As Flames fans we pretty much all view this as an awesome hit that turned the momentum back into Calgary's favour during that game.
I am just curious if this hit was made in the 2014/2015 season would it be deemed illegal? I don't believe Marleau sustained any major injuries from the hit and continued to play, however with the leagues new rules would this hit nowadays have given the Sharks a powerplay?
Last edited by DOOM; 09-11-2014 at 12:13 AM.
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This was probably my favorite iteration of the Flames post-04. Everyone in the prime of their careers, kicking ass, taking names, playing freewheeling hockey under Mike Keenan. If only they were a little tighter defensively, they could've done some things.
Phaneuf was once so fantastic...
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Originally Posted by jg13
Cujo!!!!
Just think, if we never had this shutout performance by 31 in the first place, Keenan probably doesn't hook Kiprusoff again in game 7.
Also, to answer Doom's original query... I think that hit is as devastating and clean today as I did then. Elbow is down, there isn't any charging, Sarich doesn't leave his feet, he just ####s up Marleau's day.
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Last edited by GreenLantern2814; 09-11-2014 at 12:26 AM.
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Love this hit and the way Sarich played. The only way I see them calling it a penalty now is if they thought he was deliberately targeting the head, which he wasn't. I'd hope it wouldn't be called, that's a terrific hit.
Also, Phaneuf looked pretty good back then... and I miss Flames playoff hockey.
Love this hit and the way Sarich played. The only way I see them calling it a penalty now is if they thought he was deliberately targeting the head, which he wasn't. I'd hope it wouldn't be called, that's a terrific hit.
Also, Phaneuf looked pretty good back then... and I miss Flames playoff hockey.
We'll be back. In a way, not being there is almost preferable to being there and getting thoroughly embarrassed/outclassed. Which, unfortunately, occurred in every playoff series post-04 except the one against the Ducks.
Detroit, SJ and Chicago were all devastating. Such an inconsistent group...
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Also, to answer Doom's original query... I think that hit is as devastating and clean today as I did then. Elbow is down, there isn't any charging, Sarich doesn't leave his feet, he just ####s up Marleau's day.
I actually think its an illegal hit.
Quote:
Rule 48 - Illegal Check to the Head
48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was avoidable, can be considered.
The head and not the shoulder seems to be the point of contact. Also, its not like Sarich tried to hit the shoulder and the head suddenly changed its position relative to the body. Therefore, in today's NHL I believe Sarich should've recognized that Marleau put himself in a vulnerable position and let off.
Rules aside I absolutely love the hit, and I want hits like this to be legal. I also loved how Phaneuf used to destroy people, but he usually left his feet in order to do so.
Therefore, in today's NHL I believe Sarich should've recognized that Marleau put himself in a vulnerable position and let off.
Sarich said he purposefully took a stride back to let Marleau think he was backing off and the moment Marleau puts his head down Sarich moves forward so he purposefully put Marleau in a vulnerable position. I'd say it's a penalty simply because those hits should be taken out, purposefully hitting a guy when you know his head will be down shortens careers.
No need for it, the Sharks kept possession and the hit only served to hurt Marleau despite how awsome it was from a Flames perspective. Watching a star player bleeding from his eyebrow and nose isn't fun, find a sneaky way to pinch and keep the puck in is a way better strategy than leveling a guy in an extremely vulnerable spot.
Sarich said he purposefully took a stride back to let Marleau think he was backing off and the moment Marleau puts his head down Sarich moves forward so he purposefully put Marleau in a vulnerable position. I'd say it's a penalty simply because those hits should be taken out, purposefully hitting a guy when you know his head will be down shortens careers.
No need for it, the Sharks kept possession and the hit only served to hurt Marleau despite how awsome it was from a Flames perspective. Watching a star player bleeding from his eyebrow and nose isn't fun, find a sneaky way to pinch and keep the puck in is a way better strategy than leveling a guy in an extremely vulnerable spot.
That hit was seven years ago. Marleau is fine. It's a violent game.
That hit re-energized the crowd and won the team the hockey game.
__________________ ”All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.”
Sarich said he purposefully took a stride back to let Marleau think he was backing off and the moment Marleau puts his head down Sarich moves forward so he purposefully put Marleau in a vulnerable position. I'd say it's a penalty simply because those hits should be taken out, purposefully hitting a guy when you know his head will be down shortens careers.
No need for it, the Sharks kept possession and the hit only served to hurt Marleau despite how awsome it was from a Flames perspective. Watching a star player bleeding from his eyebrow and nose isn't fun, find a sneaky way to pinch and keep the puck in is a way better strategy than leveling a guy in an extremely vulnerable spot.
No need for it? Sure, except when you consider that it completely changed the momentum of the game in the Flames favor, they got a powerplay out of it, scored 4 unanswered goals and went on to win a playoff game that they were otherwise likely well on their way to losing.
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The head and not the shoulder seems to be the point of contact. Also, its not like Sarich tried to hit the shoulder and the head suddenly changed its position relative to the body. Therefore, in today's NHL I believe Sarich should've recognized that Marleau put himself in a vulnerable position and let off.
The player putting himself into a vulnerable position prior to the hit is used as a reason to not give the hitting player additional discipline, not the other way around. Otherwise, they'd just be encouraging players to skate around in vulnerable positions because it would make any hit against them a guaranteed penalty.
There's pretty much no way a player can throw a hit against a player who is skating directly towards him without the head being the initial point of contact. Initial point of contact and principal point of contact are not necessarily the same thing. This was a body-on-body check. Marleau's body took the brunt of the impact.
Most of the hit-to-the-head suspensions are from the side, where it's easier to determine the head was targeted. The hits that are closest to the Sarich on Marleau hit are the Seabrook on Backes hit from the playoffs and the Myers on Zubrus hit in January.
The Seabrook hit was late, which the Sarich hit was not. Marleau still had the puck on his stick when Sarich first made contact.
The Myers hit shows a problem with the way a lot of younger defencemen have been taught to bodycheck. They're doing more of a football style hit where they accelerate vertically into the hit rather than a straight horizontal hit.
Look at the top of Myers' helmet before and after the hit. Before the hit, he's eye-level with the top of the boards. At the end of the hit, his hips are at the top of the boards. That means a lot of the force of the hit is vertical. It's a devastating way to hit because it drives up and through a player, and it works great if you hit the guy in the torso; but, if it's ill-timed, you drive all that force through the guy's head, which is what happened on the Myers' hit (although, Zubrus was uninjured).
Look at Sarich's helmet during the hit on Marleau, it's pretty much level the entire time, which means the force is mostly horizontal, so Marleau's body took the impact more evenly.
These three hits show what a fine line there is between a clean hit and a suspension-worthy hit, but I believe that the Sarich hit would still fall on side of being a clean hit.
Also, as a side note, it's interesting that the Flames had no players suspended last season, but during this offseason, they acquired 3 of the 39 players who did receive a suspension last season (they also got Westgarth last season a month after he was suspended in-season).
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I miss those days the dome was rocking everyone was pumped everyone in red, teams hated coming here. Cant wait till our prospects turn this city back into that!!!
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Revisiting the Sarich/Marleau hit
