[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.

Part of Neal's suspension should have been an awkward and televised conversation with Crosby about what happens when a player recklessly cheap-shots another player in the head.

As for Thornton, he should have to go visit Savard and they can have their conversation in a dark room.

Supporting and defending one’s players and teammates are ingrained in hockey culture. So it was unusual on Thursday when Boston defenseman Andrew Ference did not back up his teammate Daniel Paille, who was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for a blindside hit to the head of Dallas forward Raymond Sawada.

Sawada reportedly sustained a broken nose and a separated shoulder. The N.H.L. suspended Paille for four games without pay under Rule 48, which bans blindside and lateral hits to the head. Interviewed immediately after the game, Ference said Paille had been wrong to deliver that hit.

Last season Marc Savard, a top Bruins player, was the victim of a similar hit by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke. Ference, who has had relatively low penalty totals through his career, was angry that the Penguins’ captain, Sidney Crosby, who spoke against head shots after a recent concussion, was silent when Cooke knocked out Savard.

“I thought a lot about that,” Ference told reporters on Thursday, saying he wanted to be a good teammate but not a phony.

“I mean, it’s a bad hit, right?” Ference said on NESN, the television network owned by the Bruins and the Red Sox. “That’s what they’re trying to get rid of, and you can’t be a hypocrite and complain about it when it happens to you, and say it’s fine when your teammate does it.”

Later on the NHL Network, after speaking with Paille, Ference said, “he feels awful about it, and I’m sure that’s the same sentiment as anybody that has one of those hits.” But Ference added that “it’s a hit that hurt the guy” and “you’ve got to get rid of it — it’s dangerous.”

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/20...teammates-hit/

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