My issue here isn’t really what Kassian did. I’d want a Flame to do the same. The most ridiculous part of all of this is the smear campaign by the media against Tkachuk. I honestly don’t believe his hits were dirty. The head was not targeted and the head was not the principle point of contact.
Nobody talked about the first hit on Kassian until they had to try and justify his actions. Oiler fans and media were embarrassed and wanted to spin Kassian into a victim.
Kassian was definitely targeted, but so what? As long as Tkachuk stays within the rules (which he did) he does not have to live up to some ridiculous code that hasn’t existed in the NHL outside of a few fringe 4th liners since the 80’s. It’s absolutely barbaric to expect a player to have to fight after throwing a perfectly clean and legal body check.
You know what’s more cowardly than not fighting? Grabbing an unwilling opponent from behind and proceeding to punch the crap out of him. THAT is gutless.
Oiler fans are morons. Absolutely without a doubt the stupidest group of human beings I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.
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