Chara's Hit on Pacioretty

That's actually Plekanec and Moen doing some dry land training

durka , Avro.

You are acting quite childish and have removed so far from the actual topic and issue of this thread you should leave.

Maybe start a new one to debate who's daddy can beat up the other ones daddy.

I just want to know how much of a lowlife bigot you have to be, to weaponize homosexuality like Avro did?

LOL! Just watched Cherry. I just might change my opinion of the man.

CBC.ca Player

Thanks for the clip. I missed the early game tonight.

Why don't that replace Maclean with a potted plant or one of those drinking bird bar toys?

I'm no fan of Chara, but to be fair, I think that this picture is a case of 2D deception. Watching the video, it seems pretty clear that Chara never pushed Pachy's head. This picture just makes it look like he did, as Chara's hand is positioned in front of Pachy's head. It's an instant of the follow-through after pushing his shoulder.

I agree.

This snapshot in time, at the end of the event, makes it look worse.You do a frame by frame of pretty much ANY check and you will get a similar picture. I'm not downplaying the results or anything but I agree with what Don Cherry said about it when he said that if Chara wanted to hurt anybody, as big as he is, they'd be dead. I also thought Cherry's comments on the design (and history) of the boards and stanchions or turnbuckles in Montreal were interesting too. He showed two possible alternatives in either the extra padding like in Philly or an angle as put forward by (I think he said) Sheldon Kennedy (which is similar to what I thought Karrie mentioned as well.

The rules of hockey are very clear.. the last person to touch the puck is fair game for a check.. there are no murky subjective appraisals of what constitutes "continuation of the play". In fact Pacioretti could have avoided the check all together by pulling up after he lobbed the puck forward, but he took a chance and decided to try to outrace Chara's imminent collision.. which would have provided him a clear route to the goal. Chara should not have received a penalty for this hit.

As for the picture, Pacioretti himself has stated this was NOT a head shot, which he would have felt. He said that he felt Chara 'guided' him into the stanchion with his hip and shoulder. Well that is to say .. given the speed at which this event happened.. that Chara had the ability to time a perfect hit to the fraction of a second, while maintaining complete visual apprehension of where Pacioretti was and where the edge of the glass was, as well as controlling the physical dynamics of a guided check. That is beyond credible, it would be superhuman.

This was simply an unfortunate incident, that should have the NHL looking at placement and design of these glass curbings, rather than 'outside interests' assigning culpability for a 'criminal' act, which is nonsense.

gen. mgrs. are in florida now having meetings. stanchions etc. are going to be covered with more
padding, and possibly some of them will be redesigned, (not sure about that one though),and all of the seamless glass will be removed and returned to plexi glass with partitions, which
is much more giving, as the seamless glass is too rigid, and hits into it do not 'give' at all, causing
injury. The seamless glass was put in a few years ago to give fans a clearer view of the game, but
no thought was given to the player who had to run into it often from body checks etc.
Not all rinks have seamless glass, but many do.

It was also mentioned that a look at softer shoulder pads was brought up, and I
think that is great, I have mentioned that point many times, as those present day
shoulder pads are as hard as concrete, and even in an accidental and legal
hits where the
shoulder pad rides up and hits part of a players head, it is rigid and hard, and those types of collisions/hits will happen because of the difference in height of
one player to another, they are travelling far too fast to prevent most of those
types of hits. and that is part of the big misunderstanding on this subject, as
many do not realize the size and speed of the players and the game, if one gets
a chance to stand at ice level while the game is in progress, that fact will be
realized, and it cannot be realized watching tv. so
if pads are more cushiony, that would improve situations for sure.

And don't for a moment think todays hockey compares to anything before the lockout
because it is very different, much faster, and players today are bigger than ever
before, and play the game at a pace never before seen, and that is why there are
more injuries.

They are going to implement a 5 point plan to reduce concussions as best they can.

Concussions will not dissapear completely, that is impossible, as the accidental collisions and
accidental hits to the head as a result of a body check, (which was not to the head) will continue
to happen from time to time, some of the concussions happen from hitting ones head
on the ice.

If they get rid of the useless fights, that are staged, that will help lots, and
try to reduce the other fights which break out spontaneously as a result of emotion
at that moment, but I still would rather see that happen than a stick swinging
situation, which can cause severe injury.

This is a rough contact sport, injuries will happen, and the true nature of the
game must be left intact, with improvements as best they can.

We do not want to see 'no contact' hockey.

I haven't been in this thread since my last post, and haven't read anything that was
posted after mine, but I am glad the nhl did not suspend chara, I agree with their
assessment, he was given an interference penalty, don't know why it was a 5 minute
one as I've never heard of a 5 minute interference penalty before, I think the referee was undecided what to assess.
Interference is a common call, it is part of the game, it is a hockey play, and as
I mentioned before, the variance in interference calls from one referee to another
is 'huge', and the players and us fans do not actually know how much time one is
allowed after the puck leave one's stick that another player can still finish his
hit.
That is very confusing indeed, and they had better take that one back to the drawing
board, so that referees will call interference correctly every time, but I do think
the game has passed by the refereeing, and the game is too fast for them, hence they
either miss calls, or make many many incorrect calls.
Many times interference is called on a hit immediately after the puck has left the
area, and many times it is called later, about the count of 3 or 4, and many times
a hit is given out late, and nothing is called, this is common, and leaves 'all'
scratching their heads wondering.
There is 'not' a set rule which they all follow, or if there is, they can't seem
to do it.