MacDermid smokes Kase with a heavy hit

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by sempuki

The one where it's 2017 and we know brain damage doesn't heal like a broken bone. The hit was illegal, and late to boot. You'll get away with late hits all the time along the boards, but going for an open ice hit you need to be in control.

I don't care if Kase closed his eyes as he crossed the blue line, if you can't control your hit to make sure you're not causing permanent brain damage, you need to back off your hit. MacDermid poorly timed his hit and didn't line Kase up properly to ensure shoulder to shoulder. If he wants to ruin two careers he can make the hit. If he wants to just put himself out of position he can not make such a ####ty check in the first place.

This isn't about hurt feelings, it's about life long brain damage here.

There is literally no way to control whether you give someone permanent brain damage other than to never, ever hit someone. Being that hockey is a contact sport, this is still going to happen from time to time regardless of whether or not it's a clean hit.

Guys, I hate that concussions occur, but they are somewhat random and can result from clean plays too. Some guys get rocked and never have even the slightest concern of a concussion. Others take a slight bump and are out for weeks to months. There is a LOT of variability in how and where concussions occur depending on the individual that is getting hit, but we have to be careful not to assign too much blame to players who are playing the game straight up. We've taken out the predatory hits to the head. We've largely removed fighting which was an unnecessarily routine exercise in head trauma. If we take out plays like MacDermid's then you have to consider making hockey a non-contact sport.

Contact creates the risk for concussions, full stop. Any contact, even clean contact, can create a concussion if the circumstances are right. Heck, even soccer players have a large risk for concussions and that's a sport where if you so much as breathe on an opponent you're given a yellow card.

If you're an athlete and you're very concerned about brain damage, try taking up golf instead. You still get paid pretty well and there's literally almost no risk of head trauma.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by TheFlamesVan

Please see post #24.

Also I guess my bottom line point is if open ice checking is legal, this is going to happen. If you want to remove it, that's a different conversation. Granted that conversation might be worth having with today's information about brain damage and the increase in game speed.

It's not about removing open ice hitting. It's about removing hits to the head that result in brain injuries.

[DJones]

I'm completely neutral on this one.

Combination of keep your head up buddy and you know people are going to freak out nowadays haha.

[N26]

I too am fascinated by the divergence of opinion on this play. It really is a testament to how people can see the same thing (in slo-mo and as many times as they want no less) and see very different things.

I see 0-2 game suspension. Expecting 0.

[sempuki]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

There is literally no way to control whether you give someone permanent brain damage other than to never, ever hit someone. Being that hockey is a contact sport, this is still going to happen from time to time regardless of whether or not it's a clean hit.

Guys, I hate that concussions occur, but they are somewhat random and can result from clean plays too. Some guys get rocked and never have even the slightest concern of a concussion. Others take a slight bump and are out for weeks to months. There is a LOT of variability in how and where concussions occur depending on the individual that is getting hit, but we have to be careful not to assign too much blame to players who are playing the game straight up. We've taken out the predatory hits to the head. We've largely removed fighting which was an unnecessarily routine exercise in head trauma. If we take out plays like MacDermid's then you have to consider making hockey a non-contact sport.

Contact creates the risk for concussions, full stop. Any contact, even clean contact, can create a concussion if the circumstances are right. Heck, even soccer players have a large risk for concussions and that's a sport where if you so much as breathe on an opponent you're given a yellow card.

If you're an athlete and you're very concerned about brain damage, try taking up golf instead. You still get paid pretty well and there's literally almost no risk of head trauma.

MacDermid didn't time his hit or line it up properly -- he had the choice to bail on an open ice hit, or catch the guy in the head. He chose the latter, and got him right in the head. You're responsible for your stick regardless of how intentional. You're called for boarding even the guy turns his back on you. And you should be called for hitting a guy in the head even if you're bad at open ice hitting, or he's admiring his pass.

If you're telling me all sport involved naked hits to the head willfully causing concussions, or there's an underclass of people who voluntarily turn their brains to mush in exchange for the *chance* to make millions, then I stop watching sport. Luckily I don't buy that for a second. Head hits are illegal and enforceable, just like high sticking and boarding.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by manwiches

While in this new environment, that is a suspension worthy hit, i don't think it was dirty.

Kase takes the puck, goes through the neutral zone, head down, crosses the zone, passes the puck, and stares at his pass. By the time he had released his pass, MacDermid had already committed to the standing him up, seeing Kase isn't looking, and also not to allow him to dance in unimpeded.

It's a play I used to do 100 times when i played growing up, and my coach would have benched me had I not stepped up and impeded a player coming in like that. Yes, sometimes my shoulder accidentally hit the head, but the majority of the time, it was shoulder on shoulder (which I always aimed for in that situation, as the chest is not a target as the player is turned). While I don't think MacDermid's intent was to injure, i believe he tried to go for the shoulder/chest. Kase leaning over after his pass didn't help, and also getting blindsided and having his momentum halted didn't help I'm sure.

Yeah, I did this exact hits dozens (if not hundreds) of times. and I was almost always WAAAAY taller than the kid I was hitting, so I ended up hitting their heads a lot.

I wonder how many collective IQ points I deducted from humanity.

[EVERLAST]

Do the refs need to start telling the players at center ice " protect yourselves at ALL times"?
How many times do we see this ? I think Kase is guilty of admiring his work but I think all ducks players need to be reminded they don't exactly have a clean slate where dirty hits are concerned.
They hit , slash ,spear , talk smack and heaven forbid someone call them out on their crap.

Them running around the last few years the way they have and now have injuries is all on them.....no one else.

Live by the sword and don't be surprised when you get your bell wrung.

Certain guys on that team named Perry, Getzlaf, Beiksa have had this coming for awhile and if you're a duck well this is what's coming.

Keep your heads up , I don't feel bad for you guys at all. What you got away with in the playoffs last year ....payment is due.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

It's not late. It's less than a second after he releases the puck, and when he released the puck, MacDermid is already heading into the hit.

The term "blindside" is utterly meaningless. It no longer appears anywhere in the NHL rule book, and it was a horribly stupid thing to put in to begin with. Now any time some jackass wants to argue that a hit is suspendable, they say it was a "blindside" hit. Whether the player sees it coming is not up to the guy delivering the hit. You can't make a hit into a dirty play simply by looking away from your opponent. That's insanely dumb.

Is the primary point of contact the head? Maybe. He doesn't raise up to deliberately hit the guy high, though. If he did hit him primarily in the head, it seems to be incidental to a hitting trajectory that's about as straight on as you could want given where the two players were coming from.

Lol. Why am I not surprised that you have to resort to name calling in lieu of making an intelligent point?

You're right, I'm a jackass. But it was a late dirty blindside hit.

[cannon7]

This is likely suspension worthy, but you have to protect yourself in the NHL. Admiring your pass is a recipe for a concussion. I'm all for the league cracking down on headshots, but players still need to keep their heads up.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Admiring your pass is obviously a no-no, but that doesn't change the fact that the hit was late. A hit is to separate the player from the puck, the puck was gone long before the hit took place.

Staal should have been suspended before the rules were changed, with the new rules and a late, high hit. I expect him to get suspended for a few.

[ckendall]

Look at the video at 0:44. He has him lined up for a hip check, could have smoked him and probably winded the guy bad by using the hip and hitting in the gut/chest. But he DECIDES to explode upwards with the shoulder and catches Kases’s head. That’s a decision and resulted in damaging a players brain. This is exactly what needs to be eliminated. Watch Subban on Marchand - there’s nothing wrong with a good hip check (or ass check in that case) but MacDermid chose to use shoulder, to cause more damage. He clearly contacted the head, therefore deserves a suspension.
Edit: I hate the Ducks as much as the next guy but this was dirty.