Umberger
Right about now I’m sure the Quebec police department is contacting its colleagues at Columbus PD to form a joint investigation.
It’s obvious there’s a crime ring taking over the NHL and exacting punishment on some players with hits into the stanchions along the side walls. No one knows why this spree of malicious actions is taking place, but I’m sure law enforcement officials will be able to put their heads together and get to the bottom of the matter.
But seriously folks, last night, Columbus forward R.J. Umberger failed to heed the warnings from Montreal owner Geoff Molson and Air Canada and dared to finish his check near the Blue Jackets’ bench, where Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty hit his face into the stanchion separating the bench from the crowd.
Obviously, this isn’t a joking matter. Doughty, who was checked out by the medical staff and then played through the rest of the game, could’ve been seriously injured on the play. But this is more about perspective. We saw video of the Chris Neil “turnbuckle” hit on Scottie Upshall earlier this week. We have seen other similar plays over the years.
The Zdeno Chara/Max Pacioretty hit was — to use the word Chara keeps coming back to — unfortunate. It was not only unfortunate because Pacioretty hit into the stanchion, but because of the angle he hit it, the force he hit it after being checked by one of the strongest players in all of hockey, and the vulnerable position Pacioretty was in because he had already moved the puck a second earlier. In this hit, Doughty had the puck on his stick closer to the start of Umberger’s check.
Like Pacioretty’s contact with the stanchion in Montreal, Doughty’s was the result of a hit, but also an accident. No one in the NHL is trying to re-enact a WWE match by running another player into the “turnbuckle.” The sooner people accept that accidents happen and the league and NHLPA take steps to limit the occurrence of these unintended dangerous situations, the better off we all will be.
You guys have changed my mind for sure. I was caught up in how bad the injury was, not how it happened.
One of the NYR took a slashing penalty and broke Boychuk’s forearm, you want to suspend him too?
Good point TCL, I didn’t think about whether the penalty should have been called or not. I guess my train of thought leads to a slippery slope that a decision cannot be made for just based on a penalty associated with the play, and it looks liken the NHL feels the same way.
If the penalty were for the hitting mechanics I might agree with the suspension, but the only thing that made it a penalty was the timing and honestly-the hit wasn’t that late. I have seen a lot of hits timed just like that one that aren’t called as interference-but there were no injuries and play moved on. As a matter of fact I am pretty sure the penalty wouldn’t have been called for Chara’s hit had Pacioretty gotten up and skated down the ice after the puck. The ref didn’t call the penalty until after Pacioretty failed to get up.
Damn IPAD auto correct
Boise, the only reason why I think a suspension was deserved was because there was a penalty on the play. We suffered through no suspension of Matt Cooke a big reason Colin Campbell used was there was no penalty called on the ice. My opinion is, if a penalty is called on the play then the exert of the injury should benin play. If Paciaretty had the puck like Doughty did I would not be in favor of suspension.
Well said, Matt.
It would be nice for the NHLPA and the Commish to be a bit more vocal on the matter. Fortunately the GM meetings are coming, which means hockeys minds will get in the room, give our friends from MTL a voice, then explain why their take on the situation is absurd.
Improve safety best you can, and move on….
George- injury or no, if the league deems it a hockey play, no suspension should be handed down. If everyone who injured another player recieved a suspension, there would be a lot of suspensions for clean plays.
This is case in point of where the league should head as far as safety in this area of the ice is concerned. They can work on redesign and padding to make contact a little less dangerous, but hockey is a sport and the reality is that a lot of plays that result in injury are unfortunate, but without malice or intent to injure.
Concussion is a real concern for the league but there is no way to eliminate the risk-it is a fast space sport that involves contact at high speeds-especially at the professional level. Sometimes people get hurt even when everyone is trying to avoid it.
Listen how fast the announcer declares there was no intent to injure. Someone please check the history of Umberger and Doughty, too see if we can jump to conclusions. Although I think Chara deserved at least one game out because a penalty was the cause of injury, clearly all the hysteria surrounding his hit is unwarranted.