Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike F
Pay attention to Volchenkov's feet in the two hits.
In the hit on Marchand, he ends up with both skates off the ice, as he's exploding up towards the head.
In the hit on Ferland, they're coming out behind him, as he's driving through the hit. IMO, he's tucked the elbow and is trying to drive through a guy without any malicious intent. However, he was careless and ended up hitting Ferland right in head with his forearm, putting him out for the game. Regardless of intent, the result deserves a hearing.
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Disagree on tucking the elbow.
Watch the gif again and focus on his arm. Before making contact with Ferland's head, his elbow is already gone past 90 degrees and is pointing forward. It then recoils back a bit from the contact, but at the moment before contact you can see it is out and forward.
The guys that have been talking about his pivot have gotten it right, IMO.
As a defenseman (that missed a lot of guys), I can say that when you miss with a check, the natural tendency is to throw your arms out to try and make some contact. The result is that your body is moving away from the hit but the arms move into the other player.
That is not what happened here. He planted his body and turned his whole upper body into the hit. And he led with his arm/elbow.