That other 2nd round series in the East
- Thread starter The Napkin
- Start date
I live in Northern Virginia. The Caps are my second team. Tom Wilsonis trash. Close to Matt Cooke. He doesn’t belong in the league. Every game he targets at least one guy’s head.
The people who became fans in the last ten years down here love him. The homer announcers talk about grit. This will never be a hockey town. It’s Washington Football Team lite
Crazy that is no call on Wilson - he is such a dick. Pens need to respond to that crap if refs wont....
Now some game misconducts and penalties - this one is approaching boiling point and we are not even in the third period....
Now some game misconducts and penalties - this one is approaching boiling point and we are not even in the third period....
It’s not a good sign that Crosby is getting engaged in that. He needs to stay away from that if he wants to help his team.
He targeted his head. With his shoulder and left his feet. It was the opposite of clean.
Clear shoulder to head that never changed position as I saw it. Couldn’t tell if he charged but that’s his go-to move.
A guy goes in for a body check against another guy skating at him, both with their heads up and making eye contact - no shoulders or elbows up - one gets hit in the head and the other was supposed to avoid that how? I think the expectation that Wilson could have avoided that is wholly unreasonable lest body checking be removed from the game.
The “left his feet” argument is weak and such an arbitrary standard for determining liability. How did his right skate coming up 2 inches impact the outcome? My answer is that it didn’t.
It’s a strange world when I’m undoubtedly in alignment with Don Cherry. I think it was a clean check.
Indeed. Not unlike the non-call when Letang tripped Couturier that directly led to the nail-in-the-coffin goal in G6 against the Flyers, just less egregious.
Not that I’m still bitter.
It was a trip. That said, Maatta can't make that blond backhand pass there. Either go to the other point with it or chuck it down the boards.
Was not a clean check, imo, he launched himself and hit his face. The launch will get him suspended. Also looked like a charge.
Principal point of contact looked like the jaw (makes sense if it's broken now) and Aston-Reese was bent but not incredibly so. He had his head up. Wilson had time to ease up and he went for it as hard as he could, leaving his feet. Definitely a bad hit.
Hit him square in the mouth then followed through high on the head. Should be two games at least.
To be an infraction, it has to be more than simply the head as the “main point of contact.” The second part of that sentence in the rule description is that the contact with the head had to be avoidable, and the rule provides three more detailed criteria to assist the referee in determining whether an infraction has occurred (paraphrasing): 1) Was the head the target? 2) Did the head contact occur because the opposing player put himself in a vulnerable position? and 3) Did the head contact occur because the checking player changed his angle or approach? In my estimation, the answers are no, no, and no, with the first and third being relevant to Wilson. I think head ended up being the main point of contact, but the rest of the criteria relevant to Wilson aren’t met. I think they made the right call on the ice according to the reading of 48.1.
As for your third sentence, I think you were watching a different video. Everything you wrote in that sentence is not supported by the events. To the players’ bench side of center ice, he started gliding for a shift change. As he saw A-R approach he apparently decided to check him, although he never even took another stride. His right blade was off the ice by about 2 inches and his left was still on the ice. His body didn’t materially change elevation. There’s video on the interwebs of this encounter. I think you’re better off in this discussion pretending that the head as the main point of contact is all that matters rather than arguing the other points.
Rest easy, Penguin fans and sympathizers (there’s a medical cure for that, by the way): George Parros is highly certain to follow in the long tradition of randomness set by the likes of Colin Campbell and Brendan Shanahan before him to suspend Wilson. The Magic 8 Ball will spin in your favor. However, I really don’t think you’re grasping what you’re asking for here - the litigating of open-ice hits between two players skating at and looking at each other. It was a classic hockey check that unfortunately had one player suffer an injury, and as I’ve belabored, I disagree that it was illegal.
I'm a Caps fan, but that has to be a suspension. I don't think Wilson was aiming for the head, but when you're four inches taller than the other guy, you need to be extra-careful, and he wasn't.
Kinda like the Jax player who nailed Gronk in the playoffs -- whether he was aiming at the head or not, that's what he hit, and he needs to face the consequences.
Kinda like the Jax player who nailed Gronk in the playoffs -- whether he was aiming at the head or not, that's what he hit, and he needs to face the consequences.
He is 100% elevating. His right knee goes from slightly bent to totally straight. The left skate comes off the ice (except the front point) as he makes contact.
I think he gets a game or two in part because he laughed after the play and the Pens lost that player for the playoffs – if I am the league, I am going to suspend him just to defuse the situation a bit – if they don’t I suspect an “expendable” Pens player will do something retaliatory, like cheap shot Wilson in the head in game 4…
I didn't think that "elevating" is the determinative factor here. I thought that the issue is whether he left the ice surface, not whether he straightened out from a bent knee. And I don't think he lost contact with the ice until after the collision.
His hit was not as bad as Kadri's because he didn't leave his feet and he can at least make the argument (however implausible) that he wasn't going for the head. Kadri got 3 games, so I would predict 1 game for Wilson.
I was taking issue with the quoted poster stating "his body didn't materially change elevation". I agree that it isn't the determinative factor.
Good. I have no love for Pittsburgh, and don't really want to see them win another Cup, but I hope that ends Wilson's season. It makes me sad, because I'd kind of like to see Ovechkin get a Cup, but I'd much rather NOT see Wilson get one. What an absolute piece of trash.
Some of this is the "result of injury" but 3 games seems short. Can participate in the series? He had TWO cheap head shots in the first 3 games. Knocks a kid out for the playoffs and only gets 3 games/?? C'mon that is weak. Kadri got 3 for a cheap boarding and his target played the next game!
And I was rooting for Was > Pitt. Having lived for 11 years around Pens fans and now their back to back, forget them.
And I was rooting for Was > Pitt. Having lived for 11 years around Pens fans and now their back to back, forget them.
Wilson is garbage, I'll never complain about him getting suspended, but I hate the inconsistency. He's done worse numerous times with no suspension. Probably in this series even, I don't think he should have been playing.
Injuries are random, they shouldn't factor into suspensions. The double minor high sticking rule is even more absurd.
Injuries are random, they shouldn't factor into suspensions. The double minor high sticking rule is even more absurd.
I think your premise - that Parros got it right but the referees didn’t - is faulty. Rule 48 has two parts, and you are ignoring the criteria in the second part, and your call for the heads of those implementing hockey’s law is disturbingly Trumpian. Stop, please.
I believe that negligence should play into suspension length but injury in and of itself shouldn’t be a basis for suspension. It’s too bad the NHL didn’t focus more on the act instead of the outcome, which they too often do.
Agree on the double minor. Just call a damn major or leave it as a single minor. It’s one infraction and completely messes with my left brain.
Heh, I was referring specifically to the "if there's blood it's an extra 2 minutes". You can tap someone and give them a cut, or baseball swing someone and hit the visor and no blood. Former is 4 minutes, latter is 2.
Speaking of high sticking, a good point someone made on twitter yesterday was the difference between victim blaming when it comes to high sticking vs headshots. Players are 100% responsible for their stick no matter where the opponent's head is. I think checks to the head should be treated similarly. If you want to smash someone with your shoulder, either make sure you can avoid their head or accept responsibility when you do.
Yes. Trump was the first person to ever call for the heads of people. Fans have never had that reaction before in the history of sports. Good observation and equivalence on your end.
Also he's not calling for the heads, just saying that they missed a pretty blatant call and should be punished accordingly for it. You are extremely biased and took that in pretty much the worst interpretation that you could. Which says something. But not about Greg.
You know me so well, Ken.
What about the on-ice ruling was not justifiable according to Rule 48.1? See if you can stick to the subject.
What about the on-ice ruling was not justifiable according to Rule 48.1? See if you can stick to the subject.
Did you watch the video where they announce the suspension and break down why the hit violates 48.1?
The on-ice ruling was botched.
The on-ice ruling was botched.
I did now. Their ruling was entirely predictable (see post #80 of this topic). Color me unimpressed with their interpretation of the rule. People wanted a head, no pun intended, and they got one. Wilson hasn’t done himself any favors based on his career body of work, but their ruling was political, not based on the observable evidence. Namely, they claimed Wilson drove up and into A-R. Go to the 3:50 mark. Wilson’s vertical angle into him doesn’t change until the point of contact, but A-R lifts his head about a foot in the last few fractions of a second before contact. I strongly disagree with their interpretation of events. They also claim that Wilson could have avoided the hit, but they don’t specify how. We are left to presume “avoiding the hit” could have included Tom Wilson taking up finance or geology rather than ice hockey. More realistically, they could have meant he could have just skated to the bench, but then he’d be derelict is his duty to his team. I think the expectation that a player initiating a body check in that manner could target or avoid any part of a player’s body is wholly unreasonable.
I think DPS blew it. If they didn’t have a track record of being so wildly inconsistent in their interpretation of hockey law, they could be setting unreasonable precedent (open ice checks historically being an integral part of the game). As it is, they’ll reason away the next incident and that will be that. They’re not voted in by the people they’re overseeing, so the consequences are minimal. If the NHL is really serious about eliminating head contact, stop the painful striptease and just outlaw body checking.
I think DPS blew it. If they didn’t have a track record of being so wildly inconsistent in their interpretation of hockey law, they could be setting unreasonable precedent (open ice checks historically being an integral part of the game). As it is, they’ll reason away the next incident and that will be that. They’re not voted in by the people they’re overseeing, so the consequences are minimal. If the NHL is really serious about eliminating head contact, stop the painful striptease and just outlaw body checking.