NHL Suspensions

[V-HAB]

I know we have a similar thread, but I wanted to see your opinions on the suspensions (or lack-thereof) the NHL have been handing out lately.

What were your opinions on the Cooke and Richards hits and Lapierre and Ovechkin hits which have caused lots of commotion around the league this year?

[leafsfan007]

1st of all: Cooke's hit was dirty and to the head, definetly deserving of a suspension. How long? 15-30 games minimum.

2nd: Richard's hit was also dirty with the same intention as that of Cooke's, deserving of a suspension, but it did not look quite as bad. How long? 10-15 games.

3rd: Lapierre's hit was from behind, a huge cross check, after the play, the guy had taken the shot and was already out of position, there was no need for the hit, definetly deserving of a suspension. How long? I think he's lucky he only got 4 games after reviewing it. 8-10 games

4th: Alexander Ovechkin was comming in really intensively as he normally would and at first glance all you see is ovechkin nailling Campell from behind, but if you review the whole play, you'll see that Campbell atually looks over at Ovechkin and then turns his back to the hit that he is expecting. Campbell is mostly at fault for this check, I mean if you keep giving out suspenssions for this then there would be no forechecking in the NHL because all defencemen would pick up on this sexy move.Why did the NHL suspend him then? Because they have beencritisized for non action on previous hits this year and they wantedto go o here, we gave a suspenssion. This 2 game suspenssion will not get the Caps going, but they're hoping its enough to shut up the Hawks. Also its in respect to Brian campbell who is injured.


The league does not punish severely enough on head shots/hits from behind and allows this to keep happening, I mean Scott Stevens got into the hall of fame for his famous open ice head shots ending the carreers of many forwards including Eric Lindros who was never the same again. I really do think they need to improve this, but giving out make up calls is all so wrong... Ovie did not deserve a suspension.

I would actually rate the lapierre hit equally as bad as the Richards hit, but the Cooke hit takes the cup, and the Ovechkin hit? Wtf? I dont understand how it ends up in this category. I am a referee, and I know that Ovechkin hit does deserve a game misconduct and a 5 minute based on the severity, but not enough for a suspension. I mean I was shocked at Pronger only getting 8 games for a stomp a few years back, but the first two hits here actually top that one off. Only reason I didn't include the Lapierre hit is that it was clearly not the intention, but still a dirty enough hit to deserve a good suspession.

[V-HAB]

I think that comment is a little biased, you completely exaggerated in your description of the Lapierre hit (which a lot of Sharks fans even agreed wasn't that dirty). Watch it carefully; the shot goes off the post and Nichol reaches to try and get the puck out of mid-air - therefore still in the play. As he reaches back he starts to get off-balance and Lapierre gives him a shove with much less force than Ovechkin.

If Nichol wasn't off-balance, there's no way he goes crashing head first into the boards from a push like that. This is a professional hockey player, there's a problem if he's that easy to send sprawling off a shove that light if he wasn't already off-balance. It happened so quickly and I highly doubt Lapierre meant to hit him like that (same with Ovechkin, I don't think it was intent to injure).

I'm not saying that the Lapierre hit was 100% clean - I was actually calling for a suspension, especially since there was no penalty on the initial play. I thought four games was a little harsh - I think Ovechkin's two games was more accurate. However, since Lapierre got four games for a nearly identical hit, Ovechkin should've earned four as well considering the NHL's reasoning in the non-suspension of Cooke (Richards was not not suspended for the same kind of hit).

Like I said, I don't think Ovechkin intended to injure Campbell either, but it was a dumb play regardless. If you watch it carefully, you can easily tell that if Ovy takes one more extra stride, he could nail Campbell shoulder-to-shoulder with a good clean hit. Instead, he has one hand on the numbers and he shoves Campbell while he is in an awkward position (leaning over reaching for the puck angled towards the boards) with a lot more force than Lapierre did. I don't see how you can argue this - I've watched the replays of both hits time and again and their is clearly a more violent and dangerous shove from Ovechkin than from Lapierre in their respective incidents.

[Carson!]

Welcome to the forum Leafsfan007, that first post is quite impressive

The NHL is way too lenient with the dirty hits. Not a week goes by anymore where you don't see a dirty hit, it's ridiculous. There's only been like what, 4-5 suspensions or something? I really don't know what they can do, other than make the suspension longer...But why do the logical thing, right?

Like I said in the other thread, this is not a gentleman's sport. It's gonna get rough. I could even defend Cooke and Lapierre right now. Not gonna though ;D

The league simply has to increase the penalization. They should miss closer to 15-20 games. I mean 5 games is a lot to miss, but 15-20 is almost a quarter of the season. They're gonna think twice before doing a dirty hit if that's the consequences.

EDIT: I don't have to defend Lapierre now, VD did that for me ;D

[leafsfan007]

The Problem with suspending hits like Ovechkin's is that if you do, hockey becomes a much more defensively focussed game, because then all defencemen would just turn their backs to players like Ovechkin that is comming in on the forecheck. There would be no point in forechecking if you had to let up instead of following through. Thats the only difference between the Lapierre/Ovechkin hit I guess, but its a big difference, from the first time you stat playing body contact hockey in your life, your coach teaches you to not turn your back on a hit, thats exactly what Campbell did. You're right maybe I exagerated Lapierre's hit a bit, but you cant be dealing out suspenssions when the defender turns his back purposely thinking he wont get hit. Ovechkin would have had to full force on the breaks and even then... He might have still colided, but he would have been way out of position had he stopped and Campbell would have been gone on the attack.


But I do agree that some hits are really too brutal and go without a question. I just dont think that the Ovechkin hit is a style you can take out without losing intensity to the game.


Actually I just thought this thrugh a little bit more, and no matter how brutal the hit looks the rule is:

Minor penalty if the player gets up

5 if the hit is absolutly brutal

5 + Game if the player is injured

5 + Game + Automatic minimum 4 game suspenssion if it was an intent to injure.

So the Richards and Cooke hits go in the Match penalty category.

The Lapierre and Ovechkin should go in the game misconduct penalty category. But then since Lapierre got no call originally I think I would give him one game.

Of course the commissionner can apply random fines/suspenssions at his discression, but this should have only applied to Richards and Cooke for the match penalties.

I am a referee btw. So I know .

[Mr. Hockey]

First off welcome to the forum Leafsfan007. Nice to have a toronto fan on the forum.

The NHL is making me mad. You can clearly tell that there is a double standard in the NHL. How can Max get 4 games and Ovie only gets 2 games. This is like the 3rd or 4th time that he gets suspended. Right now I'm getting sick of watching NHL hockey. They need to wake up and smell the coffre. Somebody is going to die. They want to take fighting out of the game because I guy died from hitting his head on the ice. Whats bad getting a punch to the head or getting hit to the head without knowing its coming???

Right now the league is a joke.

[jwmann2]

I think a dirty head to the head is obvious but body checks should be accepted. This is a rough and tough game, guys. You take away the fights and watch the attendance and the league's popularity plummet.