Wideman Feature on Hometown Hockey

[GirlySports]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...utmk=108173447

[dissentowner]

Hey Don Henderson, grab some popcorn.

[FireGilbert]

Reads like a puff piece trying to rehabilitate Wideman's image after a disastrous end to his career.

[Mightyfire89]

^^^Yeah, it does read that way, and I’m fine with it. I still don’t think it’s possible that Wideman was in his right mind when that happened. I believe he was concussed and still all messed up from the hit he’d taken a few moments earlier. How does a guy with 800ish games in the nhl, who had almost no history of violent incidents suddenly decide to do something like that to a linesman?
Still makes zero sense to me.

[Aleks]

Having been concussed in hockey, and suffering some personality stunting for significant time after, I agree that I don't blame him at all. I have periods of time during games I don't even recall. Its really not fair to blame him squarely for what happened without considering head trauma.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Mightyfire89

^^^Yeah, it does read that way, and I’m fine with it. I still don’t think it’s possible that Wideman was in his right mind when that happened. I believe he was concussed and still all messed up from the hit he’d taken a few moments earlier. How does a guy with 800ish games in the nhl, who had almost no history of violent incidents suddenly decide to do something like that to a linesman?
Still makes zero sense to me.

Personally, I think it did look deliberate, but not intended as strongly as he did. The action really does appear to be a "get the **** out of my way" check.

Did the disoriented state contribute to smashing him too hard? Likely. But did he turn around, see the ref in his way and do something to him? I can't see how you can believe he didn't. I think what really killed Weidman here is the disoriented state combined with being used to hitting hockey players in full gear.

I fully believe he meant to give a little "**** you" hit in a moment of anger, but the force required to give an opposing player a "**** you hit" is about 50 times too hard for an unequipped, unprepared referee.

[dino7c]

99.9% of people think he hit a ref

It was a linesman...what possible motivation would there be to hit a linesman? Bad offside call? People who didn't watch the game and only watch the hit in super slow mo out of context think he lost his #### on a ref. I have heard it so many times and its not what happened at all.

[Aarongavey]

Wideman was very good in 14/15, playing a vital role on the 2nd most successful flames team in the last 29 years. Glad to see he is having fun after professional hockey.

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Wideman was very good in 14/15, playing a vital role on the 2nd most successful flames team in the last 29 years. Glad to see he is having fun after professional hockey.

2nd most successful team... big stretch. 2nd most fun to watch maybe

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

2nd most successful team... big stretch. 2nd most fun to watch maybe

Most successful in the last 29 years was the 2004 team, 15 playoff wins (should have been 16). Second most successful in the last 29 years was the 2015 team with 5 playoff wins. After that a bunch of Flames teams are tied for 3rd with 3 playoff wins.

Not a stretch at all, 2015 was the second most successful team. And Wideman played a big role in their success, down the stretch and in the playoffs.

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Most successful in the last 29 years was the 2004 team, 15 playoff wins (should have been 16). Second most successful in the last 29 years was the 2015 team with 5 playoff wins. After that a bunch of Flames teams are tied for 3rd with 3 playoff wins.

Not a stretch at all, 2015 was the second most successful team. And Wideman played a big role in their success, down the stretch and in the playoffs.

I guess based on playoff success. Was just thinking that the Flames had had stronger teams than the 2015 team. I can see your viewpoint and based on the playoffs, for sure. I based success on both reg season and playoffs

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Mightyfire89

^^^Yeah, it does read that way, and I’m fine with it. I still don’t think it’s possible that Wideman was in his right mind when that happened. I believe he was concussed and still all messed up from the hit he’d taken a few moments earlier. How does a guy with 800ish games in the nhl, who had almost no history of violent incidents suddenly decide to do something like that to a linesman?
Still makes zero sense to me.

Was this his defense? That he was still messed up and concussed?

I seem to recall many people analyzing the video, looking at how he turned his skates etc. and then arguing it was an accident.

FWIW I agree it's totally out of character for Wideman and I entirely agree it wasn't pre-meditated.

But he did it. So I never had an issue with the penalty.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Was this his defense? That he was still messed up and concussed?

I seem to recall many people analyzing the video, looking at how he turned his skates etc. and then arguing it was an accident.

We never really heard his defence, which is sort of a shame. Except for after the game when talking with the media, when everyone was of the sensible view that it was simply an accident (which I think is all he really indicated at the time).

But then the tantalizing 4 second gif got shown on repeat with no context. I can see how so many reached the 'vicious attack' conclusion based only on that.

Unfortunately, the only other thing we ever seem to have heard from Wideman's side were the leaked texts that reflected poorly on him (especially if taken out of context - I think he was referring to the refs union turning it into a political issue).

All the concussion stuff really just muddied the waters. I'm surprised he never came out and said "I wasn't even thinking...just on autopilot going back to the bench...I know I must have been looking in the right direction, but I honestly didn't see it coming until he was right there...and I just reacted..."

I still wonder if there are any more than the two camera views we saw (one of which was from the rafters).

I've still never seen anyone else deliver an obviously intentional/vicious cross check in that manner. He still gets the benefit of the doubt from me. It's amazing to me that most casual (and many hardcore) fans probably view him as worse than Bertuzzi at this point.