Let the debate begin over Meyer’s brawl-starting hit on Bruins’ Lucic
Lucic/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — All we know for certain now on the night before Christmas Eve is that Freddy Meyer’s high hit on Milan Lucic in tonight’s 4-1 Bruins win at TD Garden earned the Atlanta defenseman elbowing and roughing minor penalties, and Lucic earned a game misconduct and match penalty for his response.
Lucic is now suspended pending review of his punch to Meyer while the blueliner’s arms were being held in a scrum.
Here’s another look at the hit and the scrum:
As expected, both sides had different tales to tell after the game.
Bruins forward Milan Lucic:
“I mean … it was a high hit for sure. I was bleeding from the lip and after a hit like that … I mean that was the second time he has done that. He’s hit me late. He’s hit me cheap. Now that’s the second time. I mean, you can’t give a guy a free pass too many times, but I’m happy that we stuck together as a group and as a team. … For myself personally, a match penalty, so I will do whatever I can …y ou know… to face the consequences.”
Atlanta head coach Craig Ramsay:
“Freddy laid a good hit. That is what happens, you throw a big hit and you have to have a fight. We are taking hitting out of the game. He gets a penalty for a good hit. They started all the fights and I thought we should have had a power play for the rest of the game, maybe a two-man advantage.”
Atlanta defenseman Johnny Oduya:
“I think it was a hit that Freddy came up and hit him. I don’t think that there was an elbow. He hit him high in the chest. They didn’t like it so he got jumped and sucker punched that one time.”
Bruins head coach Claude Julien:
“I’ve looked at it again and it’s a cheap hit. Hopefully it is seen that way. You know, if you’re a player with all the head injuries we’ve had, the concussions and all that stuff that’s happened to our team whether it’s [Patrice] Bergeron or whether it’s [Marc] Savard and other things and we’re talking about cutting down on head shots, you can’t blame a player for reacting to those kind of things and I think everybody kind of reacted and that’s what happened. But you know, I’m going to stand here and say our guys stood together for something that was, to me, a real cheap shot and uncalled for and hopefully the league sees it that way too.”
Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference:
“It was a high hit, without a doubt. I mean Looch is going down the boards and I was following right behind him, so I had a really good view of it. The guy just put his stick and his hands right into Looch’s head. So, it’s a high hit. No question about it.”
Meyer’s follow through with the hands to the head is what pissed Milan off and Meyer did leave his feet a little. Dirty or not the response was the right thing to do.
Lucic will get two mark it down because of the punch to the head while the refs had a hold of Meyers. Of course no hearing for when Phaneuf belted Horton while the refs had them both uh huh.
[...] the end of the game, Freddy Meyer leveled Milan Lucic with what the Bruins forward called "cheap". A line brawl ensued and Lucic earned a match penalty, meaning an automatic one-game [...]
I’d like to know how Ference got so bloody. I couldn’t really see in the scrum but I feel like he could have been on the receiving end of a cheap shot.
I think that if Lucic is suspended so be it, I am glad to see the old Lucic re-emerge. Meyer will get his next time the Thrasher and the Bruins play again.
Lucic will be suspended – take that to the bank and deposit it for a high interest return. Lucic will be considered a repeat offender (notwithstanding he reacted to an intended head hit) – and the League has to hand out big suspensions to players that play relatively cleanly but do react to “dirty” hits because they are retalliatory. Now , if Lucic’s name was Cooke, or Avery, there would be NO suspension – the League likes to reward such players because they are instigators and generate interest in the NHL product. BTW, where is the outrage now about Colon Campbell’s conflict of interest? This will be very interesting – as EVERY decision he has ever made about Bruin players has gone against the Bruins. It seems that his justice is Bruins can be assaulted with impunity.
I’m glad Lucic was hit. It lit a fire under his ass that has been missing all year. I don’t know if he’s shying away from the physical play because past injuries (ie broken nose), or if Claude has told him to stop. Either way, I miss the old Milan that would finish checks and drop the gloves once in a while. The team can’t keep relying on the fists of Shawn Thornton to create a spark. By the way, Shawn’s parents should show up for every game if he’s going to play like he did last night. Great job Shawn.
It would have been a clean hit if Meyer targeted the chest and not the head (evident by a bloody lip) – and if he leaded with a shoulder and not his elbow/forearm (especially considering that Meyer is 6″ smaller than Looch – he obviously went for the head). I don’t think that there should be any suspensions at all – I don’t think that Meyer’s hit was that bad that it warrant’s a suspension, but it’s not the type of thing to do when you’re down 4-1 with less than 5 to go in the game, and especially when know that the league is trying to target head-shots. The ruling will be interesting…
damn, joe. exaggerate much? 20 times a game? i watched that entire game and only saw it once. and yes, it sure looked cheap to me. of course we all know if it happens to YOUR team, it’s a dirty hit, right?
The hit by Meyer was not dirty. This kind of hit happen 20x a game. Lucic will def. get suspended since he is a repeat offender, and because he started a huge brawl. Typical, not dirty hits, not result in brawls because players cannot handle being checked. The NHL is becoming a joke. Look when Marchand got laid out, what happened. Campbell tried to fight the Habs. Hey Looch, keep your head up next time and just get back up and suck it up! Jeez.
i wish af would have let looch jump myers himself. at least colin can’t adjudicate.
I’ll be surprised if anything more comes of this in regards to either side. It happened, it’s over and lets circle the calendar for the next meeting, not that Meyer would ever be so foolish to drop the mits with Lucic.
GR90- I’m pretty sure horton and kane didn’t square off to allow him take him helmet off. They were in a scrum and paired off, no time to take the helmet off. If you have seen some of kanes other fights he takes his helmet off. Not really a pansy when he has knocked guys out before. nice try though.
Just a side note…Kane should have not been a pansy, and removed his helmet. Horton smoked him clearly, but none of the damage was evident because of Kane’s visor.
Here we go again… penalize the retaliation. Meyer will go scott-free for a dirty, high hit late in a 4-1 game. Although I don’t necessarily agree with Milan’s actions, I don’t think that it warrants a suspension. In my mind, Meyer sold it and the ref made a bad call giving a “match” penalty. Now the only question is, does the league rescind Looch’s suspension like they did for Scott Walker a couple of years back???
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