Mark Olver steam rolls Vladimir Tarasenko

What a hit by former Northern Michigan Wildcat and current Avalanche forward Mark Olver on Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko. From the looks of it, it appears that Tarasenko is knocked a little woozy. There was no penalty called on the play.

(Video) Tyler Currier hit on Zach Budish

Tough way to lose a hockey game – UAA’s Tyler Currier was given a five minute major and a game misconduct for this hit on Minnesota Gophers forward Zach Budish at the 15:52 mark of the third period and the Gophers used that major penalty to cash in on the power play and win the game 4-3. [Click to view video]

This is a penalty, there is no question about it, however, Budish turns at the last second. Currier is already committed on the check and it would be impossible for him to pull up, what do you expect him to do? If Buidish doesn’t turn his back, the check in question is a shoulder to shoulder check. It’s the opinion of this writer that Budish also laid on the ice and sold the penalty pretty well. I don't think this hit was worthy of a five minue major. (Video by CJZero).

Slovak Hack Martin Marincin's dirty hit on Team USA's Jason Zucker

I dare someone to defend the play of Slovak defenseman Martin Marincin... There is no excuse for this kind of play in the WJC or in level of hockey. Personally, I thought that the Slovak WJC team played very dirty hockey from the drop of the first puck till the end of the game the Slovak defenseman Martin Marincin should be suspended for the rest of the tourney for this bush league hit. The Slovak hockey team is lucky that fighting isn't allowed in the WJC.

The next suspension in the NHL?

While I am not a fan of either of these two hacks, Maxim Lapierre should be suspended for his hit on uber hack Steve Downie. Lapierre is also lucky the refs rescued him before Steve Downie could get a piece of him. You can bet that the NHL front office will probably review this hit.

More on Ott and Clutterbuck

[props]Here is what the Dallas Stars beat writer had to say about Steve "the hack" Ott's fight with Clutterbuck after Cal hit Brad Richards with a hard and clean hit. It's more of the; you hit my skilled player with a clean check and now I am going to fight you. As opposed to an opposition player doing something egregious on the ice that requires a response. It’s silly, whatever happen to taking a number and hitting them later?

But watching Steve Ott stick up for Brad Richards on Tuesday, you got to see another side of the argument. Cal Clutterbuck is a good, clean player who made a good, clean hit, and that should be rewarded. But Steve Ott was right there when the hit occured, and he did exactly what the Stars needed him to do.

He fought Clutterbuck immediately, and it was very clear that it brought the arena together and the Stars together. Bottom line, you can not get away with hitting Brad Richards like that. It just cannot be acceptable anyplace, and certainly not at American Airlines Center. As trite as it is to fall back on the ``not in our house'' cliche, there is a huge aspect of that statement that is true in sports.

Anyway, here is how Steve "the hack" Ott saw it:

``I was actually watching some stuff from the 60s and 70s today and they used to have bench-clearing brawls, so I don't think it's something that we should take out of our game. It was a situation where I'm right there and you just can't hit Brad Richards like that. That can't happen without some kind of response, so I responded.''

Ott had seen a bunch of the discussion spurred on by the Mark Stuart fight and subsequent injury, and it's pretty obvious which side of the debate he falls on. And after Tuesday, I kind of agree with him. The Stars have been missing this element for much of the season. They need to be tight, and they need to protect each other. [Stars blog]

Here is the take that Mike Russo had on the incident. Ott has been a torn in the side of the Wild all season long and took out former Wild Petr Sykora with a cheap hit that ended up putting Sykora on the shelf with a concussion.

The Wild also can't figure out a way to neutralize Steve Ott. Two meetings ago, he concusses Petr Sykora with a hit that most people (minus Colie Campbell) felt was dirty. Last game, he runs around, sits on top of Harding, hits Derek Boogaard hard and then laughs at the Wild bench. Tonight, with Boogaard injured and John Scott scratched (Richards considered dressing him but chose to play James Sheppard instead), Ott ran around, talked smack, took a run at Brent Burns' head and fought Cal Clutterbuck twice in one-sided decisions.

Clutterbuck said afterward dressing Scott wouldn't have mattered. Ott's run around every single game he's ever played the Wild with Boogaard and Scott playing, including two weeks ago, and it's never stopped him. Last month, Boogaard challenged Ott. He won't fight those guys.

Tonight, for some reason Ott didn't get an instigator (2-5-and-10) for going after Clutterbuck after he lay a clean check on Brad Richards. I don't know why. The league has publicly said that if you start a fight after a clean hit,. it should be a 2, 5 and 10. The refs tonight gave him 2 for roughing. [Russo's Rants]

The problems with guys like Ott they wont fight the heavy weights like Boogaard because he would rather fight the guys that aren't feared fighters or in some cases that are smaller than him.

I was reading the comments from the Dallas Stars beat writers blog and look at what this guy had to say, talk about not having a clue when it comes to hockey.

Posted by jaybird @ 7:53 AM Wed, Feb 03, 2010
I think there is definitely a place for fighting in Hockey. Especially when a hard hit is made on one of the skill players. Guys like Richards and Modano rarely hit other players and if that courtesy is not extended to them, then I think one of his team mates should remind the other team that we require them to show some respect.

This guy has no clue every player on the ice except the goalie is fair game and can be hit and good teams will encourage hitting skilled players so you can take them off their game. There is no courtesy extended to star players.