Chara's Hit on Pacioretty

Avro

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Feb 12, 2007
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Unless Chara was on drugs he had to know the post was there, he's skating in front of his bench.

People who have played at that level agree.

Like Steve Montador...

"It's easy for me from this side to speculate, but that part of the rink in Montreal, where the benches are, I'd like to think that everybody, unless it's their first game there on the first shift — they might not be 100 percent aware of it — but having played against Montreal a bunch with Boston and with Buffalo … you're pretty familiar with the ice," he said.

"I got a sense that Zee meant to hit him in the way that he did, but I don't think in any way that he wanted the outcome to be the way that it did. The puck had already been chipped past Zee. Maybe just the emotion of that game and from games previous [led to it].
"I think Zee knew what he was doing there, but like I said, in no way would I think that he'd want to hurt him like that."

I know two NHL players personally (old school friends), one is retired because of concussions. They both have similar views.

This isn't as cavalier as the league thinks.

At the very least he should have gotten two games and a rethink on the design of the stancion....padding is useless. It needs to have give yet be strong....perhaps carbon fibre or have a rounded piece of plexiglass so the player slides off it and back onto the ice.

But when Bettman says, "it's part of the game", that dosen't sound like a man who will look into it.....to busy seeing if Iowa can support a NHL franchise.:roll:
 

Avro

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Interesting comment from Joe Thornton in the Globe and Mail....former Bruin.

It’s just something with Boston,” Thornton said. “It just seems like they have a horseshoe. We’ve seen the [Milan] Lucic cross-check to the head [of Maxim Lapierre] earlier, and there’s no disciplinary thing.

“It’s just something about Boston and the disciplinary [process] is on their side. I’m not sure why that is. I’m not assuming that Colin’s kid is on the team and that’s why, but it’s really bizarre.”

I have heard rumors for years that league has an open ear for Jacobs.
 

PoliticalNick

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Interesting comment from Joe Thornton in the Globe and Mail....former Bruin.

It’s just something with Boston,” Thornton said. “It just seems like they have a horseshoe. We’ve seen the [Milan] Lucic cross-check to the head [of Maxim Lapierre] earlier, and there’s no disciplinary thing.

“It’s just something about Boston and the disciplinary [process] is on their side. I’m not sure why that is. I’m not assuming that Colin’s kid is on the team and that’s why, but it’s really bizarre.”

I have heard rumors for years that league has an open ear for Jacobs.

And I'm sure that Habs emblem has nothing to do with your opinion of the Bruins.

First words I ever taught my son - Habs suck!


A little perspective here.

This viscous, obviously intentional check got a 6 game suspension.

YouTube - Suter cheapshot on Kariya 97-98
 

Chiliagon

Prime Minister
May 16, 2010
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Re: Montreal Canadians

I disagree.

He clearly shoved him into the bar and gave him no room to avoid it.

They got into a scrap earlier this year and their is some bad blood their.

Someone is going to be killed and the careers of Savard, Crosby and Max are in jeopardy.
he didn't intentionally do it.

That's a pretty gruesome shot, but it still doesn't definitively prove intent.
this is a skewed picture. it tells a VERY incomplete story.
 

Skatchie

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Interesting comment from Joe Thornton in the Globe and Mail....former Bruin.

It’s just something with Boston,” Thornton said. “It just seems like they have a horseshoe. We’ve seen the [Milan] Lucic cross-check to the head [of Maxim Lapierre] earlier, and there’s no disciplinary thing.

“It’s just something about Boston and the disciplinary [process] is on their side. I’m not sure why that is. I’m not assuming that Colin’s kid is on the team and that’s why, but it’s really bizarre.”

I have heard rumors for years that league has an open ear for Jacobs.

This. As to the hit, it's pretty obvious it was not a hockey play, as the guy didn't have the puck and it would have been a penalty for interference, injury or not. It is also obvious that his hand is guiding the kid's head into the wall.

Thornton is 100% right here. This is a clear bias towards boston. I alos get a kick out of the whole, "well he's never been suspended before so he's obviously not a dirty player" argument. well, he wasn't suspended for this either so I guess next time the big dumb POS tries to kill somebody he'll still be able to use that argument, and if it's as effective as this time he can just go ahead and continue using that argument the next time, time after that and up until his career ends.

bottom line. He should be charged. He should be sued. He should not be playing in the NHL anymore this season and well into next year. The NHL mishandled this situation, hugely.
 

shadowshiv

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May 29, 2007
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Chara got zero games for potentially ending the career of Max Pacioretty.

The rest of the NHL goons just got the green light.

No surprise there. He plays for the Bruins after all, and with Campbell's son playing for them(and Boston's owner being on the NHL Board of Governors) it is par for the course. I realize Campbell didn't rule on this, but I have a feeling he put in his two cents worth. There are a lot of shenanigans going on with the Bruin's on-ice play, yet they are one of(if not THE) the least penalized teams.

Intention or not, his actions caused a potentially career-ending injury. If he hadn't interfered, this would not have happened. I think a 3-5 game suspension would have been okay. I honestly feel that their previous encounters played a factor in this. If Montreal has a goon in their system, I imagine that he will be on the ice during the next Boston/Montreal game and that Chara will be getting in a fight or two(or worse, but that would make Montreal just as bad as Boston).

It says a lot about the mind-set of Buttman when he says the incident was a normal hockey play.

And there is a HUGE difference between a play like Chara's and an open-ice hit. Chara has been around long enough that he knows the layout of the rink. Even if he didn't intend to hurt him as much as he did, he had to have been aware of where he was. It was in his field of vision after all.

I like fights and I like good (clean) hard hits. What Chara did? That needs to go away and not come back.
 

PoliticalNick

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This, and other incidents like it are a result of a couple of factors.

The Instigator rule is a big one. Back in the day you never saw much cheap stuff (not that I personally think this was cheap or intentional) if some made a not so nice play there was someone to take care of it right then and there. No-one ever took a shot at Gretzky because Semenko and Mcsorely would be waiting.

I also put some blame on the 'full cage'rule in minor hockey. When I was a kid (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) we played without masks and were taught very early on to keep our sticks down and be aware of other players. Now they are dressed head to toe like gladiators. I watch them in practice beating each other around the head with sticks and laughing. I do not accept this on the team I coach, if one of my players does ot he sits for a game, but I know quite a few other coaches that laugh along with the kids. Funnily enough I have brought this up at league meetings and it seems to get brushed of as 'a bit of harmless fun'.

When we don't teach them at an early level to respect the other players you will get some that never do.

Try watcing some games from the real early days where no one wore a helmet and notice where they all carry their sticks and then compare it to todays game.

I miss a good bench-clearing brawl now and again! Get the goalie's in there too and its even better.
 

shadowshiv

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I disagree with your opinion that the hit wasn't cheap. There was no call for it(Pacioretty didn't even have the puck), and the previous incidents in the game were a factor in the hit.

I think that respect for fellow players is down from what it used to be.

I also think that they need to get rid of the Instigator rule. It is doing more harm than good.

Going back to not wearing helmets is, frankly, not a very good idea. The players need head-protection. It isn't a matter of "being tough" it's a matter of personal safety. If the player falls to the ice, they have a lot less of a chance getting a head injury than if it was just their head. Perhaps they need to change their elbow pads and similar equipment, but the helmets are a required piece of equipment.
 

PoliticalNick

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I agree about needing helmets and changing back to old style equipment that is padding instead of armour.

I would like to see the cages come of in amatuer hockey, maybe after peewee.

I would also like to see some amatuer coaches kept in check or booted comletely as they are not doing any good for the game.
 

Cannuck

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Thornton is 100% right here. This is a clear bias towards boston. I alos get a kick out of the whole, "well he's never been suspended before so he's obviously not a dirty player" argument. well, he wasn't suspended for this either so I guess next time the big dumb POS tries to kill somebody he'll still be able to use that argument, and if it's as effective as this time he can just go ahead and continue using that argument the next time, time after that and up until his career ends.

bottom line. He should be charged. He should be sued. He should not be playing in the NHL anymore this season and well into next year. The NHL mishandled this situation, hugely.

Do you have any idea how silly this post is?

It says a lot about the mind-set of Buttman when he says the incident was a normal hockey play.

Probably the first time I've ever agreed with Buttman....but of course, I was a hockey player.

and the previous incidents in the game were a factor in the hit....

Really? And you know this because....?
 

captain morgan

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I disagree with your opinion that the hit wasn't cheap. There was no call for it(Pacioretty didn't even have the puck), and the previous incidents in the game were a factor in the hit.


There are very few players in te league that don't finish a check. Pacioretty was doing his own dump-chase and tried to squeeze by one of the biggest players along the boards and in order to stand a chance of getting by, he had to put himself into a vulnerable position.

The timing and location of this event was crappy, but there was no visible attempt by Chara to run Pacioretty into the turn-buckle on purpose.
 

Skatchie

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Nice try on the "i was a hockey player" argument. So was I, and probably half of the damn forum. That means nothing. I have done exactly what Chara did, although in minor hockey when you're 12, guys don't get KTFO and paralyzed because of being run into the time keeper's box, but there is no way he didn't know it was there, and intentionally guide the kid's face into the wall, you can clearly see his hands were up, face level, and he is looking and seeing the stantion and he doesn't even let up i the slightest, he actually accelerates the face into the wall. It was an illegal hit anyways, that is not a hockey play, it was interference and his hands were up too high anyways which would have been a penalty in it's own right. He also didn't check the player, he shoved him. A check is when you get low and hit with your shoulder or hip. He used his upper body shove another man's face into a god damn wall and nearly killed him. he shouldn't play again this year or potentially next year.
 

Cobalt_Kid

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Feb 3, 2007
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Unless you're on drugs, you would know that Chara is was focusing on the player and not the boards.

I didn't see blinders on him, ever hear of peripheral vison, the fact all his buddies were sitting a couple of feet away would have clued Chara into the fact he was about to dead-end Pacioretty. The sad and sick fact is this kind of bull**** has become commonplace in the league and people pretend it's all just unfortunate mistakes. We've seen a couple of neck fractures with goon play like this in recent years and hit men taking out the best players in very cheap shots, what does it take for a little sanity to return to the game.

People who have played at that level agree.

Like Steve Montador...

"It's easy for me from this side to speculate, but that part of the rink in Montreal, where the benches are, I'd like to think that everybody, unless it's their first game there on the first shift — they might not be 100 percent aware of it — but having played against Montreal a bunch with Boston and with Buffalo … you're pretty familiar with the ice," he said.

"I got a sense that Zee meant to hit him in the way that he did, but I don't think in any way that he wanted the outcome to be the way that it did. The puck had already been chipped past Zee. Maybe just the emotion of that game and from games previous [led to it].
"I think Zee knew what he was doing there, but like I said, in no way would I think that he'd want to hurt him like that."

I know two NHL players personally (old school friends), one is retired because of concussions. They both have similar views.

This isn't as cavalier as the league thinks.

At the very least he should have gotten two games and a rethink on the design of the stancion....padding is useless. It needs to have give yet be strong....perhaps carbon fibre or have a rounded piece of plexiglass so the player slides off it and back onto the ice.

But when Bettman says, "it's part of the game", that dosen't sound like a man who will look into it.....to busy seeing if Iowa can support a NHL franchise.:roll:

They either need to remove the instigator rule or start handing out meaningful suspensions. Violence is part of the game, but it's going to be really sad to see someone die before they finally figure out it's gotten out of hand.
 

coldstream

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All i saw, and it's been played ad nauseum on all the sports news shows, was a legal check into the boards from the side. Something that happens on every shift in the NHL. It just occurred at an unfortunate location, and likely had something to do with Chara's immense size, which lifted and propelled Pacioretty into the curbing of the glass. I honestly don't think Chara even deserved a penalty, certainly not a misconduct.

I am irritated, however, by the litany of whining, from corporations (Air Canada and Molsons) and talking heads, about something that was accidental, unintentional and likely unavoidable on rare occasions, in a tough physical sport like hockey. Sh*t happens, get over it. :rolleyes:
 

Skatchie

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All i saw, and it's been played ad nauseum on all the sports news shows, was a legal check into the boards from the side. Something that happens on every shift in the NHL. It just occurred at an unfortunate location, and likely had something to do with Chara's immense size, which lifted and propelled Pacioretty into the curbing of the glass. I honestly don't think Chara even deserved a penalty, certainly not a misconduct.

I am irritated, however, by the litany of whining, from corporations (Air Canada and Molsons) and talking heads, about something that was accidental, unintentional and likely unavoidable on rare occasions, in a tough physical sport like hockey. Sh*t happens, get over it. :rolleyes:

Well, you obviously missed it then. he hit somebody that didn't have the puck and that is certainly not a legal hit, on any level, even if the hit was proper, which it wasn't (his hands were up in the kid's face) and either way, even if he didn't run the kid's face into the stantion, if he just hit the middle of the glass, it would have still been a head shot and likely still concussed the guy and still drawn at least 2 minutes, probably 4, in penalty minutes. It was an illegal hit. that can't even be argued. He hit somebody that did not have possession of the puck.
 

PoliticalNick

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You know I am getting tired of all this. We have fake outrage from governments and corporations becuase they think it betters their image. People who either have no idea of the game at all or of the reality of the game at such a high level even if they are fans.


Let's get a few things straight.

If the hit took place 4 feet in either direction no one would have got hurt, no penalty would have been called, and we would not have anything to talk about.

Every incident that is reviewed by the league, either on their own or submitted by a team, becomes part of the players permanent record if action is taken or not. Chara has no prior record at all so all the comments about 'goon' and 'dirty' are rendered invalid.

Pacioretty himself has stated it was accidental and he wants no police involvment. This alone should be enough to close all debate.

There have been much worse events in hockey with obvious intent. Just because a players leaves on a stretcher doesn't neccessarily mean something evil happened.
We had an incident in the league I coach in a couple of years ago. A young player (13) seemed to be checked into the crossbar cathing his throat and chin on the metal. He bruised his larynx and broke his jaw and was removed form the ice on a stretcher. We actually had to cancel the rest of the game because parents were about to come to blows in the stands and people were yelling obscenities at the boys on the ice from the other team. Lawsuits were threatened and suspensions were requested. Thankfully the boy healed just fine and he still plays. We were also lucky enough to have video of the game from a spectator which confimed exactly what the injured party stated after the event...he stepped on the puck and lost his balance while engaged with the defenceman.
I am not saying this event is the same other than for the fact there was much outrage by many people who did not really know what they were talking about.