide to honor the suspension as well? Or, can he even make that decision?

So...if they don't hvae him on the roster at all this year...does it carry over to next year, or is there a possibility that he never actually serves any suspension time in the NHL?

Any word on the AHL/NHL suspension component?

[Law Goalie 147]

This is infinitely less clean than Pronger laying him out last summer.

Absolutely agreed. The only differences are that Pronger is smart about playing dirty and a valuable player to the league, whereas Downie is neither in the slightest degree.

Hopefully the AHL is bound to honour the suspension, and the little prick can go run some thirteen year-olds in after-school pickup games.

[DarkStar50 679]

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/mckenzie/?id=219426

The follow-up from Bob.

[Chadd 916]

You do more damage by jumping into a player as you hit him.

Why? Not trying to be a prick or anything, I know this is an age old hockey axiom, but I've never understood it.

I know in baseball the rule is to always run through first base, you don't dive because it will get you there slower than if you stayed on your feet and kept running, this is obviously true as evidenced by 100m sprinters never diving through the finish line.

My physics is like below a beginner level, but I know force = mass x acceleration. Your mass is constant, so if the above paragraph is true, wouldn't your speed and thus your acceleration (I know they aren't the same thing, maybe someone smarter can explain if this is where my theory falls apart) be higher if you didn't jump into someone? And if that is true than wouldn't you exert more force if you skated 'through' someone as opposed to leaving your feet?

I know people think you're going to hit people in the head if you jump, and thus it is more dangerous, , but look at the Campbell hit as an example, he stayed low and still hit Umberger in the face.

Again, not trying to be an asshole, just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this.

ps. and 20 games is retarded...they're going to be handing this out every week if they are consistent (which they won't be). Tucker throws like 5 hits a year at least where he jumps WAY higher than Downie here.

Even if you skate through the guy you still coast the last few feet in virtually every case so you aren't accelerating any more.With a launch you're doing the same thing but adding another factor into the equation with the launch. That launch does have an upward component but it also has a forward component as well and that adds to the forward momentum that the player already has. The end result is additional force and force that is directed to the most vulnerable part of the opposing player, his head.

[Law Goalie 147]

Tucker throws like 5 hits a year at least where he jumps WAY higher than Downie here.

And he's a dirty little shit too. I wonder if Alex Kovalev will beat up Downie as well to keep things square...

[mack 44]

I remember as kids playing whiffle ball I lined one right back at my sister, more specifically one of her boobs. it was a Death Star shot to begin with, but then she spazzed out in pain and started slapping at me. That's the closest thing I could imagine what being hit by Kovalev would feel like.