The Hockey Thread

[warwick.hoy]

Yup,....that's how you answer back to a cheap shot. Plays like that make it hard for me to be on the Canucks side.

[magiclawnchair]

this is fun!

[bigchiefbc]

I think the Bruins took this one personally.

[magiclawnchair]

the canooks look pretty sleazy.

[mutmoo]

The Canucks are losing so much respect in this series.

[colin]

That was NOT a blindside hit. Yeah, I'll admit that it was maybe a second late, but otherwise it was a clean hit.

[bigchiefbc]

That was NOT a blindside hit. Yeah, I'll admit that it was maybe a second late, but otherwise it was a clean hit.

Bull fucking shit. He left his feet, aimed high at the head, and it was at least 2-3 seconds after he got rid of the puck. There was nothing "clean" about it. It was the textbook definition of rule 48.

[colin]

Isn't 2-3 seconds the typical leeway given for finishing checks after dishing off the puck? And when it happened and they first showed replays, I did the old 'one mississipi, two mississipi' count off, and Rome hit him just before two seconds expired.

As for leaving his feet, I thought this hit was similar to the hit Ryan Getzlaf laid on Dan Hamhuis back in February (and as a diehard Canucks fan, that was a clean hit) in that Rome only left his feet AFTER making contact.

In my opinion, Rome made contact with Horton shoulder to chest (Horton's head hit the ice on the way down) in an acceptable timeframe after Horton dealt the puck = clean hit.

Mark my words on this, Rome will not be suspended for this (although I kind of hope he is, Keith Ballard is way fucking better than Rome or Alberts and should be in the lineup).

[bigchiefbc]

It was not shoulder to chest, it was shoulder to face. Hoy posted it on the last page, go take a look - his shoulder level is even with Horton's eyes. And he was still rising when he hit him.

I don't even care if he gets suspended, because his being there or not won't affect the series. He's a nobody back-of-the-bench goon, and Boston lost one of the their 2 best goal scorers. There's nothing the NHL is gonna be able to do to make this even. They got a bunch of goals tonight on emotion, but I don't feel good about the rest of the series.

[colin]

I haven't seen a replay since watching the game at a bar (and I'm drunk as fuck right now), so if you've seen replays I'll believe you that it was a high hit. But the penalty was a five minute major for interference (and I've been watching hockey for pretty much my whole life and played it for nearly ten years) and I've never heard of a major for interference. And it wasn't a late hit, so even if it should have been penalized, the refs called the wrong penalty.

I will however dispute your claims of Aaron Rome being a goon. He's not a great defenceman, he should be filling the eighth defenceman role on the Canucks (maybe sixth on most teams, the Canucks defensive depth is second to none). Rome isn't a huge guy, and as far as I know he has no history of dirty hits or suspensions. I don't get A.V.'s infatuation with Rome, Ballard is clearly the better player and should be in the Canucks lineup instead of Rome or Alberts.

Boston fans probably won't agree with me, but I think that Lapierre has been absolutely hilarious with his pretend finger-biting antics. Just priceless.

[bigchiefbc]

I haven't seen a replay since watching the game at a bar (and I'm drunk as fuck right now), so if you've seen replays I'll believe you that it was a high hit. But the penalty was a five minute major for interference (and I've been watching hockey for pretty much my whole life and played it for nearly ten years) and I've never heard of a major for interference. And it wasn't a late hit, so even if it should have been penalized, the refs called the wrong penalty.

I will however dispute your claims of Aaron Rome being a goon. He's not a great defenceman, he should be filling the eighth defenceman role on the Canucks (maybe sixth on most teams, the Canucks defensive depth is second to none). Rome isn't a huge guy, and as far as I know he has no history of dirty hits or suspensions. I don't get A.V.'s infatuation with Rome, Ballard is clearly the better player and should be in the Canucks lineup instead of Rome or Alberts.

Boston fans probably won't agree with me, but I think that Lapierre has been absolutely hilarious with his pretend finger-biting antics. Just priceless.

Actually, they said during the broadcast that it was his 4th game misconduct and his second this playoffs. So, I'd say he certainly does have a history of dirty play. And you don't have to be big to be a goon, look at Matt Cooke.

[colin]

Matt Cooke to Aaron Rome is not a fair comparison. Cooke is a dirty, dirty player and needs to be taken out of the game.

I don't remember Rome getting a game misconduct earlier in the playoffs, and I googled it and couldn't find anything. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen, again I'll take your word for it.

But I still don't think that was a dirty hit. It was a big hit for sure, and I didn't like seeing Horton motionless on the ice one bit. But I honestly don't think it should have penalized and it definately doesn't warrant a suspension.

[bigchiefbc]

No idea, that's just what they said on the broadcast. And I wasn't saying that he was Matt Cooke, I was just using Cooke as an example that you don't have to be big to be a goon. I felt it was high AND late, and I'm not even the ten thousandth person to say it was a blind shot, either. But we can agree to disagree on this one.

As for going forward, I don't feel great about the rest of the series. This has really cut down one of the Bruins best players, but maybe this will wake them the hell up and they'll decide to make this a series. The Bs haven't shown a lot of balls the last few years, maybe they'll finally find a pair for the next 4 games.

[Haki]

Rome's out for the remainder of the finals, 4 game suspension.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=368125

[warwick.hoy]

A couple of things to touch on.

From what I can gather any penalty can be called a major. Will you see interference get called as a major penalty? Not often,...usually it's charging, boarding and usually it's at the Ref's discretion,...which usually cause the knee jerk reaction that they are just making the rules up as they go along.

I don't think Rome's hit was a lateral blindside hit. I do think the head was targeted. Rome caught Horton admiring his pass and gave him a high shoulder right in the face. Was it intentional or not? I don't think so,....but it was definitely violent.

With that said the leagues handling of discipline is joke. If you are a role player like Rome and put a guy like Horton in the hospital,....they throw the book at you. If you are a star player like Chara and you put a role player like Pacioretty into the hospital,....slap on the wrist.

I'm not trying to compare the two hits as they were completely different. The Chara Pacioretty incident was reckless,....but if it had happened anywhere else along the boards, the outcome would have probably been a lot more benign.

What I am comparing is outcome. Both players in both incidents left the games on stretchers. Why didn't they suspend Chara, but decided to suspend Rome? I'm having trouble seeing a fair and level field here in terms of the leagues dolling out of supplementary discipline.

If you aren't aware,...Brendan Shanahan is taking over disciplinarian duties from Collin Campbell (who is the father of Bruin Gregory Campbell). I guess he couldn't take the criticisms,....perhaps it's an admission that discipline has been poorly handled,...the league protects it's star players and throws the book at the role players. If they want me to take their supplementary discipline seriously they need to adopt zero tolerance policy and stop playing favorites.