A New Standard

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Jun 072011
 

Only a couple of weeks ago, Jamie McGinn’s hit on Aaron Rome wasn’t a suspendable offence.

Neither was Ben Eager’s charge from behind on Daniel Sedin.

You tell me if those hits aren’t as egregious – or even worse – than Rome’s hit on Horton.

Listen, I get it. Rome’s hit on Horton was a late hit. Horton, unfortunately, was injured, though we heard this morning that he was thankfully discharged from hospital. But it was far from a dirty hit, and certainly, it was far from the worst hit ever in history of the Stanley Cup Finals.

I expected the suspension. I didn’t expect the league to change the rules midway through the biggest series of their season. If the league is sending a message, so be it. But like I’ve said before, this message will get lost if the next guy who hits someone 0.4 seconds late doesn’t receive similar discipline.

Update: Rather than starting a new post, I’m adding the following video as a further point of reference. A lot of holier-than-thou comments out there so let me just remind those folks that Michael Ryder was NOT suspended for his hit on Blair Jones in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals. The hit wasn’t late – Jones never even had possession of the puck when Ryder nailed him. Ryder’s lucky Jones wasn’t hurt; otherwise his hit might have actually been considered dirty and a suspendable offense.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Rugor Dave Robinson

    Based on Torres’ suspension at the end of the regular season, and the hits mentioned earlier I think it’s highly unlikely that the next hit that’s 0.4 seconds late will merit a suspension.

  • Joanne

    Chara hits Pacioretty and gets no suspension for a late and much worse hit (March 8th) but Rome gets suspended for 4 games? WTF

  • peanutflower

    But Daniel dove after Eager’s hit, don’t you know?  And probs Aaron faked that concussion.

  • http://twitter.com/NHLart NHL Art

    First off, let me say I feel bad for Horton. I also feel bad for Rome. There is talk that a new standard is being set. If this is the new standard, fair enough. My question is: why is this standard being set during the Stanley Cup Finals?

  • Joanne

    the chara hit on pacioretty. No suspension or fine but pacioretty ended up with a severe concussion and a fractured vertebrae. How is this hit ok but the one on Horton was not? If pacioretty was told he has to be aware of his surroundings then why wasn’t Horton held up to the same responsibilities? If your going to suspend for late hits and base length of suspension on severity of the injury then chara should have been tossed for at least 10 games if you base it on what Rome was given for his hit

  • E Williamson

    Apparently you can’t get an unnecessarily long suspension unless you play in Vancouver. Remember when we thought that the Torres suspension was going to be the setting of a new precedent? Not only is the NHL making it up as it goes along but the Canucks are consistently on the wrong end of some curious decisions

  • Buff33

    The Chara hit, you play the game for 25 years on virtually the same shape of surface, some rinks may be bigger or smaller, the bottom line is you know where you are on the ice, Chara knew the stantion was there, he should have got what Bertuzzi got MINIMUM.  The Rome hit was late but if his name started with an O, a C he would have been rewarded for playing hard!  Rome is a Canadian based roll player surprised he didnt get more.  Gotta score so the repercusions are smaller>