Does Giordano get suspended for the hit on Aho? Update:No hearing scheduled - Per NHL

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

If Gio attempts a stick check, he would have been undressed by Aho who was close to pulling off the deke.

Gio did the right thing and executed it properly. Aho had his head down, his fault.

I don't understand why people keep saying this as if it is reasoning and justification for the hit.

Part of the move away from hits to the head, as initiated by the league, is to train players to better position themselves to avoid these types of hits. While the hit wasn't dirty or malicious, it is entirely reasonable to suggest that it wasn't the best course of action given the attention and concern that is being paid to concussions and head hits.

It is flat out wrong to suggest that it was, with 100% certainty, the best defensive move by Gio and that no other options were available. Some of the games best dmen over the years have not relied on this type of hit. Nik Lidstrom, Erik Karlsson, Dougie Hamilton, Scott Neidermeyer would have all handled the situation differently and I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't have been undressed and scored upon.

Nor do I think that the elimination of this type of hit means that hockey is forever ruined. It just means that to protect players' long term safety, some things that were previously deemed acceptable will need to be phased out of the game. It isn't even a matter of dirty or intentional, it is just a matter of safety.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Locke

I agree, but I just hate the idea of taking this kind of hit out of the game, that was a perfect hit. He separated man from puck in a dangerous area as allowed as per the rules of the game.

I dislike the idea that he was punished and will be summarily punished again due to some political agenda.

Do you believe the efforts to reduce head injuries qualifies as a "political agenda"?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Of course they were. I never suggested anything different, and one action does not somehow justify or reduce the seriousness of the other. The League is not perfect. The game is not perfect, so we must live with the unfortunate consequences of these issues which are very difficult to resolve.

*EDIT* And again, where did I ever "criticize" Giordano. I thought I was pretty clear in stating that I consider this to be a fairly unavoidable accident.

I apologize, you did not criticize Gio. Thats my mistake.

I'm just remembering watching it and I see a great hit on a dangerous player trying a great play and then the unavoidable fight after a clean hit, which is the thing that I hate, but thats it.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

I think he'll get one game and I don't have a problem with it. I don't think there was any intent, but I think in order for the sport to take concussions and head shots as seriously as it needs to be - you will see, from time to time, someone get a game or two even when it was perhaps more the fault of the "hittee" for putting themselves in a vulnerable position.

Originally Posted by Wild GM

Eventually it probably gets pretty close to this. Sports is going to have to evolve and move beyond a lot of the physicality that is part of it today.

Respectfully, I disagree. There needs to be some responsibility taken by players for their OWN safety on the ice by not putting themselves in dangerous situations in key areas of the ice. With more and more focus on the "home plate area" around the league, I think any player should expect bodily contact if they skate into that area. I also think defenders need to be given the ability to defend that area physically, because there's so little they can do as it is with all the restrictions to other types of defending (stick checking/hooking, pushing guys out of an area is now interference etc.).

Now I've moved away from my previously held beliefs that fighting was a necessary part of the game, but hockey can be somewhat chaotic at times and fights will still happen in the flow of the game. Same can be said for head contact, probably more so because of the accidental nature of plays like Gio's. You can't police chaos, and you certainly can't eliminate head contact from the game altogether. Call a penalty in the game for illegal contact to the head if you will, but a suspension on a play like this sends the wrong message. I think it actually hurts the integrity of the game by telling defenders they don't have a right to their own ice. Basically you would have him do a whole bullfighter olé and attempt to take the puck off his stick with a stick check. Gio had a right to his ice, and he stood his ground. He didn't do anything dirty or intentional.

This is coming from someone who is deeply concerned about concussion issues in all pro sports, but when guys are skating around so fast, all it takes is a lost edge and guys will go tumbling into the boards. Do we put padding on the boards to eliminate concussion risk in that situation? At some point you have to understand the inherent risk of a sport. It's not as though this is a player targeting a head or punching him repeatedly in a fight. This is a hockey play that resulted in unfortunate contact, nothing more.

[GreenLantern2814]

Aho is so unaware of Gio's presence in the middle of the ice that Gio is able to come to a complete stop for nearly a full second.

Aho attempts a dodge, too late, and gets clocked.

The penalty should be more than enough. It was a headshot. It's not a predatory hit, IMO, more an unfortunate situation. But he undeniably hits Aho in the head, and he should have been thrown out of the game for it. That's where it should end.

Don't hit people in the head.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I don't understand why people keep saying this as if it is reasoning and justification for the hit.

Part of the move away from hits to the head, as initiated by the league, is to train players to better position themselves to avoid these types of hits. While the hit wasn't dirty or malicious, it is entirely reasonable to suggest that it wasn't the best course of action given the attention and concern that is being paid to concussions and head hits.

It is flat out wrong to suggest that it was, with 100% certainty, the best defensive move by Gio and that no other options were available. Some of the games best dmen over the years have not relied on this type of hit. Nik Lidstrom, Erik Karlsson, Dougie Hamilton, Scott Neidermeyer would have all handled the situation differently and I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't have been undressed and scored upon.

Nor do I think that the elimination of this type of hit means that hockey is forever ruined. It just means that to protect players' long term safety, some things that were previously deemed acceptable will need to be phased out of the game. It isn't even a matter of dirty or intentional, it is just a matter of safety.

The reasoning and justification is that it was a legal play aimed at separating the player from the puck.

Your suggestion something else may have worked is pure conjecture with the speed and positioning of the players. That was a high danger scoring chance from a highly skilled player and Gio neutralized it within the boundaries of the rules. The fact one of the primary referees was square to the play and didn't raise his arm speaks to that.

If Aho had his head up and was looking where he was going, you might have a point. But he wasn't and his having his head down, zero awareness of where he was going and changing the angle of his upper body away from Gio as he cut in all lead to the severity and angle bringing his head into contact.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Locke

I agree, but I just hate the idea of taking this kind of hit out of the game, that was a perfect hit. He separated man from puck in a dangerous area as allowed as per the rules of the game.

I dislike the idea that he was punished and will be summarily punished again due to some political agenda.

It wasn't a perfect hit because he caught both knee and head.

I think perhaps he could have had better positioning leading up to the hit. He was recovering to get back into the play and kind of ended up standing still in the slot against a moving opponent.

Aho tried to walk around him, and Giordano reacted by getting a piece of what he could.

I wouldn't be surprised by no supplemental discipline, but a short suspension wouldn't surprise me either.

Cogliano was just suspended two games for a hit that was pretty meh on the "suspend him!" scale, so based on that standard I think it could go either way.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

The reasoning and justification is that it was a legal play aimed at separating the player from the puck.

Your suggestion something else may have worked is pure conjecture with the speed and positioning of the players. That was a high danger scoring chance from a highly skilled player and Gio neutralized it within the boundaries of the rules. The fact one of the primary referees was square to the play and didn't raise his arm speaks to that.

If Aho had his head up and was looking where he was going, you might have a point. But he wasn't and his having his head down, zero awareness of where he was going and changing the angle of his upper body away from Gio as he cut in all lead to the severity and angle bringing his head into contact.

So you're saying Gio hit him in the head. That means he should have been ejected. He shouldn't be suspended.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

So you're saying Gio hit him in the head. That means he should have been ejected. He shouldn't be suspended.

I'm saying:

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Aho is so unaware of Gio's presence in the middle of the ice that Gio is able to come to a complete stop for nearly a full second.

Aho attempts a dodge, too late, and gets clocked.

The penalty should be more than enough. It was a headshot. It's not a predatory hit, IMO, more an unfortunate situation. But he undeniably hits Aho in the head, and he should have been thrown out of the game for it. That's where it should end.

Don't hit people in the head.

These two things completely contradict each other and imo invalidate your take.

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I don't understand why people keep saying this as if it is reasoning and justification for the hit.

Part of the move away from hits to the head, as initiated by the league, is to train players to better position themselves to avoid these types of hits. While the hit wasn't dirty or malicious, it is entirely reasonable to suggest that it wasn't the best course of action given the attention and concern that is being paid to concussions and head hits.

It is flat out wrong to suggest that it was, with 100% certainty, the best defensive move by Gio and that no other options were available. Some of the games best dmen over the years have not relied on this type of hit. Nik Lidstrom, Erik Karlsson, Dougie Hamilton, Scott Neidermeyer would have all handled the situation differently and I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't have been undressed and scored upon.

Nor do I think that the elimination of this type of hit means that hockey is forever ruined. It just means that to protect players' long term safety, some things that were previously deemed acceptable will need to be phased out of the game. It isn't even a matter of dirty or intentional, it is just a matter of safety.

A few seconds before the Gio hit, we saw what happened to Hamilton when he tried to separate Aho from the puck without any physical contact. Hamilton may not have been fully undressed on the play but there was a lot of equipment on the ice after that play.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

These two things completely contradict each other and imo invalidate your take.

You have to maintain control of your stick or it's high sticking. If you can show me some footage of this where Gio's shoulder is not in Aho's face, I'll concede he doesn't hit him in the head.

These leagues are facing down class action lawsuits with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. Players are hanging themselves and shooting themselves in the chest at 40 years old.

Ejecting Mark Giordano from a Sunday afternoon game in Carolina in January is a small price to pay if your goal is to prevent those tragedies from happening, as much as a pro league could.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

You have to maintain control of your stick or it's high sticking. If you can show me some footage of this where Gio's shoulder is not in Aho's face, I'll concede he doesn't hit him in the head.

Again, you already connected the dot that Aho was trying to move at the last moment changing the position of his upper body. That is what (incidentally) brought his head into contact the way it was.

You don't need to conceded his head doesn't come into contact because it does as part of the sequence.

Your error is in your inability to grasp it's as a result of Aho's movement and decision making on the play.

[Poe969]

So when would we find out if there's a suspension or not?

[N-E-B]

Call it victim blaming all you want, I don't care. This isn't a murder trial, it's an NHL hit.

The players out there have to take responsibility for themselves too. They're grown men and they should be capable of doing that. When you cut to the middle of the ice with your head down you're going to get rocked and eventually you're going to get hurt.

It's unfortunate Aho was hurt but hopefully he learns from this. It's absurd to expect players to rely on others (other than refs) to stay safe. The players have to protect themselves too.

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I don't understand why people keep saying this as if it is reasoning and justification for the hit.

Part of the move away from hits to the head, as initiated by the league, is to train players to better position themselves to avoid these types of hits. While the hit wasn't dirty or malicious, it is entirely reasonable to suggest that it wasn't the best course of action given the attention and concern that is being paid to concussions and head hits.

It is flat out wrong to suggest that it was, with 100% certainty, the best defensive move by Gio and that no other options were available. Some of the games best dmen over the years have not relied on this type of hit. Nik Lidstrom, Erik Karlsson, Dougie Hamilton, Scott Neidermeyer would have all handled the situation differently and I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't have been undressed and scored upon.

Nor do I think that the elimination of this type of hit means that hockey is forever ruined. It just means that to protect players' long term safety, some things that were previously deemed acceptable will need to be phased out of the game. It isn't even a matter of dirty or intentional, it is just a matter of safety.

Keep in mind that Gio was already given 5 + game misconduct for the hit, so he's already been punished. I think suspensions should be for things that are intentional. Like Tkachuk's two suspensions this season, the result of the fouls wasn't anywhere near as bad but he deserved to be suspended because he was a dumbass.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

Again, you already connected the dot that Aho was trying to move at the last moment changing the position of his upper body. That is what (incidentally) brought his head into contact the way it was.

You don't need to conceded his head doesn't come into contact because it does as part of the sequence.

Your error is in your inability to grasp it's as a result of Aho's movement and decision making on the play.

I think it is completely justifiable to see this similar to accidental stick infractions. However, this point of yours regarding Aho's "decision" interests me: are you suggesting that he "decided to put his head in the position it was when Giordano hit it? I would call this instinctive if anything.

[HUSKER4FLAMES]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I don't understand why people keep saying this as if it is reasoning and justification for the hit.

Part of the move away from hits to the head, as initiated by the league, is to train players to better position themselves to avoid these types of hits. While the hit wasn't dirty or malicious, it is entirely reasonable to suggest that it wasn't the best course of action given the attention and concern that is being paid to concussions and head hits.

It is flat out wrong to suggest that it was, with 100% certainty, the best defensive move by Gio and that no other options were available. Some of the games best dmen over the years have not relied on this type of hit. Nik Lidstrom, Erik Karlsson, Dougie Hamilton, Scott Neidermeyer would have all handled the situation differently and I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't have been undressed and scored upon.

Nor do I think that the elimination of this type of hit means that hockey is forever ruined. It just means that to protect players' long term safety, some things that were previously deemed acceptable will need to be phased out of the game. It isn't even a matter of dirty or intentional, it is just a matter of safety.

I find it funny you say this and name Dougie Hamilton as someone who wouldn't make this hit and wouldn't give up the goal but last night in the post game interview Dougie says he didn't get a good look at the hit because he got dangled, on this play.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I think it is completely justifiable to see this similar to accidental stick infractions. However, this point of yours regarding Aho's "decision" interests me: are you suggesting that he "decided to put his head in the position it was when Giordano hit it? I would call this instinctive if anything.

I would say he made several poor decisions on the play:

- cutting into the middle with his head down

- having no awareness of who's around him while in motion

- seeing Gio at the last second and turing his upper body in an attempt to avoid full impact



I think all of those things lead to the head coming into contact incidental to the hit making the severity of it worse

[JohnnyTitan]

Probably been said before. Probably will be said again. BUT:

Gio was standing still !!

Elbow down. Standing still. 98% of the contact was due to Aho's momentum / speed which Aho controls, NOT Gio.

If Gio is suspended I suggest Flames players start lowering their heads and running into divisional rivals. Would be great to have Daughty and/or Pavalski suspended because they were standing still and "Hit" us in the head!

[JohnnyTitan]

Another type of incident where I often "Blame the victum" is the turning your back on the forecheck when against the boards with the puck.

Players DO have a responsibility for protecting themselves. We've all seen a nasty looking hit from behind that was actually going to be initiated as a simple hit along the boards but is made worse because the defender turned his body.

Yes players shouldn't hit from behind or take head shots...but dammit players also need to keep their head's up and not turn their backs to incoming hits!!