Nah RF. We’re disagreeing here and I seriously don’t care whether I’m living up to some standard or not. I’m calling it as I see it.
I asked you how you can say that impact to his head was not significant since you watched the replay so many times. You didn’t answer and instead brought up other plays.
I still play hockey twice a week and thats exactly why I freak out with the stuff Lucic, Boychuck, Ferrence, Pouliot pulled this series. I’ve been playing hockey for 23 years now and stanchion hits are not accidental and they don’t happen very often. The way Ferrence didn’t give an inch when Halpern crashed into him? He was steady as a rock for that impact. It’s still Halpern’s fault but Ferrence is no unsuspecting angel in all of this. If it were some coincidental impact, there would have been some give.

I’m glad you brought up competitive sports because from my point of view, all those cheap shots would have been answered in kind. Unfortunately, in the pros, when they are delivered by behemoths like Chara and Lucic, there’s not much you can do about it.

Philly is a bigger meaner team than Montreal. Richards will literally not hesitate to headshot anyone into next week if he sees fit and it will be somewhat ironic to read your reactions here compared to the diver/faker complaints on the Flyers boards.

Hey RD, go look at the video again. Jump to the 43 second mark through 46 second mark. Watch Halpern’s head and tell me he isn’t looking at Ference. Tell me he has no idea that he is going to skate right into Ference. You can’t argue he isn’t looking, he is blatantly looking at Ference. Yeah Ference knows Halpern is skating to him too. Both players knew something was going to happen. Ference knew he was going to make some sort of contact, he didn’t “target” the head but he didn’t get out of the way. He also didn’t “initiate” contact. Halpern knew it was coming too. Both players had a play in mind – Ference would make brace for impact – Halpern would try to sell the impact. Two different players from two different teams trying to make two different plays for their teams.

The guy doesnt have the puck, he skates byFerrence and Ferrence elbows him in the head. That’s clearly either an elbowing or interference penalty, take your pick. Any idiot can see that. Ferrence is an undisciplined hack and he got away with a cheap shot…fine him at the very least.

No suspension is the right call. Just stop calling Halpern a diver. He’s actually a stand up guy and he came back after 6 and a half minutes because he was the only hab that could win a faceoff last night. He should be respected for getting himself back to the bench. If you watched the replay so many times, how come you can’t admit that was a hell of an impact to his head?

In response to David Josselyn, the NHL cannot make disciplinary action decisions based solely on the extent of any injury sustained. If they take that approach you’ll see tons of good, legal checks under review because one player is stronger than another. Think about the stick checks you see being called slashes these days and compare them to what was called “a good stick check” before the age of composite sticks. I understand that “intent to injure” is a very vague thing to prove, but it is much more effective in keeping th integrity of the game than making players pay for being tough.

Oh yeah, why is anybody even talking about the Ference “hit?” Halpern skated into him, Ference’s feet were planted, and it certainly couldn’t be considered specifically targeting the head.

Good riddance Habs, let’s see some real teams play some real North American Hockey.

RD – i’m not saying it doesn’t go both ways with this stuff, just please don’t tell me that the diving, acting, and faking are legit penalties. Please at least admit that Subban looked like he was falling backwards into a pool – just embarrassing.

That was a great deflection. I’m glad both goalies didn’t let a bad goal end it. They deserved to be beaten on an unstoppable shot. You make your own luck. Something about the Halpern/AF collision doesn’t smell right. AF doesn’t know Halpern’s intent either. I’ve seen some great acting this year. I’m not saying I’m just saying. That was a long skate looking backwards. I’ve seen guys not looking but looking. If you know what I mean.

Just like the habs fans are often subjective because they love their team… these bruins fans leaving comments here about how it is ridiculous that Ference would get a suspension… are being ridiculous themselves! Did Ference also really have an equipment malfunction when his middle finger got “stuck”? C’mon guys… look at the movement of his shoulder after the hit… he was 100% aware of what was happening, so YES Halpern was skating backwards not looking, but did Ference HAVE to hit him in the head? no he didn’t… I would LOVE to hear you defend Ference if Halpern was someone you knew personally… I really would…

Comparing the Jones hit on Bergeron to the Halpern incident last night is laughable. And insensitive.

Halpern looked at Ference, and skated right into him to try and draw another cheap penalty, period.

RD what the heck are you talking about? What Ryder highstick? VS didn’t show any replay of the sort either…so don’t blame NESN becuase you can’t take losing

When Thomas was on his record breaking pace, I was thinking the guy was a candidate for the Hart Trophy, let alone the vezina. You can’t give the trophy to another goalie this season.

Also, RF, you might want to do a bit of research before you start about Montreal’s pull with Bettman.
You have Jeremy Jacobs as Bettman’s #1 ally among the owners and it was Jacobs that advocated extending Bettman another 5 years. Combine that with the league disciplinarian having his own son in the Bruins lineup and recorded emails showing Colin Campbell tampering with refs due to his son’s play ,you don’t have a case to indicate that the league does anything to appease Montreal. Your own blog and your own Boston columnists advocated that Chara should have gotten a couple games for the Pacioretty hit. To see him get nothing seems like Boston’s influence on the front office is just fine.

replays, replays…did NESN show Ryder high stick the puck when Boston scored the go ahead goal? Doubt it…

I think Halpern was legitimately injured, and simply lacked on-ice awareness in much the way Crosby did on the “hit” by Steckel. That “hit” was Crosby skating into Stekel’s skating lane as he was trying to go play the puck. This is kind of the same thing with the difference being steckel didn’t expect crosby to do what he did or didn’t see him coming and was the one moving with speed. It’s really hard to say Ferrence did the wrong thing by not giving halpern the entire defensive zone to float in. The collision shouldn’t have happened, but Halpern has to be aware of his position on the ice. He has to be. It’s called being a responsible hockey player. Ferrence didn’t jump out of the way, but then again Halpern came into HIS skating lane, and he slowed down in a manner that seemed a little more confused than malicious; like he wasn’t quite sure what was happening. As much as the habs dive, I don’t think this was one of those times. I just think halpern was being an idiot, and ferrence wasn’t about to give up his space on the ice.

I do understand the 6.5 minutes though, would YOU really let someone stop you from playing in the last game of your season?

Finally, to the collection of habs fans who are stating that your team is classy: If the roles had been reversed, do you honestly think the bruins would have done any less? Get over yourselves.

@ RD – i’m sorry buddy, I appreciate your tone here on this blog during the series but you are dead wrong on this. It was the owner of the Habs you grandstanded for this 15 min rule and for Halpern to be back on the ice 6 minutes later is just another reason the Habs get the reputation they have.

This is not soccer, faking an injury is disgusting and insulting to players that have been legitimately hurt in their career.

As a true fan of Hockey how can anyone support that type of behavior? Subban dropping backwards while holding Campbell’s stick was a disgrace for a player of his caliber – Hamerlik (cost you a goal) was even more of an act job.

Also not sure if you saw any replay of the “high stick” on Bergeron – NESN showed it was a phantom call and Wisnewski jerked his head back like he was hit with an uppercut. It is a style of play that is not only endorsed but celebrated in Montreal.

So the greatest Hockey Town in the world teaches, diving, flopping, and the worst of all fake an injury at all costs. Because in Montreal, it’s about winning by any means necessary and not about respecting the game, fellow players, and the history.

If there was no suspension for Steckel on Crosby, then there shouldn’t be one for Ference. They’ve pretty much set a precedent with this type of hit, no? Right or wrong, I think that’s the path this incident will take.

Rd is right, Halpern has his head turned towards the puck behind him. Two guys are battling for it. He is nowhere near the puck. Ference has a wide angle view on the action and decide to line his shoulderpad with Halpern’s chin in a sneaky way. He could have put his team in embarrassment. That was a silly decision on his part. It was definetely a 2min. The way he disguises it forces the league to respond: We won’t be fooled Andrew. The finger looked bad, you blame it on the equipment , now what…

Those who don’t agree should look at the incident in black and white with faces and team logo’s blurred for a reality check.

Flyers in 4. The Bruins are a year away from a dressing room that works. They are torn between two identities. There will always be a battle between the marketing dept and the hockey dept in Bosto, as to what sells and what wins. Let’s hope the hockey dept continues to win most of their battles with marketing. Detroit looks really good. Inspirational for all.

Kaberle is definetely not a Bruins by all means.

What do they say? Repeat the lie and it becomes truth?
Watch the impact to Halpern’s head on the play. You can’t call that a dive. I understand you like the bruins, we’re in the Bruins blog. We get it.
But that was a significant hit to the head. I personally don’t think AF should get anything but I’m not going to knock Halpern for going down from that hit.
Some of you have a weird habit of blaming the victim. For a team that has 2 guys with serious head injuries, they certainly have a habit for going for headshots. It must make for an awkward environment in the dressing room?
AF: Hey guys, did you see how I laid out Halpern?
JB: Ha! I hit him in the head harder! I even used the stanchion. What do ya think of that Z?
Z: I no care. Unfortunate hockey play.
Bergy: I secretly hate all of you….

Anyways…

I give up. Since it really seems impossible not only to know a player’s intent, but even to let the referees (or the league) make judgments about what is acceptable play and what isn’t, since no play is risk-free, let’s just hand out disciplinary actions based on results.

If a guy gets hurt as a result of contact to the head, discipline the player who dished out the hit proportionally to the injury suffered. Treat it like the high sticking rule: if you draw blood, it’s a major.

That might be a more effective way of getting players to police themselves, as the current system seems not to be working. Players are still attempting (and getting away with) illegal hits, while legal hits are being penalized and players are still getting hurt; meanwhile, players are shying away from legitimate checks along the boards out of fear of hitting a guy from behind into the boards– and every scrum is 2-4 players with their backs to the ice, and their heads down near the boards.

Oh… and for the record, I don’t think that the Habs played well enough to win the series (too small up front and too slow/old on D), but I certainly don’t see the Bruins as a team that can win anything more than what they just did. They were supposedly the better team and since they weren’t able to beat the Habs more decisively, they certainly won’t be able to beat the Flyers.

The B’s can’t afford to lose Ference even for a game. Ference did slightly stick out his elbow but in this case it was Halpern’s fault. He knew where Ference was and it looks like he walked into that hit on purpose. No injury/no penalty= no suspension in my opinion

To Marc Andre, Dude, this is the BRUINS blog, not CNN.com, of course its subjective. Just lose with some class man. It was a great series and either team could have won.

It is absolute TRASH when you take 10 minutes for a guy laying and “require” assistance off the ice, just to have the same player back on the ice 3-7 minutes later….. RIDICULOUS!!!

Halpern went to the room but he wanted back out there. I don’t see a suspension coming from this but a stern warning. The way is shoulder didn’t give an inch kinda gave away the fact the Ferrence saw the collision coming and did nothing to avoid it.
Better to slap his hand now before he hurts someone like…i don’t know…Bergeron?

This is utterly stupid. Ference was mostly standing still and Halpern skated into him. Hardly worth a hearing or suspension. This is mostly to placate angry Habs. This is what happens when you live by the dive.