Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I think we all agree here, and that is hugely problematic for Scheifele who seems to know this as well.
But he does start gliding at full speed and loading up for the hit a good 25–30ft out.
Not quite. There was no path period for Scheifele to prevent the goal, which makes this play all the more egregious.
This looks like apologetics to me. I cannot fathom how anyone can honestly say that Scheifele was letting up, or that he didn't launch into the hit.
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Whether he was gliding out or moving his legs isn't an issue for me 25 ft out. Maybe he was gassed? I would think it would have been worse had he kept moving his legs (though maybe he would have been able to stop the puck). I don't think gliding vs skating hard necessarily proves more or less motivation at injuring. If I could see that he was 'loading up for the hit' 25ft out, I would agree that this was malicious. I think that logically - with or without intent - that it looks about the same from 25 feet out given what we see in the replays. Whether he was head-hunting, or whether he was 100% focused on stopping the goal from happening, it would look the same. I don't see it as a 'run' to try and blow a guy up - I see it at that point - up until about 1 metre out (more or less) - that he was trying to get into the play. I don't see how one can look at that and see it as 'loading up for the hit'. I just re-watched it again - I still don't see how that is 100% loading up for the hit at that point, or simply doing his best to reach the front of the net before the puck gets there. 25 feet is a long way off at that point.
Egregious? Absolutely. Definitely a reckless hit. My argument is that it wasn't malicious, or predatory. I do not think he intentionally WANTED or even MEANT to 'destroy' Evans there. I try to put myself in Schiefele's shoes, and figure out what I would do at that speed. Of course he is backchecking hard and trying to stop the puck from going in - which was the correct course of action. It was the correct course of action until the very last moment when it was simply too late. When viewing the replay in real time, it is a half second at most, but the velocity in which he is traveling makes it (IMO) difficult to adjust to at this point. I think that it was 100% reckless.
Why so dismissive here with your last comment. If you are 100% not in the mood to actually formulate an argument here, then no reply would be better. Trust me, I do not consider it a 'win' if someone just gives up on replying. By dismissing my view as an exercise in apologetics is patently wrong. Why? Because I didn't just say: "I can't imagine he really tried to destroy Evans there." I actually provided evidence on what I based my argument on, and you simply dismissing it as my argument being disingenuous makes me then conclude that you have no interest in actually bothering to look at that 'evidence' and decide for yourself. I may not be right - I 100% acknowledge that I may not be right - but your counter is more dismissive than it should be.
Once again, I see that at the last instant, Shiefele turns his skates sideways, and you can see in the replays that it creates a fairly decent snow shower that obscures quite a lot of both their skates. You could have instead made your argument around that the shower would have happened even without an attempt of slowing down, just from the physical load it created by the sudden impact. That's a much better counter-argument than insinuating that my character is somehow flawed that I somehow don't see Schiefele as purposefully trying to injure Evans here, and would lie in order to prove it. It doesn't make me necessarily right (as I have stated), but it makes neither my argument, or more importantly, me personally, as disingenuous.