Posted by mudbone1969 on 4/18/2012 7:54:00 PM (view original):
Ethics?  Go check a dictionary there, slim.

Not going to retaliate?  That would be stupid?

I'm not taking sides with juskay because we are fans of the same team but Torres's hit really wasn't far from being a legal hit. Don't get me wrong, the acual hit was a bit dirty but it would be a hard call for the refs to make. I'd say if his feet hadn't left the ice, it a clean hit.

Hitting Hossa's head with his shoulder was dirty as hell.  That shows what a thug Torres is.  He could have kept his skates on the ice and went shoulder-to-shoulder, but opted to be the talentless goon he's always been. 

what about Keith's hit hypocrite?

Well????  What about Keith's hit??? 

Id take Torres on the flyers. He's a talented role player. Dirty or not.

Posted by mudbone1969 on 4/18/2012 9:58:00 PM (view original):
Hitting Hossa's head with his shoulder was dirty as hell.  That shows what a thug Torres is.  He could have kept his skates on the ice and went shoulder-to-shoulder, but opted to be the talentless goon he's always been. 

So if Torre's hit to the head was dirty as hell then Shaw's hit to the head was also dirty as hell, and Keith's hit to the head was dirty as hell, and so was the dozen other suspensions this playoffs.

If you want to remove hits to the head then string them up by the nuts and start the suspensions at 15 games for a hit to the head and go up from there.  Players won't take a run at a vulnerable opponent if he knows a 40 game suspension is waiting on the other side.

Posted by mudbone1969 on 4/18/2012 9:58:00 PM (view original):
Hitting Hossa's head with his shoulder was dirty as hell.  That shows what a thug Torres is.  He could have kept his skates on the ice and went shoulder-to-shoulder, but opted to be the talentless goon he's always been. 

I agree muddy. If he had stayed on the ice he wouldn't have contacted Hossa head, other wise I think it was clean. I didn't think the hit was too late either.

Rule 42.1 Charging:

A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player who skates or jumps into, or charges an opponent in any manner.

Charging shall mean the actions of a player who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner. A “charge” may be the result of a check into the boards, into the goal frame or in open ice.

Rule 56.1 Interference

Possession of the Puck: The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession. The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is rendered immediately following his loss of possession.


Rule 48.1 Illegal Check to the head

A hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was avoidable, can be considered.

Above are from the NHL rulebook.  Torres' hit violated all three rules, including charging twice!  Anyone who thinks that if he hadn't left his feet it would have been a clean hit are seriously out of touch with the rules of today's games.  It was nothing more than a dangerous, predatory hit clearly aimed at causing harm.  By that, I don't mean his intentions were to put him on a stretcher, but he clearly intended to hurt him.

First, he left his feet.  Charging.

Second, typically the standard for the distance traveled aspect of charging is 2 strides.  Torres was all the way down at the bottom of the circle in the Hawks zone, skated up on the center ice side of the faceoff dots out of the zone, on an path to intercept Hossa, curling in, after the puck had already passed him, to hit Hossa by the boards..  He clearly traveled well more than  two strides.  That too is charging.

Third, the hit was delivered well after Hossa lost the puck.  In fact, the puck passed Torres by the faceoff dot before he curled in to hit Hossa by the boards.  Additionally, Jamal Mayers had possesion of the puck.  Clearly the hit is late.  Interference.

Fourth, the principal point of contact was the head,  He didn't unintentionally hit the head, it was clearly targeted.  Illegal hit to the head.

The hit was illegal on so many ways, that it is incredulous for anybody to defend it.  It was just wrong on so many levels and is exaclty the type of hit that the league is trying to eliminate.  Roenick was right when he said that type of hit acceptable back when he played, but it's not in today's game.  And Torres is a multiple offender.  Anything less than a suspension less than the remainder of the playoffs, I believe, would be a joke.  If the league wants to send a message, get these predatory hits and illegal hits to the head out of the game, than nothing less than the rest of the playoffs will be sufficient.

The league, as I see it, has an image problem rigtht now.  It's the playoffs and instead of conversation being on the games and some of the great races, it's on all this type of shennagins.  Instead of building new fans, it's turning them off.  The antic of the Penguins is a disgrace.  Weber, should have been suspended.  Haeglin's hit on Alfredsson and Shaw's hit on Smith are all examples of what's bad about hockey.  And unfortunately, its what all the talk is about right now,  The league needs to make a stand, now, that this type of stuff will not be tolerated. 

Oh, and before anybody says I'm just saying this because it was a Hawks player that was injured.  I agree with suspending Shaw for his hit on Smith.  He clearly did not do enough to avoid Smith.  And, although Keith is one of my favorite player today, I though his hit on Sedin was a cheap shot and he deserved the 5 game suspension.

While i agree the league has an image problem.....The league is not losing fans from a net acquisition standpoint. Merchandise sales and viewership are way up.

Let the players play. Let the players police. The flyers penguins game 4 was a joke. The refs blew their whistles and handed out game misconducts like they were going out of style. Great if you love watching special teams play hockey all game and your stars on the bench all third period. Heck, Cooke didn't even do anything and he was tossed. Boring. Boring. Boring. Let these guys play. Stop over compensating.

I also think relative to games played that hockey has FAR LESS injuries than football, especially of the serious kind. 30 teams at 82 games each plus 2 months of playoffs.... And we maybe see 3-5 season ending injuries. Seems like there is at least 1 every two weeks in the NFL. Not saying the NHL should do nothing but just that they shouldn't overcompensate when they do. I love emotional physical, hard hitting hockey ... Anything less is just figure skating.

Posted by moy23 on 4/19/2012 12:28:00 PM (view original):
Let the players play. Let the players police. The flyers penguins game 4 was a joke. The refs blew their whistles and handed out game misconducts like they were going out of style. Great if you love watching special teams play hockey all game and your stars on the bench all third period. Heck, Cooke didn't even do anything and he was tossed. Boring. Boring. Boring. Let these guys play. Stop over compensating.

So then you would prefer Game 3, with players taking cheap shots like Asham's  cross check to Schenn's throat, or Neal's elbow to Giroux's head?  Or should we go back to the days of the bench clearing brawls?

While I agree it seemed excessive, I'd rather have what happened in Game 4 than Game 3.  I like tough, physical hockey as much as the next guy.  But I don't like cheap and dirty hockey.  The game was over early in the 2nd.  What the refs did was keep the game under control.  There were no antics like what we saw in Game 3.  Did the Refs over do it?  Perhaps.  But nobody was carried out on a stretcher either.  While I firmly believe the biggest reason for all this is the inconsistency of the refs.  I really feel that overall, the referring in the NHL is horrible.  However, I thought they did a good job of keeping control last night, even if it meant a parade of misconducts.  Players knew that none of the previous game's shenanigans were going to be tolerated.  Perhaps that is what it will take to eliminate all this garbage that has been prevelant in the first round of the playoffs.  Keep calling it like that, and the players will adjust.  They always do.  And then perhaps we can get back to talking about the games instead of all the garbage.

I like game 3 better. Yes there was dirty play and yes those guys all missed games and served penalties. I did not like watching a bunch of love taps being called penalties in game 4.

Flyers have played 'dirty' all season and no one left on a stretcher. you're stretching there. Penalize the players like torres that are known for illegal hits.... Don't penalize everyone else because of players like Torres.