Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbob
What you are hearing is exactly what the media campaign wants you to hear. That campaign was very pro Oilers. Mike Johnson and Bob McKenzie both said there was nothing wrong with the hit, which is why they weren't quoted in all the articles penned by the Oiler writers. You know what, they accomplished exactly what they wanted because in the mid afternoon you had radio people from the east talking about head shots, which none of the hits were. Kudos to the Oilers, their spin on things was masterful and on point. There are some countries that are giving them the slow clap and head nod.
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It’s the way media works. The media asks a bunch of players for their comments, and only the comments that align with the writer’s intention are actually posted.
The writer says “here are 5 or 6 players that say it was dirty”, but doesn’t mention the 50 that had no issue with it.
The NHL has ruled that they were clean. If the refs had given a 2 minute minor penalty on the first hit, would we have complained? Maybe only slightly. But Kassian had the puck, Tkachuk didn’t hit has head as the principle point of contact, certainly didn’t target the head (that argument would be completely looney as Tkachuk hit with his lower torso), didn’t leave his feet, and the charging rule is pretty ambiguous, but Tkachuk did glide into Kassian after taking a few strides.
The argument that Tkachuk came out of position - and that’s why it’s dirty, is 100% bizarre. If he’s out of position, take advantage of it by passing the puck to the position he’s supposed to be covering. The arguement that he was out of position doesn’t seem to hold up, because what Tkachuk did (legally) was very effective.