Thoughts on the Tom Wilson takedown of Bouma?

[AC]

Originally Posted by dying4acup

What I hated about the Wilson/Bouma fight was that not many people noticed that it wasn't even Bouma's hit that injured the player. If you watch closely, his skate blade popped out, and when he tried to push off, his foot gave. His knee injury had more to do with poor equipment than a check.

Hahaha, seriously?

Of course it was the hit that fractured his tibial plateau. The skate blade came off as a result of the hit, and he collapsed in part due to there not being a blade, but mainly because his knee wouldn't function properly when trying to put any weight on it....

He just had surgery to reattach the fractured bone, something that would have been caused my a high intensity impact while in an awkward position.



"The tibial plateau is a critical weight-bearing area located on the upper extremity of the tibia."
"High energy fractures are commonly the result of motor vehicle accidents, falls or sports related injuries."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibial_plateau_fracture

[Itse]

Originally Posted by strombad

If you limit fights to 5 per season, and follow it up with a large suspension, you can absolutely bet that you eliminate MOST of the staged type of fights. There is little use for an enforcer who can only do his job 5 times over the course of 82 games.

Well, I'm certainly not against trying that, I feel that it would be one of those rules that would eventually end up turning against itself, but maybe I'm just a sceptic.

More generally, I'm happy for what seems to be a turn in the general opinion when it comes to fighting. There seems to be a lot more common ground to discuss. It wasn't that long ago when suggesting you didn't like hockey fights was basically a call for a barrage of ad hominems.

Of course since I find fights boring and stupid in general, it's kind of obvious why I also don't care much for efforts to keep some fighting in.

Btw, I think you'd also need to limit fights per team. Otherwise you could end up with pressure put on guys that have not had their 5 fights yet to fill their quota, which is obviously not the point.

[Magnum PEI]

At what point is charging called? I would say if you hit a guy hard enough to break his leg, it's probably charging.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

At what point is charging called? I would say if you hit a guy hard enough to break his leg, it's probably charging.

?

It's charging if you charge the guy, not if you hit him hard or he gets hurt

[Magnum PEI]

So how does one generate the momentum to hit a guy that hard?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

So how does one generate the momentum to hit a guy that hard?

A lot of things can cause injuries.

The boards ad the ice are really hard.

Also, the receiving player can have momentum too.

Injury does not automatically mean there should be a penalty

[Magnum PEI]

This was a side to side hit and Bouma skated half way across the ice to deliver it. I thought it was textbook charging.

[BigFlameDog]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

This was a side to side hit and Bouma skated half way across the ice to deliver it. I thought it was textbook charging.

The guy had the puck...Bouma was playing hockey.

It seriously sucks that he was that hurt on the play but this was no charge...like I said his reflex duck and stretch did him in....that said, most guys would do the same thing.

Bottom line is the injury was an unfortunate fluke.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

This was a side to side hit and Bouma skated half way across the ice to deliver it. I thought it was textbook charging.

Charging has become kind of a dead letter in the rules anyway. Understandably so, doesn't really fit the speed of modern hockey.

Not saying that's good or bad, just how I see it. But I do see it as an impractical rule to enforce.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

This was a side to side hit and Bouma skated half way across the ice to deliver it. I thought it was textbook charging.

There's a video of the hit here: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2...ter-bouma-hit/


The enforcement of the charging rule has always (for as long as I've been watching the game, at least) been about the player's actions immediately prior to the hit. If you take 3 or more strides in a straight line immediately before the hit, or if you leave your feet immediately before the hit, you're likely to get a charging penalty.

Bouma takes his last stride roughly at the face off dot, which is 20'6" from the side boards.

Based on the standard application of the charging rule, it does not qualify as a penalty.