EDIT: Todd Bertuzzi elbows Ryan Johnson

The right call was made in this situation (5 minute major and game misconduct) as the Redwing's Todd Bertuzzi elbows former Fighting Sioux forward and current Chicago Blackhawk Ryan Johnson. I don't think that a suspension is coming from the NHL, but who knows with the NHL. Bertuzzi is a repeat offender so the league might take that into consideration.

Bertuzzi will not be suspended for his hit on Ryan Johnson. [detroitnews.com]

Another Test to the New Rule (Redwing77)

I'm not going to spend as much time on this post than the previous ones now that the new rule has passed. But...

St. Louis Blue forward (and former MSUM Maverick) David Backes will test the waters again on the disciplinary discussion about lateral blindside hits on vulnerable unsuspecting players. In this case, star Red Wing Defenseman and former Badger Brian Rafalski.

I shouldn't trivialize this because this hit was rough. Backes comes up behind and to the right of Rafalski passing through center ice and absolutely crushes him shoulder to jaw right above the Blues blue line. The camera barely caught it.

Here it is:



You can just barely see it at the far right of the screen. There was no replay of the hit until NHL on the Fly pointed it out. In fact, I didn't even notice it because I was too busy watching Fippula undress the Blues D.

Again, no call. Again, not a penalty as Rafalski was playing the puck at the time. Again, should've been a penalty...and now will be under the new rule.

No idea if Rafalski was injured on the play. It is identical to the Cooke-Savard tragedy except the force of impact was less (imo) and Backes is known for big hits, but not cheap shots, so the intent, as far as I'm concerned, wasn't to try to knock Rafalski into next season (see Cooke, Matt on Savard and Ovechkin, Alex on Campbell) (NHL analysts call it "letting him know you're on the ice"). I do not consider Backes to be a cheap shot artist. To my knowledge, this is an isolated incident.

However, the question is: Will we see any supplementary action?

Anaheim's Wisniewski gets gonged (REDWING77)

Anaheim Defenseman, James Wiesnewski will sit out 8 games and forfeit over $200,000 in salary for the ridiculously stupid hit on Blackhawks defenseman Keith Seabrook.

Listening to his interview on NHL Network I have to say I'm impressed. He said "I wasn't trying to injure him. We were roommates at one point blah blah blah." He tried to sound sincere and perhaps he was. However, he's a repeat offender... wait... that's sounding more and more like COOKE.

Earlier this year he tried to be an NFL linebacker against Dallas' Morrow, a nice cross check to the mouth of a Red Wings player I can't recall... and I think there was one other.

Bettman says it is completely different. Cooke cheapshotted and blindsided a player who was around the puck and Wisnewski did not blindside Seabrook but took a flying cheapshot at him instead in clear retaliation. Oh yeah, Cooke wanted to "make his presence known." Both acts are reprehensible and both warranted suspension. So, yeah, Bettman is mostly right.

The Anaheim coach complained that it was too lengthy. Nope. He complains that Wisniewski was an easy target. Gee, coach, why is that? Campbell and his goons didn't throw a dart at the Ducks roster and say, "YES! Give that man an 8 game suspension!" He made a stupid hit and everyone in the world is rightfully blasting Campbell and Bettman that the league is starting to make the right decision.... Good decisions under duress... Wait a minute... I'm talking about the WCHA again, aren't I?

Who cares. 8 games is about right and about the same time Cooke should have been sitting.

So, justice is served....sorta. Booth and Savard are sitting at home going "WHAT THE ****!!"

LINK

Wisnewski To Test the Matt Cooke Rule

Sorry, I don't have the Youtube Link because it just happened...(Goon must be busy so I added the video for him. TW)



Anaheim's Wisnewski (sp?) just decided to take the Colin Campbell's Matt Cooke exception to the test tonight. Seabrook absolutely leveled Cory Perry earlier in the period and Wisnewski went after him.

If you want to see what Frattin's hit would have looked like if Wehrs was nowhere near the puck and Frattin did imitate Superman, check out this hit. Seabrook was in the corner about to turn up ice with his teammate when Wisnewski came out of nowhere, left his skates, and drove his shoulder into Seabrook's jaw. The back of Seabrook's head hit the glass hard. His helmet was askew atop his head and the whole of Seabrook's forehead was exposed. Lucky for him, he fell to the ice backwards. Also lucky is that his head fell on the boards, so the friction caused his shoulders or base of his neck to hit the ice first. DEFINITELY a bad hit.

Seabrook left the game with an "upper body injury" which I'll amateurly call something known as a CONCUSSION.

The NHL refs pulled a Don Adam and gave him a 2 minute Charging minor, where Wisnewski should have been leveled AT LEAST a 5 minute charging MAJOR.

That's ok, though. These types of hits are happening more and more and the refs are doing less and less. So, Campbell is going to feel a little heat.

But mark my words: WISNEWSKI WILL NOT BE SUSPENDED. If he is, then Booth, Savard, and Campbell will swear at the top of their lungs.

Ok, this hit was not a blind sided hit, but it was SUPER dangerous.

It goes to reason that someone is going to get hurt. BADLY.

In good news, Greg Shepherd is now a flight risk to advise the NHL on matters of illegal hits because they've got Shepherd's system down pat.

Carcillo proves he is a hack

I know why Gabby dropped his gloves because he probably saw this one sided exchange that Matt Bradley had with uber hack Daniel Carcillo. I don't blame the Ranger coach at all for being upset.

PHILADELPHIA -- Dan Carcillo's bloody knuckles came at the expense of an unlikely victim.

Ray Emery made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season, and James van Riemsdyk and Mike Richards scored in the Philadelphia Flyers' 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

But Carcillo's fight against Rangers star Marian Gaborik overshadowed another strong effort by the resurgent Flyers.

Rangers coach John Tortorella was furious that Philadelphia's enforcer went after his best player and sarcastically called Carcillo "a brave guy."

"There's no honour in that," Tortorella said. "I don't play the game, I don't wear the uniform, I don't want to say too much about it, but there's simply no honour in that."

Carcillo floored Gaborik with a hard uppercut early in the second period after the two-time all-star surprisingly dropped his gloves first.

"I didn't really expect to fight who I fought, but it kind of worked out," Carcillo said. "I don't know who on that line would have been able to help him though. I wasn't expecting him to drop his gloves, but when he did, I pretty much was licking my chops."
[TSN.COM]

Georges Laraque suspended for five games fot hit on Niklas Kronwall

Maybe WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod and Greg Shepherd could learn a thing or two about the NHL disciplinary procedures. This is what happens when you take a player out you pay for it with a suspension. Like I said in an earlier post I thought the NHL should suspend Georges Laraque for this dirty hit on Niklas Kronwall.

The National Hockey League announced on Monday night that Montreal Canadiens forward Georges Laraque has been suspended for five games without pay, and will forfeit $38,860.10 in salary for an incident that took place during a game against the Detroit Red Wings last Saturday.

At 8:52 of the first period, Laraque was involved in an incident where he deliberately extended his knee and, through his actions, caused an injury to Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall. Laraque was assessed a minor penalty for tripping on the play.

"Mr. Laraque's actions were dangerous and caused a significant injury to his opponent," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell.

Laraque will miss Montreal's next five games – Nov. 24 against Columbus; Nov. 25 at Pittsburgh; Nov. 28 against Washington, Dec. 1 against Toronto and Dec. 3 at Buffalo. He will be eligible to return on Dec. 4 against the Boston Bruins. [NHL.COM]

Georges Laraque's Knee On Knee hit on Niklas Kronwall

I think this is a bush league hit and Georges Laraque should be suspended by the NHL for this dirty hit. I have have to be honest that I am not a fan of Georges Laraque and find his antics borish. That doesn't mean I don't like tough guys because I do. I just appreciate tough guys with honor that play the game straight up. It just find it funny that a guy that doesn't play more than eight minutes a game and that has little or any talent was able to knock out a talented defenseman like Niklas Kronwall. I saw this on hockey night and Canada last night and have to agree with the Redwing's General Manager.

Asked if he thought the hit dirty, Holland didn’t hesitate.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Yes, it was dirty. It was knee-on-knee, and I believe knee-on-knee is a dirty play. I don’t know if the referees saw it. I just saw Nik go down and then I got to watch it on TV and video replay.”

Laraque was only assessed a two-minute minor penalty for tripping – though he also got four minutes for high-sticking Darren Helm during the same shift – but the NHL may well hand down a suspension upon review.
[Freep.com]

Richards smokes Booth.

The NHL want to do away with dangerous head shots like this. Check out the hit, Flyers forward Mike Richards smokes David Booth with a shoulder to the head, you have to wonder if Richards will get between 3-5 games for this check. The Florida Panthers aren't happy with the incident.

“I thought it was a late hit and I thought it was a dirty hit,” Panthers general manager Randy Sexton said. “He tracked him from behind and you could see it clear he put his shoulder right to his face, to his head, and then he followed through.”

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren defended Richards and called out Sexton, saying, “Randy should watch more hockey games.”

“It was a good hit,” Holmgren said. “I don’t see how they can (suspend him). Mike was doing his job. He was back tracking, he caught up to the play. His feet never left the ice. David Booth turned his head or it would have been a shoulder on shoulder hit. It’s a physical game and sometimes these things happen.

“Everybody in the league knows Mike isn’t a dirty player. He’s a player every team in the league covets.” [Courirer post]