[News] Aulie hit on Stajan - Aulie suspended for two games

[dammage79]

I'll take it, There's been far more suspendable hits on Flames players over the years and far too few suspensions for my liking. I'd like to find out exactly how many suspensions there have been for dirty hits on Flames players in the last few years. And Stajan's been a victim of more than a few of those during his time with CGY.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by btimbit

People need to stop watching the hit in slow motion or still frames and acting like Aulie had lots of time to look at Stajan and fully asses the situation. This happened at game speed.

He had enough time to see Stajan coming out of the zone and decide to step up and hit him, which is all the time he'd need to decide to target the shoulder instead of head on.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I'll take it, There's been far more suspendable hits on Flames players over the years and far too few suspensions for my liking. I'd like to find out exactly how many suspensions there have been for dirty hits on Flames players in the last few years. And Stajan's been a victim of more than a few of those during his time with CGY.

You know, I think about Stempniak and Ference even though this is not a Lee thread. Clean check and no agreement to fight.. that was one for the league to review and they failed

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by btimbit

People need to stop watching the hit in slow motion or still frames and acting like Aulie had lots of time to look at Stajan and fully asses the situation. This happened at game speed.

Head contact in of itself is not against the rules. If they want it out of the game completely, then need to say so, not just pick and choose to occasionally over-enforce it.

Again, not saying it was a clean hit, way too early, but 2 games for that is an absolute joke. Especially after the Hansen-Wingels one last week was just a small fine. And the Despres-Smid one was nothing.

Bottom line is the league needs to do their best to eliminate concussions. If you hit the guy in the head, you should get penalized and/or suspended. If that eliminates 10 big open ice checks a year because guys are worried about hitting the head.. then so be it.

Its in no one's interest to see guys being knocked out and stretchered off the ice due to head shots. Stajan got up in this case, but having a guy carted off the ice unconscious isn't good for the NHL.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Mike F

He had enough time to see Stajan coming out of the zone and decide to step up and hit him, which is all the time he'd need to decide to target the shoulder instead of head on.

Was he supposed to look into the future and see that Stajan would hunch over due to a bad pass too?

The problem here is that this is an edge case. I agree with the penalty on ice. Just as hits are made in a split second, penalties are also called on that same split second. It was a good call by the officials on the ice.

In terms of suspension, I dunno. The key aggravating factor is that Aulie came from the blind side. But there are also mitigating factors in Aulie's favour, and the guys on TSN 2Nite astutely pointed out that this was the exact same hit that Bartkowski threw on a Sabres player without suspension a couple weeks ago:

http://www.tsn.ca/video/th2n-will-au...tajan-1.172400

So really, what is the message being sent by the NHL? It sure isn't zero tolerance on head contact, because that is not consistently suspended. Nor should it be, frankly. Context should always matter, particularly in occasions where a player receiving the hit puts themselves in a dangerous position.

So perhaps the message is "don't be a crap defenceman on a team the league doesn't care about". Because honestly, based on the Bartkowski example, about the only significant difference is that one guy plays in a major US media market, and the other plays in Edmonton.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Then they need to rewrite the rule because they haven't said that at all.

If that didn't hit the head, that's a great hit. Aulie did all he could.The only way that's avoidable is by not hitting him at all, you're absolutely right. How is the hitter supposed to know beforehand that that hit ends up contacting the head and not the shoulder where he aimed. Accidents happen.

The only way to accomplish what you're suggesting is to take hits out completely. Because accidents can and will happen. It sucks but it's unavoidable

Who's to say they didn't take those words into consideration? It should surprise no one that they are trying to take headshots out of the game. Perhaps it would have been 3 or 4 games if Stajan had his head up. While I agree that this particular hit wasn't as malicious as some, I disagree that Aulie couldn't have avoided it. It is still the responsibility of the hitter in making contact somewhere other than the head.

[Ryan Coke]

The difference with the Bartkowski hit IMO, is that primary point of contact was the shoulder, which is why he cartwheeled. So while it was more spectacular, it didnt meet the requirement of the head being the primary point of contact.

[CsInMyBlood]

I didn't think it was suspension worthy, but there have been a couple of bad hits on Stajan over the last couple of years that deserved suspensions and none were handed out, so I guess this kind of evens them out.

[Plett25]

Aulie wasn't just trying to put the body on his man, he was going for a Scott Stevens open ice hit. If he makes that hit with no head contact, congratulations Keith, you make the highlight reel, get oohs and aahs from the crowd and maybe change the momentum of the game. But, bad luck for you... the primary point of contact was the head, so you get five and a game and then lose 2 paychecks on top of it.

I think the league is at the point where there are very few intentional headshots now. So does that mean that since all headshots are unintentional, none of them get penalties? Of course not. It really isn't any different than high sticking. You don't get a penalty for losing control of your stick 6 feet off the ice... until it contacts someone's face.

The decision to make the hit was entirely Keith Aulie's. There is always a chance that a play like that results in a headshot and he was either too stupid to realize that or he just didn't care. Well maybe now he will think about it next time.

He didn't get 10 or 20 games. This isn't the NFL we with a 16 game season. 2 out of 82 games is not a severe penalty.

[Tron_fdc]

I also wonder if this has to do with marketing the game as well (conspiracy hat on).

Big hits like that turn into fights, which seems to be what the league wants out. Get rid of the open ice hits and you do a few things: it improves player safety, increases the need for guys who can defend in other ways (ie skate faster and make a pass), and reduces fisticuffs. The Denis Gauthiers of the world never make it past junior in favour of the Kris Russels.

I've always thought the league is trying to market itself away from the WWE garbage we used to hear 10 years ago and into a legitimate fast, highly entertaining sport where people (mainly US audiences) watch for players skill and not the line brawls and career ending body checks.

Just a thought.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Was he supposed to look into the future and see that Stajan would hunch over due to a bad pass too?

As I said before, if he targets the shoulder, Stajan's hunching does nothing to make the hit contact the head. It's a safer way to throw the hit which would not compromise the goal of putting Stajan on his butt.

[Enoch Root]

If you have time to line a guy up, you also have time to tell if he is vulnerable.

Onus has to be on the player throwing the hit.

[sureLoss]

basically said because the primary point of contact is the head and head contact was avoidable

[Iggy Snipe]

I didn't think it would be a suspension considering Stajan came back to the game, but the league is really taking the head hits serious which is awesome. Every year more and more. Suspending a player even though he didn't cause cause serious injury to the other player is a big part of it. That will go a long way in preventing head hit injuries.

This doesn't mean you cant have big open ice hits. Just don't target the head, and have it the primary contact point. Sometimes its easier said then done, which is why this suspension is actually a good thing for the league.

Either way, protecting the players is key. Head injuries have been a problem in the game forever, and the recognition it gets now is great, considering all the diagnosis and statistics with concussions and long term effects it has on players.