EQF (2) Montreal Canadiens vs (7) Ottawa Senators (Senators win 4-1).

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Dogbert

Right. Cracking someone's skull and leaving them bleeding on a stretcher deserves no penalty or suspension, but talking about it to the media afterwards should be punished severely.

What happened to the Dogbert that thought the NHL had a crusade against hitting and was making the game soft?

If this hit was reversed Montreal fans would have been praising the clean hit, and setting the tone in the playoffs.

Clean hit, unfortunate outcome. Maclean was spot on.

[sa226]

Way late on this. But I'll weigh in anyways.

As others have said clean hit with ugly consequences. Everything was body on body. The snapping of the head was a result of it being attached to the body. Maybe the shoulder made contact with the jaw, but it was tough to tell.

To me the only potential dirty part of the hit was that it was a blind side. He didn't see him coming and paid the consequences. Should the Ott player let up in that case? Debatable. First of all its Hockey, second of all its the freaking playoffs.

Its been awhile but from what I remember as a kid when I first played contact hockey (peewee I think) The biggest thing you learn, is how to protect yourself, anticipate contact, leanr body position and essentially keep your head up. More importantly you learn how to not put your teammates in a position to have to make a choice between a turnover and getting creamed.

To me thats all on Diaz. We get a good angle on his sightlines on the pass. Eller doesn't have much of a choice, he is feeling the upside pressure and has to take the pass otherwise its a blueline turnover.

From a pure hockey standpoint thats clean play and a beauty of a hit. With unfortunate results.

The debate on this play belongs in discussions about violence in hockey, protecting players etc etc. Which quite frankly, I'm bored of.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by gargamel

You're right, but the Senators did the same thing over the Karlsson injury earlier this season. Intent only seems to matter when it's your guy who hurts someone else.

Fair, but you can't discount the Matt Cooke factor impacting that one. He hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt in any situation given his track record.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by valo403

I used to be a big Prust fan. Now I think he's firmly entrenched himself as one of the least classy loser players in the NHL. I don't know what his deal is, but for the last while he's gone out of his way to be a dbag.

Same here. With this and his comments during the lockout where he sounded like a privileged prima-donna, I've definitely soured on the guy. He's not the humble 4th line energy-guy he used to be during his 1st stint with the Flames. Ever since he spent some time on Broadway, got himself some fame and supermodels, he's started to turn into Sean Avery.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

What happened to the Dogbert that thought the NHL had a crusade against hitting and was making the game soft?

lol! The pussification of hockey is a bad thing!

...unless my guy gets hurt.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by sa226

Way late on this. But I'll weigh in anyways.

As others have said clean hit with ugly consequences. Everything was body on body. The snapping of the head was a result of it being attached to the body. Maybe the shoulder made contact with the jaw, but it was tough to tell.

To me the only potential dirty part of the hit was that it was a blind side. He didn't see him coming and paid the consequences. Should the Ott player let up in that case? Debatable. First of all its Hockey, second of all its the freaking playoffs.

Its been awhile but from what I remember as a kid when I first played contact hockey (peewee I think) The biggest thing you learn, is how to protect yourself, anticipate contact, leanr body position and essentially keep your head up. More importantly you learn how to not put your teammates in a position to have to make a choice between a turnover and getting creamed.

To me thats all on Diaz. We get a good angle on his sightlines on the pass. Eller doesn't have much of a choice, he is feeling the upside pressure and has to take the pass otherwise its a blueline turnover.

From a pure hockey standpoint thats clean play and a beauty of a hit. With unfortunate results.

The debate on this play belongs in discussions about violence in hockey, protecting players etc etc. Which quite frankly, I'm bored of.

For me the answer to the above is no because it was a north / south hit for the most part. The impacted player really needs to protect himself from the potential of a north / south hit at the minimum. East / West, I'd be much more on board with the Senator needing to give some thought to a blind side.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by sa226

Way late on this. But I'll weigh in anyways.

As others have said clean hit with ugly consequences. Everything was body on body. The snapping of the head was a result of it being attached to the body. Maybe the shoulder made contact with the jaw, but it was tough to tell.

To me the only potential dirty part of the hit was that it was a blind side. He didn't see him coming and paid the consequences. Should the Ott player let up in that case? Debatable. First of all its Hockey, second of all its the freaking playoffs.

Its been awhile but from what I remember as a kid when I first played contact hockey (peewee I think) The biggest thing you learn, is how to protect yourself, anticipate contact, leanr body position and essentially keep your head up. More importantly you learn how to not put your teammates in a position to have to make a choice between a turnover and getting creamed.

To me thats all on Diaz. We get a good angle on his sightlines on the pass. Eller doesn't have much of a choice, he is feeling the upside pressure and has to take the pass otherwise its a blueline turnover.

From a pure hockey standpoint thats clean play and a beauty of a hit. With unfortunate results.

The debate on this play belongs in discussions about violence in hockey, protecting players etc etc. Which quite frankly, I'm bored of.

Except that it wasnt really "blindside" other than Eller had his head down...something the attacking player has no control over.

If they want to call this hit illegal going forward...well you can consider the fundamentals of the game changed as well and they seriously may as well just make all contact illegal.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

If Gryba plays tonight I'd be scared for his life in Montreal.

This has the recipe for Todd Bertuzzi written all over it.

And there better be extra security because Hab fans are a pretty dumb bunch.

Dude is 6'4 and 220, I think he'll be okay.

Who can the Habs even think of sending after him? Prust would get his teeth fed to him if he tried taking on this guy.

I agree with a previous poster. If I were Gryba I'd be finishing each and every single one of my checks tonight.

Let the Habs fans hate him, soak it in while his team is burying a mountain of rubber behind Price.

[sa226]

I agree. Maybe blindside is a bad word for it. I was trying to allude to the desire from the league to allow the players to protect themselves. Basically, I think there is an understanding that a player is much more able to protect themselves when they know a hit is coming. Similar to how opposing players will shout to or tap a player they are about to hit on the boards. Or how players are starting to let up for a hit along the boards when they see a guy is in a vulnerable position.

That sort of stuff is happening. Granted its is boards contact.

That was the only point I was trying to make. My opinion stands that that was a completely clean hit. An ugly play that was the victim of a lapse in the fundamentals of contact hockey.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Except that it wasnt really "blindside" other than Eller had his head down...something the attacking player has no control over.

If they want to call this hit illegal going forward...well you can consider the fundamentals of the game changed as well and they seriously may as well just make all contact illegal.

^ exactly. It shouldn't become the responsibility of everyone else in the NHL to help a player keep his head up.

Really, this reminds me of the Weight hit on Sutter back in '08. It was a clean hit where Sutter had his head down and got absolutely destroyed. People accused Weight of targetting the head but the reality is that Sutter had his head down and was stretching himself out in an unsafe way and setting himself up to get hurt.

It sucks to blame the victim but professional hockey players who get caught with their head down should know better.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Locke

Dude is 6'4 and 220, I think he'll be okay.

Who can the Habs even think of sending after him? Prust would get his teeth fed to him if he tried taking on this guy.

I agree with a previous poster. If I were Gryba I'd be finishing each and every single one of my checks tonight.

Let the Habs fans hate him, soak it in while his team is burying a mountain of rubber behind Price.

I don't think he's emplying that he's going to be challenged to fair fist fights 1x1, so his size is irrelevant. I think he's worried about a mob attack from fans.

[transplant99]

Suspension forthcoming...unreal.

[sun]

Damn, Maclean was a mean looking mother####er back in the day.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

I don't think he's emplying that he's going to be challenged to fair fist fights 1x1, so his size is irrelevant. I think he's worried about a mob attack from fans.

Has that ever happened before? Chara got out of dodge fairly easily and he damned near killed Patches.

I guess I would be worried about a 'Bertuzzi' incident, but theres not really anything you can do to guard against that.

And as much as it sucks that Eller got hurt, watching that hit was awesome! He got rocked! Its one of the guilty pleasures of watching something like that live is that; for that short period of time you can enjoy it. Its when you realize that the kid is really hurt that you have to stand back and think about it.

But for that split second? Woohoo....what a hit!

[sun]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Suspension forthcoming...unreal.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Suspension forthcoming...unreal.

What? Thats bull. You can suspend a guy for being bigger and stronger and a clean hit?

This is a very bad precedent for the game. He got his 5 and a game, leave it there.

[Ashasx]

Wow. 2 games.

This league is a joke.

[Hair bleach and Vodka]

Yeah 2 games. Shanny is at it again.

[Locke]

2 games? For what? Lets see your video explanation of this one Shanny.

[transplant99]

2 games....i just do not understand and will be listening to Shannys explanation closely...cause i dont think one exists that will satisfy myself anyhow.

This, quite simply, is not the game i grew up watching and have loved my whole life.

Sorry for Eller no doubt, but the risks inherent in the game are part of its allure.