Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
It's really hard to hit guys as it is. If you make it so that any head contact is illegal, you are definitely legislating open ice hits out of the game, because there's just no way to know for sure that there won't be head contact when you commit to a hit.
I don't want Dal Colle to be immune to being hit in that situation. I don't want him to get a free pass to carry the puck out of the zone, unless someone can poke the puck off his stick, just because he's got his head down. That feels like the wrong outcome.
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I see a small distinction between these two statements. On the first I would disagree and say that Dal Colle
should be immune from a hit in this situation. The second statement is not the same and I'm not asking him to get a free pass to skate the puck out of the zone with his head down.
This hit occurred because the puck was in his feet and he was looking down to find it. He did not have control and thus was not a threat to carry it out of the zone until he did gain control. So in this situation my feeling is the hit is unnecessary and there were other options to take the puck away. If a guy clearly has control of the puck and is skating with his head down that is a different situation.
I don't know how you enforce it because I agree some players will take advantage and try to draw a penalty. It would also be tough for the ref to determine intent (to either draw a penalty or to hit the head) so maybe the solution is to review all head shot penalties (either real time or after the game) and take further action if necessary.