Quote:
Originally Posted by StrykerSteve
He avoided the hit, don't see an issue here. Is he supposed to just let himself get nailed?
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Yes he's suppose to absorb the hit or try to throw a hit himself. He had plenty of time to throw a hit back and try to bounce Carcillo off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiran403
I don't get why it's cheap to avoid the hit. If you see the guy coming and you are able to get rid of the puck, why would you stick around and get checked after if you can avoid it?
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It's not cheap to avoid a hit. It's cheap to duck a hit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by topfiverecords
If you're going to check someone in that position and there's a chance that he ducks and you go face first into the boards, then maybe you should be taking that into consideration. Can't the hitter take some risk and responsibility?
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The thing is you don't want to take hitting out of the game yet you want to ensure player safety. If ducking is allowed or a player is allowed to cross-check someone in the face in defense of being hit, then players will think twice before throwing a hard bodycheck. That's not what the NHL wants. That's not what I want.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
I don't have a problem with Nail making defensive moves either. Ducking or keeping his stick up is alright with me. I remember Darryl and others saying it's partly on the onus of the player to keep his head up and that's what Nail did.
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I don't think Darryl was encouraging ducking when he was talking about the players needing to keep their head up. The problem is that it goes both ways. What if Sven went in for a hit and someone crosschecked him in the face giving him a concussion?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
Turtling in that situation is a good way to blow someone's knees out. I get wanting to get out of the way, but sometimes you have to man up and take the hit.
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Agreed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TorqueDog
People got on Marchand's case when he did it against Vancouver in the SCF. [shrug]
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Despite everything I've said, I'm willing to excuse Yakapov for this one. I have a problem with ducking but I can excuse a player acting out of natural instincts. It looked like Yakupov was trying to get out of the way and then had an "oh ####" moment where he realized he couldn't get out of the way and did what was natural. Marchand, on the other hand, purposely waited for the opposing player to come near him and then purposely tried to flip them over. He did this on more than one occasion and it wasn't a natural reaction at all but rather a move he's made countless of times with the intention of ducking the hit and flipping someone over. Very dangerous.