The 2010-2011 Suspension Thread

[Habs21 0]

Dear Air Canada: Where was the outrage when [insert player who took a vicious headshot but didn't play for a Canadian based team) was taken out on a stretcher?

Air Canada is a Canadian company and have a relationship with all 6 Canadian teams. Canadian team = more media...and more BAD media when something dumb like this happens. And I think it's pretty obvious that the headshots are getting more and more press these days so...there you go. Don't worry, it's not a conspiracy.

And these police reports are just ridiculous. NHL should've suspended Chara for a few games, they didn't, they messed up like they're use to doing...end of story. It should end there.

And yes I'm a Habs fan (obviously) but this non-suspension just kinda brought the NHL down in my eyes. I don't know how many people I've talked to here at work or elsewhere that are all saying the same thing (I'm in Ottawa so I'm including Sens fans in there too). Even 1 game would have been at least some sort of acknowledgement that it was a dumb "hockey play" to make (whatever that means, because an inteference isn't a "good, hard" hockey play, last time I checked. There I'm done. This has been talked about and debated enough (by me anyway), it looks like 50% of people think it should have been suspended and 50% think the NHL got it right. Which kind of shows how screwed up the NHL is right now.

[hamstercaster 2]

Mike Murphy sure didn't see that picture. I hope he gets fired. ''I could not find any evidence to suggest that, beyond this being a correct call for interference, that Chara targeted the head of his opponent, left his feet or delivered the check in any other manner that could be deemed to be dangerous.''

Look very closely at that picture. Where is Chara's arm? It's pushing against Pacioretty's shoulder, not his face. The only reason his glove is to Pacioretty's face, IMO at least, is because of how Pacioretty's head/body twists and comes out on impact with the stranchion.

Had he targeted the head, Chara's arm would have been higher than that. Just look at how crouched Pacioretty is upon impact which makes him even lower/shorter than he actually is and still Chara's arm is at shoulder level

[chippa13 1844]

Max talks to Bob McKenzie (TSN) from the hospital:

My linkMax Talks

Was Max equally disgusted when there was no suspension after he drilled Mark Eaton face first into the board on the Isle back in December?

[jds 20]

Boycotts, police investigations. Are we serious right now??

AH HA!!

[RadioGaGa 162]

Kubina - 3 Games:

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=357390

Anyone got vid? The one I found was shitty (at best)

[RadioGaGa 162]

A letter posted on canadiens.com from Geoff Molson to fans: http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=555639

The Montreal Canadiens organization does not agree with the decision taken yesterday by the National Hockey League. We can assure you that we have made our position clear to Commissioner Gary Bettman, and that he has agreed to make this issue a priority at the next General Manager’s meeting, which will be held in Florida on March 14-16. Pierre Gauthier, our General Manager, will be present at this meeting and has already expressed his wish to carry out, clearly, our message to his 29 counterparts and to the League.

[chippa13 1844]

Great, between Pacioretty's comments, the police investigation and now this statement, there is no doubt in mind mind that this is going to escalate into something stupid either between the teams or the fans or both.

[Drewhunz 3]

Hmm. I'm really thinking we need to devise a way of registering members with their favorite team to prevent them from posting emotional homerist crap. That said, keep it civil and stop getting butthurt over others opinions. Pens, Leafs, and Habs fans- I'm looking in your direction.

I guess I posted this a day early. However, I think we can just refer to the whole provinces attitude in general.

As much as people bitch about Campbell, look what happens when the incident is handled without regards to the outcome. Can't win for trying.

[EBondo 233]

Literally three minutes into the Flyers-Leafs game, and Carcillo takes a cross-check to the back from Komisarek, sending him head first into the boards. This one was worse than the Powe hit and should absolutely be a suspension. 5 minute for boarding, and a game misconduct was given to him

[hamstercaster 2]

I guess I posted this a day early. However, I think we can just refer to the whole provinces attitude in general.

As much as people bitch about Campbell, look what happens when the incident is handled without regards to the outcome. Can't win for trying.

Hold on there Drew. Please don't generalize that way. Yes the Province of Quebec is somewhat different largely because of our roots to an extent at least. But every provinces in Canada have their little thing going just like probably most of the States in the US have their own little thing going. You just hear more about us because we are French and because of the political context.

That being said, substitute Pacioretty for MacArthur in Toronto, or Grabovksi and you get the same outcry. Put Tanguay instead of Chara, you get the same outcry. Put Danny Briere instead of Pacioretty and you get the same thing in Philly. Maybe at a slightly lesser extent but you'd get the outcry nonetheless.

The fact that Boston is our arch rival and IMO one of the most intense rivalry in the NHL makes it that mukch more open to emotional outbursts like the ones we are seeing now. Add to that the newspapers who show the hand of Chara on Pacioretty's face like the one on page 51 I believe and you get people thinking that it's impossible that Chara didn't mean to do this and yada yada yada.

From my inputs so far on this matter I think that it is safe to say that I have been as objective as a Habs fan as I possibly could going as far as defending Chara on that hit.

Yes the province is going crazy and that was THE subject of the day throughout the Province and rightfully so, mainly because of the outcome of it all. I'd like you to remember that the criminal charges laid against Todd Bertuzzi did not come from the Province of Quebec so it would be unfair to judge the Province for ordering an investigation no matter where you stand on that hit. IMO the hit does not warrant criminal charges anymore than it warranted a suspension. At the end of the day the Police will more than likely come to the conclusion that there are no grounds for criminal charges to be laid.

As for Air Canada, yes they have their head office as being in Dorval (Montreal) but trust me, it's far from being a French and/or Quebec company. The Chara hit seems to have been the last drop that made them take that stance as they have talked about hits to the head in general, not the Chara incident specifically.

As for Geoff Molson, he's just doing what is right for the organization. He has to defend his team. He has to be at the forefront of it all and most importantly he had to speak out if not just for the sake of showing to the fans that he's taken it upon himself to do something about it whether anything comes out of it or not.

[DarkStar50 679]

"The straw that broke the camel's back." That would be Air Canada's position. And if that's a problem for anyone, so be it.

http://nhl-red-light.si.com/2011/03/10/bettman-habs-differ-on-nhls-response-to-hit/

This response from Bettman today is another sign that he and the NHL administration is out of touch. I know he is the lead spin doctor here but there is an NHL player in the hospital with a broken neck.

[team50 20]

Expect Komisarek to be suspended. May be interesting since Carcillo is the victim. He did return to the game but it was a potentially dangerous hit. 2 for Carcillo, 3-5 games if it was an elite player.

[icewalker_bg 126]

SAN JOSE — Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin doesn't understand why the National Hockey League exonerated Boston Bruin Zdeno Chara, but San Jose Shark Joe Thornton has an idea.

“It's just something with Boston; it seems like they have a horse shoe,” Thornton said before Thursday's game between the Canucks and Sharks.

“There's just something about Boston and the disciplinary [decisions] are on their side. I'm not sure why that is or anything. I'm not assuming that Colin's kid being on the team, that's why.”

NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell's son, Greg, plays for the Bruins.

Campbell's assistant in the NHL justice department, Mike Murphy, ruled Wednesday that Chara would not be suspended for running Montreal Canadien Max Pacioretty into a stanchion by the player benches on Tuesday, causing head and neck injuries.

Thornton noted that only two games earlier, Bruin Milan Lucic was not suspended for a blindside cross-check to the head of Tampa's Dominic Moore, who was engaged with Bruin Nathan Horton after a whistle.

“We saw the Lucic cross-check to the head a couple of nights earlier and there's no disciplinary thing,” Thornton said. “It's just really bizarre.”

Sedin agreed with Thornton that all players know where stanchions are in rinks and understand the danger of hitting or getting hit in that area.

Sedin and Thornton are Hart Trophy winners, two of the best players in the NHL.

Citing Chara's clean disciplinary record, Murphy said the stanchion in Montreal caused Pacioretty's injury, not the Bruin pushing the Canadien towards the partition.

Presumably, then, if one player injures another by running him into a goalpost, the post is at fault?

“Exactly,” Sedin said. “What are you doing to do the next time Trevor Gillies comes down and runs a guy into the thing? You can't give him anything. And you tell the guys [Chara] has no history, so the next time he does it he still has no history because he didn't get suspended. I don't see the reasoning behind it. Give him at least something to show that's not acceptable.”

Sedin said he doesn't believe Chara intended to seriously injure Pacioretty, but it was no accident that the Canadiens player struck the pillar that supports the glass separating the benches.

Thornton said the decision not to suspend Chara reflects even worse on the NHL than the actual hit.

“I'll tell you this: if you say that you don't know where things are around the ice, I think you're not telling the truth,” Sedin said. “You play the game for 20 years, you know it's there. It's gotten to the point, you have to suspend guys if you hit the head. You have to do it even if guys say they didn't mean to do it or it's an accident. You have to start somewhere.

“I don't think players know where the limit is. That's the bottom line.”

Sharks winger Ryane Clowe, a physical power forward, said Chara probably was just trying to recover his position when he “threw” Pacioretty.

“Chara is so big, there's so much mismatch on size,” Clowe said. “I don't know if he knew he was going to throw him that far and have so much impact. I agree you've got to be aware [of the stanchion]. You know it's there. A lot of times you don't see too many hits in that area and I think that's why — most guys kind of let up a little bit.

“Chara has hit so many guys throughout his career and never been suspended, so he's obviously not a dirty player. [but] when someone is injured that severe, whatever the hit is, you expect some kind of punishment. I think you almost need to give some kind of punishment for having a guy injured that severely. I think that's something that maybe should be put in place.”

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/stars+Henrik+Sedin+Thornton+into+Zdeno+Chara+decision+Bruins/4419822/story.html#ixzz1GG2kOUzp

[B-Nads 0]

Hmm. I'm really thinking we need to devise a way of registering members with their favorite team to prevent them from posting emotional homerist crap. That said, keep it civil and stop getting butthurt over others opinions. Pens, Leafs, and Habs fans- I'm looking in your direction.

Wow.

I've played enough hockey in my life to know a couple things, including where I am on the rink. Yup - its a fast game, with split-second decisions, but put it into perspective. We normal people do not compare to NHL players on a rink - a split-second on ice for us is a half hour for them, so when I listen to someone say that it was a clean hockey play, I call BS. There's history there, regardless of Chara's prior lack of disiplinary issues - it has been building for two games...I've watched closely because I'm a bit of a freak of nature in that I like both teams. I will not profess to know what was going on in Chara's head, but we know that payback is a part of the game, and I'd be willing to bet that A - Chara knew where he was pushing Max, and B - it doesn't take degrees in physics and human anatomy to know what will happen to a person being propelled into an immovable object at 30kph...whether he specifically targetted the head or not. If NHL players are that ignorant of their surroundings and the consequences, then the rule should be rewritting from itent to injure to potential for injury.

By the way, that isn't emotional homerist crap - that is 'one-time hockey lover concerned for downward spiral of what was once a great game' crap. It's so easy here in Montreal to be swayed by the media - I'm sure a public execution of Chara would have drawn quite a crowd. It was a dirt play with two horrible outcomes - 1 - the obvious injury, and 2 - the oh so common dropping of the ball by Colon and Ratmen...I guess the fact that no one is paralyzed yet means it's business as usual.

[RadioGaGa 162]

So after all of what has gone on in the last 2 days...Komisarek pushes Carcillo from behind tonight. Not a big push, but still a cross check in the back of a player facing the boards that caused him to lose his balance and go into the wall head first. 5/game.

Francis Lessard of Ottawa got 5/game for Charging.

And, Chara got a boarding penalty for a play that ended with Steve Montador (I think it was) going hard into the end wall.

Clearly, these players are not interested in protecting each other. They (the NHL) should just forego suspensions of any kind, for any action. Let them maim and kill each other if they want to! They clearly aren't listening to their own rhetoric...and "respect" obviously does not exist in the players vocabulary.

[Drewhunz 3]

Hold on there Drew. Please don't generalize that way. Yes the Province of Quebec is somewhat different largely because of our roots to an extent at least. But every provinces in Canada have their little thing going just like probably most of the States in the US have their own little thing going. You just hear more about us because we are French and because of the political context.

In no way am I generalizing the Quebecois lifestyle so much as the reactionary culture both good/bad amongst Habs fans (also including Leafs and Pens fans as the defensiveness is to a rediculous extent). There's nothing I like better than catching the French feed of a Habs game even though I don't know what the hell is being said.

[Drewhunz 3]

I've played enough hockey in my life to know a couple things, including where I am on the rink. Yup - its a fast game, with split-second decisions, but put it into perspective. We normal people do not compare to NHL players on a rink - a split-second on ice for us is a half hour for them, so when I listen to someone say that it was a clean hockey play, I call BS. There's history there, regardless of Chara's prior lack of disiplinary issues - it has been building for two games...I've watched closely because I'm a bit of a freak of nature in that I like both teams. I will not profess to know what was going on in Chara's head, but we know that payback is a part of the game, and I'd be willing to bet that A - Chara knew where he was pushing Max, and B - it doesn't take degrees in physics and human anatomy to know what will happen to a person being propelled into an immovable object at 30kph...whether he specifically targetted the head or not. If NHL players are that ignorant of their surroundings and the consequences, then the rule should be rewritting from itent to injure to potential for injury.

By the way, that isn't emotional homerist crap - that is 'one-time hockey lover concerned for downward spiral of what was once a great game' crap.

Wow nothing- be proactive instead of reactive. Show concern when the problem presents itself, not after a horrible outcome (We have Janet Napolitano and the TSA for that sadly). It's not an unusual situation- the only difference was the outcome. There was no outcry nor suspension in the Johnson-Smyth incident which was from a visual standpoint MUCH more intentional, the issue arrises only AFTER the right person/fan base is injured (See NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt,NASCAR and Mike Rich, Baseball and Mike Coolbaugh). It's a slippery slope that is FAR too reactionary. Helmet usage becoming mandatory alone should give you an idea where the concerns of the NHL lie. When will neck guards/ visors become mandatory? Unfortunately the way the NHL operates, we all kinda know when that'll be. So I urge anyone that takes offense to my comments to realize that I'm challenging you to make a difference and bring these issues to the forefront BEFORE it happens. Rhetoric and outrage after an incident that's happened before only perpetuates a laissez faire attitude and an unwillingness to change due to the "culture" of the sport. This isn't a hockey exclusive area of concern, but the NHL got the jolt needed to possibly bring about a positive change. I'd like to open the door up to debate to see if I'm crazy, or if you misunderstood my original intention.

[TBLfan 25]

I think any of those plays should result in a suspension. I said that when it happened to Smyth, I said it last week when it happened to Tyrell(even though he was fine). It's a dangerous play and you have to let up, it's not much different than boarding a guy in a race for the puck. The potential for a devastating injury is too high to ignore. I also think NEARLY ALL players respect those areas and do lay off but there should be disciplinary actions to those that don't.

Ovechkin had a two game suspension for boarding Campbell, to me that seemed much less likely to be intentional than the Chara hit.

[B-Nads 0]

I'd like to open the door up to debate to see if I'm crazy, or if you misunderstood my original intention.

Perhaps a bit of the latter, but after reading the rest of your reply, and my post, I think we are in complete agreement on the issue. I agree completely that there needs to a pro-active move in the NHL to stop the head-hunting. All we keep hearing is - ''one day, someone is gonna get killed or paralyzed, and that MAY get things changed''. I think it's safe to say we came as close to paralysis as possible with that hit, and yet there's nothing from the league - I' dhate to think it's because daddy doesn't want to hurt Gregory's chances at the play-offs...just that conflict of interests alone should be reason to have a Colin-ectomy in the NHL...especially considering it concerns other people's safety.

Pro-active - hell yeah. I have a child in hockey...the last thing I want hyim seeing is stuff like that. Accidents are one thing, but this seems to be becoming the norm.

[hamstercaster 2]

In no way am I generalizing the Quebecois lifestyle so much as the reactionary culture both good/bad amongst Habs fans (also including Leafs and Pens fans as the defensiveness is to a rediculous extent). There's nothing I like better than catching the French feed of a Habs game even though I don't know what the hell is being said.

Perfect. Thanks for the clarifications.

The only thing somewhat positive to come out of all this is Donald Fehr going to visit all the rinks to see how safe the padding is on the stranchions and have the rink owners add more padding wherever he feels there's not enough. I don't think that extra padding would have prevented this injury at all. The injury is partly the result of how Pacioretty's body contorted when he hit the stranchion and possibly also a result of the subsequent fall on the ice. Obviously the speed and the force of the impact played a major role in all of this. Someone was mentionning that they should simply take the glass off from between the benches. I don't think it would change much and you would still have to other problematic spots on the ice at the end of both teams benches anyway.

[Joshison 1]

And, Chara got a boarding penalty for a play that ended with Steve Montador (I think it was) going hard into the end wall.

It was Montador, but if you saw the play you would realize that it was a bullshit call.

[trevor13478 1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBgP07VX7A4

this is the only video i could find of the chara hit on montador, it's the first play on the video. Terrible call.

here's the Kubina elbow on Bolland for those who haven't seen it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGLoXMmwzBU

[RadioGaGa 162]

Yeah, on second view...that isn't as bad as the shortened version I saw earlier...all TSN had was Montador going hard to the wall.

[hamstercaster 2]

Chara clearly hits Montador in the numbers. You see him bring his arms in and then extend them to give Montador a good push in the back which sends him flying. Had he not been able to protect himself he could have suffered the same consequences as those of Pacioretty. It looks benign when you look at it but the danger was there for another horrible accident to happen IMO. With what just happened in Montreal you'd think that he'd be more aware of the kind of damage he can do in certain areas of the rink.

Also, the Pacioretty incident means that any hit thrown by Chara remotly close to being illegal will be scrutinized.

As I hear more and more from the players accross the league, I'm beginning to find it harder and harder to defend Chara's hit on Pacioretty. Not saying he intended to hurt him that way, definitly not but I am beginning to think that he should have known better than to throw a big hit in that area.

[Joshison 1]

Yeah, on second view...that isn't as bad as the shortened version I saw earlier...all TSN had was Montador going hard to the wall.

ya I think it was a case of Chara being to strong, and refs having low tolerance for him right now.