AHL- Apolyton Hockey League 07/08: V Blades of Glory

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
I wonder if the league will do anything about a cross-check to the back of the head into the boards.

I sincerely hope not, since there was clearly nothing intentional there other than jockeying for the puck. That needs to stay in the game.

Not mention Hemsky's insane ability to jockey himself from a safe position behind the player to one right infront of the player as they go flying into the boards.

I hope he never changes.

The fact that his foot "slipped" (which is the reason he fell anyway) is just more of a "you gotta be careful" scolding for Hemsky. That guy is just sometimes so out of touch with his surroundings.

[Asher]

I'll quote an Edmonton Journal columnist on the issue:

http://communities.canada.com/edmontonjournal/blogs/sweatsox/archive/2007/11/11/dangerously-hitting-hemsky.aspx

Calgary Flames hardrock defenceman Robyn Regehr's crosschecking the Oilers Ales Hemsky from behind into the end boards on Saturday night prompted a bit of a flapdoodle out there in the Oilogosphere.

Journal colleague David Staples, a man I had thought to be an old-fashioned, good ol' Western boy with a healthy love of violence, opined that NHL senior executive vice-president and director of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell, should suspend Regehr for 10 games.

After all, it was a dastardly deed, was it not? Perpetrated on the Oilers best player. Impermissible!

Well, no. It was a battle for the puck that went bad, which in the context of the NHL is an entirely different animal. Probably should have been five and a game — a crosschecking major and a game misconduct. Regehr received a minor. A discretionary call.

In making his argument, Staples applied the matrix of factors Campbell set forth in a memo sent to all NHL teams in the off-season about head hits:

Targeting the head; launching oneself into the hit; hitting a vulnerable player; hitting late; causing injury; the perpetrator's rap sheet - did he have any priors.

Applying these factors, Staples could only put a check beside one of them — targeting the head. Which defeated his own argument.

Still, the man did crosscheck Hemsky in the back of the head, sending him headfirst into the boards. A dirty, dangerous play, no? Well, yes, but . . .

In the overall, this was an intense, mano a mano battle for the puck, which is precisely what the NHL wants. And it's precisely what the NHL should want, it's the essence of hockey.

Colin Campbell's matrix on head hits is as specific a measure of whether a player should be suspended as that tool the NHL uses to determine whether the curvature of the blade of a stick conforms to regulations.

Campbell's checklist (for lack of a better term) is aimed at a very specific sort of hit in which one player essentially stalks and hits an unsuspecting player: a la Steve Downie on Dean McAmmond.

This Regehr-Hemsky play simply doesn't call for Campbell's Checklist to be applied.

Some fans, even the normally knowledgeable bunch out in the Oilogosphere, misconstrue Campbell's Checklist as a bureaucratic STOP sign, an admonition to NHLers to show respect, restraint and be cautious in dangerous areas.

It is nothing of the kind.

Others cynically believe the NHL is callous about nasty hits, but cooked up the checklist merely for p.r. Which is way too harsh a judgment.

What Campbell's Checklist is, however, is a narrow set of guidelines for a specific sort of situation. You hit a guy — in the head — in this fashion, you will be suspended, the only question is how many games.

The corollary is, it's also a set of guidelines for how to avoid a suspension. You hit a guy hard in the open ice, but don't hit him late, don't target the head, don't launch yourself, don't hit an unsuspecting player, can't be shown to have intended to cause injury, hey, that's hockey.

The NHL wants intensity, hard hits, emotion and battles for the puck. What it does not want is the sort of cheap, vicious hit that Downie put on McAmmond, for a variety of reasons, including safety, but also including optics, p.r., avoiding litigation, on and on.

It's a fragile compromise, a flawed one that is not applied consistently. Welcome to the real world.

[Asher]

The classy Oilers fans in the Oilers Blogosphere are throwing around some terrific ideas. I particularly love the comments about breaking Iginla's neck, ramming Tanguay into the boards head-first at any and all opportunities (while triple-teaming), etc.

Almost every Oilers fan's excuse for why this isn't suspension-worthy is their claim that it's only so "because it's the Oilers". Wow. There's a lot of psychological fun with that team, isn't there?

Here's a simple reason why it won't be suspension worthy: It was a battle for the puck. Hemsky's skate picked the ice which sort of pushed him headfirst, and Regehr's actions (pinning the player on the boards) is normal and happens dozens of times every game. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that Hemsky's skate picked, sending him off-balance and headfirst into the boards while Regehr had started the board-pinning motions. The end result is, to the uneducated observer, suspension-worthy and headhunting...in the real world, it was an accident.

The hits that've been suspension-worthy this season are the "headhunter" type hits where you blindside someone to the head with full intent and aim. This couldn't be farther from that.

[Asher]

Messier on the Regehr/Hemsky situation.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071112.wsptmess12/GSStory/GlobeSportsHockey/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071112.wsptmess12

Messier: Players have to be smart to avoid injuries

NEIL STEVENS

Canadian Press

November 12, 2007 at 3:48 PM EST

TORONTO — Mark Messier lasted 25 years in the NHL because, besides being a prolific scorer, he was smart enough to protect himself on the ice.

So, on his Hockey Hall of Fame induction day, he had some words of wisdom to pass on to today's players: don't get caught near the boards with your back to a checker.

"Just like a boxer is instructed before a fight, protect yourself at all times," Messier said during an interview under the colourful stained glass panels high above him in the room in the hockey shrine where his plaque will be placed.

"I would never have left myself in a vulnerable position and left it to chance that someone is going to do the right thing."

Recent rules applications to thwart obstruction have created a mentality that is inducing some players to believe they can finesse their way out of any situation "and because of that we're seeing some injuries" — as in guys getting creamed against the boards.

"The initiatives put in there to help have created a monster in a way," said Messier.

It's a violent sport and always will be, even when its finer elements are displayed at their best, he said.

"It's all about walking a fine line between danger and elegance and it's that blend that makes hockey so special," he said.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by snoopy369
If I'm only 8 points out with what, 12 weeks to go or something, I'd say I'm in the hunt now

Well we are still early enough that arguably everyone is "in the hunt"-- The middle of the standings look particularly crowded though

[Guynemer]

I'm quite happy with how my team has performed thus far, especially considering how weak at goaltender I looked to be before the season started.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Asher
The classy Oilers fans in the Oilers Blogosphere are throwing around some terrific ideas. I particularly love the comments about breaking Iginla's neck, ramming Tanguay into the boards head-first at any and all opportunities (while triple-teaming), etc.

Almost every Oilers fan's excuse for why this isn't suspension-worthy is their claim that it's only so "because it's the Oilers". Wow. There's a lot of psychological fun with that team, isn't there?

Here's a simple reason why it won't be suspension worthy: It was a battle for the puck. Hemsky's skate picked the ice which sort of pushed him headfirst, and Regehr's actions (pinning the player on the boards) is normal and happens dozens of times every game. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that Hemsky's skate picked, sending him off-balance and headfirst into the boards while Regehr had started the board-pinning motions. The end result is, to the uneducated observer, suspension-worthy and headhunting...in the real world, it was an accident.

The hits that've been suspension-worthy this season are the "headhunter" type hits where you blindside someone to the head with full intent and aim. This couldn't be farther from that.

Every team has fans like that. Neither Edmonton nor Calgary are special in that regard.

As for the rest...

Regher put his stick into Hemsky's neck/back of the head and propelled his head into the boards.

If that's OK in your world, fine. Others are under the impression that it isn't, or shouldn't be under the NHL's new rules re head shots.

[Asher]

Look how quick it happened, and the only reason Hemsky's head was where it was was because he lacks the skating ability of even Chris Simon...

[Flubber]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Every team has fans like that. Neither Edmonton nor Calgary are special in that regard.

Agreed.

Originally posted by notyoueither




Regher put his stick into Hemsky's neck/back of the head and propelled his head into the boards.

If that's OK in your world, fine. Others are under the impression that it isn't, or shouldn't be under the NHL's new rules re head shots.

I don't like that hit. It was clearly a penalty but I just don't think there was the same intent to headhunt as the ones that drew suspensions ( catching someone unaware and specifically targetting the head)

With Regehr it is a battle for the puck where they go in together and the cross-check is a continuation of the move where Regehr gets his shoulder into Hemsky and has him off balance. I don't think there was any big intent to injure there so for there to be a suspension they would have to start suspending a lot more guys

The problem is that there are a hundred puck battles a game where one player precedes the other and has his back to the following player that then hits/pins the preceding player to the boards. Often a cross-check also gets in there and sometimes the hit is higher than it should be. I'm not saying its right, a penalty was deserved there... perhaps even a 5 would have been appropriate

A suspension?? Only if you want to say that all hits to the head are worthy of a suspension-- I don't think the NHL is there yet

[notyoueither]

I think a lot of people who think this deserves at least a fine are under the impression that someone who has been in the NHL for 7 years, along with a lifetime of hockey before that, is going to know what he is doing when a mellon is on his stick and he fires it into the boards.

He didn't have to do it. He chose to, as much as any other player makes a decision in a hockey game.

The mellon happened to be another players' head. The chances that player never gets up and walks again after that hit are quite real.

If anything deserves a suspension under the leagues new rules, that hit does.

[Asher]

You have to be kidding me. That's all I'm going to say.

Edmonton's in a world of its own on this one. Kind of funny.

Edmonton''s upset that Regehr, a hardcore Christian and with a spotless 7-year record, is out there trying to injure people intentionally on a team that's perhaps the worst in all of the league. That makes a lot of sense.

Or! Hey. Maybe it was an accident, caused mostly by Hemsky's skate catching the ice awkwardly.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by notyoueither


The mellon happened to be another players' head.

Actually he does not apply the stick to Hemsky's head-- He has one hand against the shoulder and the stick drives into Hemsky across his name. Its still dangerous . . a couple of inches higher and he could have been right on Hemsky's neck . .. BUt it does not appear to me to be a blow to the head at all.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher


Edmonton''s upset that Regehr, a hardcore Christian and with a spotless 7-year record, is out there trying to injure people intentionally on a team that's perhaps the worst in all of the league. That makes a lot of sense.

Asher-- I don't see what his religion has to do with anything

Originally posted by Asher


Or! Hey. Maybe it was an accident, caused mostly by Hemsky's skate catching the ice awkwardly.

Hemsky's right skate does catch and that may have been part of it but I thought that was partly becasue Regehr got his shoulder into Hemsky and unbalanced him-- Then the cross check was a cross check but I think THat Hemsky had lost his balance by then and was going down anyway-- That may have caused Regehr to hit him higher than he intended-- Either way its a penalty

[Asher]

Originally posted by Flubber


Actually he does not apply the stick to Hemsky's head-- He has one hand against the shoulder and the stick drives into Hemsky across his name. Its still dangerous . . a couple of inches higher and he could have been right on Hemsky's neck . .. BUt it does not appear to me to be a blow to the head at all.

Not to mention Hemsky's head is lower than normal due to his skate picking the ice.

What happened is a play that happens all the time. Regehr was going to press Hemsky up against the boards, but Hemsky's balance was off and his legs came out from under him due to the skate picking. And it all happened in about a quarter of a second.

The people tarring and feathering Regehr here really need to watch more hockey.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Flubber
Asher-- I don't see what his religion has to do with anything

I think it can say a lot about the character. You've got one set of players like the Tootoos, Averys, Torres', etc that are always being watched for intent to injure. They just don't respect the other people on the ice.

Regehr's in the complete other end of the spectrum. I just don't see how anyone can claim Regehr was attempting to injure here. I think it was patently clear it was an accident.