Former University of Alaska Fairbanks star victim of Paukovich hit

First off I hold no ill will for Geoff Paukovich, however, Geoff is going to have to clean up his act before Paukovich puts someone in a wheel chair permanently. Blatant Hits from behind are not part of you job, I don't care what you say hits from behind are a gutless act and shouldn't be tolerated. If you're mad at an oppostion player drop the mits and fight them, you don't drive them face first into the boards. That is a bush league move...

Flame taken away on stretcher after Paukovich hit
Joanne Ireland, The Edmonton Journal
© The Edmonton Journal 2008
Geoff Paukovich vowed he was doing nothing more than his job.

Trouble was, it was just three years ago that the Edmonton Oilers winger had been on the delivering end of another hit that sent another player off on a stretcher.

On Sunday, four minutes into the third period of a rookie tournament tilt between the Oilers and Calgary Flames, Paukovich, reacting to a hit, drilled Kyle Greentree. He drove the Flames winger into the end boards with enough force to drop Greentree to the ice.

He remained there for the longest time, then eventually left on a stretcher. Paukovich was sent to the locker-room.

"I was just trying to be physical down low, which is what I have to do to be successful. I have to make guys not want to play in our defensive zone," began Paukovich. "I haven't seen the hit, I just know things happened really fast.

"All I can say is I hope he's OK. That's the biggest thing. There was no intent. Like I said, I was just trying to play physical."

During the 2005 NCAA playoffs, Paukovich, then with the Denver Pioneers, tried to put North Dakota's Rob Bina through the boards, a decision that left Bina with a fractured vertebrae. He required surgery to fuse the break in his neck and missed a season.

Bina not only returned to play for the Fighting Sioux, he ended up signing with the Oilers this off-season. Earlier this week, he said he had put the incident behind him, which was a sentiment he echoed again Sunday. That's not to say he wasn't bothered by the scene. He just didn't see it changing his attitude towards his new teammate.

"That was three years ago. That was a different situation. I know Rob and I have both put it behind us," said Paukovich.

The Flames, meanwhile, were not revealing any information about the status of Greentree other than to say he had been moved to a hospital.

"It wasn't vicious," said Oilers rookies coach Jeff Truitt. "He wasn't in a wide area off the boards or anything like that ... (Geoff) has to play physical and finish off hits. It's part of his game.

"That's just what he has to do."