The Official MERB 2010-2011 NHL Hockey Thread

[Techman]

You guys as usual are focused on a pointless debate over punishment, intent etc. rather than solving the problem that led to the injury.

Since the configuration of the rink cannot be changed, all the NHL has to do is paint a zone on the ice near the benches and designate it as a "no check zone." If you had such a zone painted on the ice, Chara can't touch Pacioretty until he clears the zone. Otherwise you impose a penalty if an offensive player is checked in that zone. And as far as the concern that the offensive player will camp out in the zone and then get a pass he can breakaway on, you institute a "3 second rule" just like basketball has to prevent taller players from camping out in the lane. If the NHL did this, then this type of injury that Pacioretty sustained would never happen again.

You're kidding, right? Do you think a player moving at top speed would stop just because there's a painted zone on the ice? This is HOCKEY, not basketball. There is no out of bounds on a hockey rink. Hockey at it's slowest is still much faster than basketball at it's fastest. Hockey at full speed makes basketball look like slow motion. Would there be some kind of force field to prevent someone from hitting a player in the zone? No, of course not. The hit would proceed as usual and maybe there would be a penalty on the play. It wouldn't change a damn thing.

MG, you're probably right. Even if Campbell had been the one to make the decision it probably wouldn't have been any different. He still doesn't deserve to hold his position as long as there is the slightest appearance of the possibility of conflict of interest.

JH you're right, too. Nothing will change until someone does die on the ice. And then it'll be too late.

Now Bettman says that Air Canada can cancel their sponsorship if they want because he can easily replace them. Right. Good luck with that.

 

[Techman]

That fact is, this was a typical 'hockey' play. A play that 99% of NHL defencemen HAVE to make in order to keep their NHL jobs. Chara's job on this play was to interfere with Pacioretty as he began chasing the puck. It's a play that's being thought to young defencemen since their Bantam days. What changed the whole perspective of the play is the fact it occurred near the benches' partition. Whether or not Chara's arm, elbow or hand 'guided' Pacioretty towards the partition isn't a reason to further discipline a player. It was interference, nothing more.

You stated that "Chara knew where he was & what he was doing". How so? Are you in the business of reading minds now? You cannot discipline a player by guessing what was going through his mind at the time, nor can you alter your discipline depending on the outcome of an incident. You discipline the act. The 'act' was interference. End of story.

p.s. I'm fairly certain that if it would have been a Bruins player getting seriously injured, Bruins fans would be doing the same thing that some habs fans are doing, which is claiming that Chara's act was a deliberate attempt to injure. Meanwhile, most habs fans would be saying that it was a good 'hockey' play by the habs player, and that the fact a Bruins player was injured was simply an unfortunate accident.

I don't have to read minds, Doc. It's called situational awareness. Professional hockey players know exactly where they are on the ice. They know if their foot is over the blue line on an offside and they sure as hell know where the danger areas are in the arenas they are familiar with. There is no excuse for what happened. If I rear end another car on the road, I am at fault because I should be aware of the situation. There is no if, and or but. I will be held responsible. The same thing applies in this case. Chara is responsible for what happened and he should be made to pay a price for it.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I don't have to read minds, Doc. It's called situational awareness. Professional hockey players know exactly where they are on the ice. They know if their foot is over the blue line on an offside and they sure as hell know where the danger areas are in the arenas they are familiar with. There is no excuse for what happened. If I rear end another car on the road, I am at fault because I should be aware of the situation. There is no if, and or but. I will be held responsible. The same thing applies in this case. Chara is responsible for what happened and he should be made to pay a price for it.

Rear-ending another car isn't a typical driving move. It's illegal. However, checking or interfering with an opposing player is a typical 'hockey' move. Very different.

I suppose we simply do not agree. But it's understandable considering your love of the Canadiens. You'd probably have a different opinion if you were neutral, like me. I respect that. I'd probably feel the same way as you do had it been Phil Kessel instead of Max Pacioretty at the receiving end of a Zdeno Chara 'hockey' move. A 'hockey' move also called 'interference'.

 

[JH Fan]

JH you're right, too. Nothing will change until someone does die on the ice. And then it'll be too late.

Anyone who's been around seeing the Habs wins Stanley cups heard about this.

While some of you talk about how in Mtrl we are booing even our owns...

This is what it used to be : when a long time ago, someone died.

A funeral was held on March 10, 1937, at the Montreal Forum, the arena where the Canadiens played. Fans were allowed to file past the casket, laid at centre ice, and fifty thousand people paid their respects.[3] A rotating honour guard of four Canadiens stood around the casket, covered in flowers including a large wreath from Aurèle Joliat that was shaped like the number 7, Morenz's number, and a note from Morenz's three children.

The entire service was broadcast on the radio, and after its conclusion he was buried in Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.

The city of Montreal mourned the death of Morenz for months.
To honour him, the Canadiens retired his jersey number, 7, on November 2, 1937, the first time the team honoured a player in that fashion.

Five days later, on November 7, 1937, a benefit all-star game was held at the Forum to raise money for the Morenz family

My favorite no. is 7, and yet, because of Morenz, I would never ever play with a 7 in the back. And yet I wasn't even born more than 40years later this.

Oh ! and btw.... the rumor has it that Boston got a team cuze Charles Adam saw Morenz play.

 

[JH Fan]

I don't have to read minds, Doc. It's called situational awareness. Professional hockey players know exactly where they are on the ice. They know if their foot is over the blue line on an offside and they sure as hell know where the danger areas are in the arenas they are familiar with.

I second that !

 

[Doc Holliday]

From @BComptonNHL (an NHL.com employee) on Twitter:

" Waiting for Montreal police to press charges against D.C. for stealing the Expos.”

Hillarious!!

 

[Doc Holliday]

From Larry Brooks of the NY Post on Twitter (@NYP_Brooksie):

" How come none of the Cdn attention seekers spoke up when Savard went down?"

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

I don't have to read minds, Doc. It's called situational awareness. Professional hockey players know exactly where they are on the ice. They know if their foot is over the blue line on an offside and they sure as hell know where the danger areas are in the arenas they are familiar with.

Bingo. And for that reason, I agree with the Beav. (And any of you who read the baseball thread know it's quite a rare occasion when I agree with the Beav.) The Beav isn't suggesting that players stop while in the no-check zone, just that they withhold checking until the opposing player is out of it. I think it can be done and it makes total sense to me.

 

[Techman]

Rear-ending another car isn't a typical driving move. It's illegal. However, checking or interfering with an opposing player is a typical 'hockey' move. Very different.

I suppose we simply do not agree. But it's understandable considering your love of the Canadiens. You'd probably have a different opinion if you were neutral, like me. I respect that. I'd probably feel the same way as you do had it been Phil Kessel instead of Max Pacioretty at the receiving end of a Zdeno Chara 'hockey' move. A 'hockey' move also called 'interference'.

Uhhh, interfering with another player in hockey is, wait...give me a second here... ah yes...ILLEGAL! That why there's something called an interference penalty! And Chara was assessed the first 5 MINUTE interference penalty in the history of the game for his hit. And I don't give a shit who was on the receiving end of it, my opinion would be the same even if it was Sean Avery or Matt Cooke who got taken out. It was a fucking assault, pure and simple. And a premeditated one at that, easy enough to prove by viewing the tapes of the previous two games. If you have any doubts of that, you are either blind or ignorant.

Oh wait...you're a Leafs fan.


Never mind.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Bingo. And for that reason, I agree with the Beav. (And any of you who read the baseball thread know it's quite a rare occasion when I agree with the Beav.) The Beav isn't suggesting that players stop while in the no-check zone, just that they withhold checking until the opposing player is out of it. I think it can be done and it makes total sense to me.

Obviously you two have never played a single hockey game in your lifetime, nor have you ever laced a pair of skates. It cannot be done & it makes no sense whatsoever! This isn't NBA basketball, it's NHL hockey....

 

[Doc Holliday]

Uhhh, interfering with another player in hockey is, wait...give me a second here... ah yes...ILLEGAL! That why there's something called an interference penalty! And Chara was assessed the first 5 MINUTE interference penalty in the history of the game for his hit.

Interfering with another player is tolerated to a point. It's like holding in football. Some of it is tolerated & not always called. If they'd call every single interference play, you wouldn't have any more players left to play a game. It's a typical 'hockey' move. Rear-ending another vehicle is an entirely different story (personally, i think using this as a comparison to the Chara hit is fairly stupid if you ask me) and definitely not 'typical'.

Yes, i'm a Leafs fan. But i'm a hockey fan first. Maybe if the players used better helmets, you wouldn't have so many head injuries. But players don't want to wear better helmets because they're a bit bigger & heavier.

Let's face it, Techie. Injuries are part of the game. They're unfortunate, but they do happen & it comes with the territory. Where were you when Matt Cooke nearly decapitated Marc Savard last year & never got any further discipline for his bush-league move? Yep, i thought so!

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Obviously you two have never played a single hockey game in your lifetime, nor have you ever laced a pair of skates. It cannot be done & it makes no sense whatsoever! This isn't NBA basketball, it's NHL hockey....

I'll take your word for it, Doc. As you know, I really don't know much about hockey, though I did sleep through a game earlier this week.

And, by the way, I did play hockey when I was a kid, though quite poorly, I might add. I was the Phil Kessel of my day.

 

[Doc Holliday]

And, by the way, I did play hockey when I was a kid, though quite poorly, I might add. I was the Phil Kessel of my day.

You meant to say that you were the Tyler Seguin of your day. Phil Kessel is doing just fine, thank you.....and will once again score his usual 30 goals this season. He's just a step away from superstardom & was a member of the all-star team.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

You meant to say that you were the Tyler Seguin of your day. Phil Kessel is doing just fine, thank you.....and will once again score his usual 30 goals this season. He's just a step away from superstardom & was a member of the all-star team.

Nope, Phil Kessel, as in last picked.

 

[lgna69xxx]

With all due respect to EB, what was proposed is preposterous to say the least. It would NEVER work, and those of us who played organized hockey totally understand this. You cant just make that big of a change to a game like that. Players are taught since they were lil kids how to play each situation as a D'man and as a O'man, you cant just change the rules because of a few injuries, you have to do something, but not change the game drastically.

The only way headshots and severe injury "hits" will stop, is if the player, who is "deemed responsible" by the proper authorities (NHL), is given a suspension for as long as the player is out, up to a certain max of games, say 20 or 30. With that said, it has to be ruled on by the NHL that there was intent to injure, aka, a dirty play.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Nope, Phil Kessel, as in last picked.

Being selected 40th out of 700 NHL players. Not too shabby, i'd say. Where was Tyler Seguin during the all-star break? Oh yeah. At home watching the festivities on his tv.

 

[Doc Holliday]

To all habs fans keeping a vigil for Max Pacioretty, you can all relax now & go home. He was released from the hospital earlier & he's currently back home watching Oprah.

Here's hoping that he'll make full recovery from his injuries. He's one heck of a player & i'd take him on my team anytime.

 

[Doc Holliday]

The only way headshots and severe injury "hits" will stop, is if the player, who is "deemed responsible" by the proper authorities (NHL), is given a suspension for as long as the player is out, up to a certain max of games, say 20 or 30. With that said, it has to be ruled on by the NHL that there was intent to injure, aka, a dirty play.

Head injuries will continue for as long as the players are allowed to play with padding that's as hard as cement & as long as the current 'no interference' rules exist. In the past, players were allowed to try to slow down opposing players without getting an interference or hooking penalty. Players continue to grow & get faster, there's less room on the ice, and defencemen are sitting ducks to opposing forcheckers. A lot has to change in the game in order to drastically reduce head injuries. Fines haven't seemed to work. Maybe the game is simply too fast & players rely on instinct, who knows.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Lol, so your saying being the 42th player out of ALL NHL'ERS makes him a bad player? man o' man, i guess you dont know a thing about hockey, lol. What it means is, Phil, being the quiet shy type, is not the most popular out of the 24 greatest offensive players in the game, but still is in the Top Echelon in his sport. As a matter of fact as of a week ago, he had more goals than the great Alex Ovechkin did all season, and Phil does not have that true #1 Centreman playing alongside of him, and he is a few years younger as well. The ceiling for Kessel is huge to say the least. PLUS he got a brand new car and $20,000 to give to charity, i would say that #81 was the last one smiling. Plus he makes over 5 mil a season, not to shabby for a 30 goal scorer at only 23 years of age, not even close to his prime yet.

Nope, Phil Kessel, as in last picked.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Chris Pronger: "The configuration of Montreal's rink is a little odd in that respect ... I've seen that happen there a couple times, obviously not to that extent."