honestly - that looks like a nice good old fashioned body check. no elbow. hit is shoulder - and it is my opinion that Letang KNEW what was coming and just was going to finish the play. kudos to him - he is a tough dude. but shat man, this is a contact sport with concequences... at least it used to be. 

I see how you can see it that way, but in todays hockey world everyone knows that anything close to the head gets you a suspension or a fine. 

i also don't like the fact that ryan miller is playing the puck 50 feet outside the crease trying to hit an outlet and people were wanting Lucic thrown out of the league for playing the game. ok so we are now supposed to part like the red sea and let the goalie skate up ice and take shots on the other goalie? come on man. 

I agree with this - the goalie is another player.  Running him in the crease should be punished.  You are outside the crease playing the puck, you should be just as open to a check.  I doubt however that this will ever be instituted.

you don't see me bitching about Orpik do you?

What did Orpik do that you would complain about?

some of his stuff is borderline

I agree and to my earlier point, borderline with the head involved you are going to get a suspension.  Borderline without the head involved you probably get no suspension.

but frankly the majority is just hard nosed hockey.  

Yeah, and less of that these days.  But lets be serious for a second.  It is the right thing to do, maybe they are taking away some of the brutal hits of the past, but do you really want to see someones life permanently altered to the negative just to have big hits in the game?  The players will get used to it, and stay away from the head and you will still see big hits, it will just take them a while to figure out how (of course that isn't saying they won't come up with another rule to outlaw that...).

More importantly my Cooke is a goon made up quote... that does kind of sound like something you would type.  Again, more than anything else just to fire up the Penguin faithful.

i agree. it was a GOOD tactic.

"A good old fashioned body check. no elbow. hit is shoulder"?    Yeah, shoulder to the head for crissake!  Hits to the head are not hard nosed hockey.  They are just GOON tactics and have no place in the game.

GOON tactics...I meant GOON tactics.....  

"A good old fashioned body check. no elbow. hit is shoulder"?    Yeah, shoulder to the head for crissake!  Hits to the head are not hard nosed hockey.  They are just good tactics and have no place in the game.

"they're either from overly sensetive Penguins fans"


hahahahahaha
That's it guys.  We are done debating this on a public forum.  I'm going to call the police and let the proper authorities handle this.  When Montreal come to town on Jan 20 we expect Max to come down to the local Police station so we can question him over the incident.  We will be sure to let you all know if we are going to press charges within a year or so.  Probably a few days before you guys play another game in Pittsburgh next year.  That way we can cause fans to get into fights in the stands over how utterly stupid the whole thing is.

Love the "these people don't understand hockey" argument also.  That's a sure win in any discussion.  "well i'm right, and your wrong.  If you don't agree with me you obviously don't understand what your talking about."

This really seams to be a case where the real problem is with the rule, not the situation itself. ALL players must be aware of their surroundings. Aware or not, there is not always time for the hitter to pull-up or change direction based on the movements of the player being hit. It's not as straight forward as saying "a player must be in control of their stick at all times", you can control you stick by yourself, you can't control the movements of the other players on the ice. The rule errs on the side of caution to protect players, understandable, but ultimately the hitter is punished and the onus on the hittey goes unnoticed.

Would you see it as shoulder to shoulder if Cooke made the hit, and be honest... interpreting the tape in the most unfavorable light and be posting things like....

COOKE IS A GOON - OBVIOUS HEAD SHOT..... MARIO SHOULD CUT HIM 

honestly - that looks like a nice good old fashioned body check. no elbow. hit is shoulder - and it is my opinion that Letang KNEW what was coming and just was going to finish the play. kudos to him - he is a tough dude. but shat man, this is a contact sport with concequences... at least it used to be. 


i also don't like the fact that ryan miller is playing the puck 50 feet outside the crease trying to hit an outlet and people were wanting Lucic thrown out of the league for playing the game. ok so we are now supposed to part like the red sea and let the goalie skate up ice and take shots on the other goalie? come on man. 


you don't see me bitching about Orpik do you? some of his stuff is borderline but frankly the majority is just hard nosed hockey.  

Riceroy,

One more point you say that one of the key factors for you was Letang looking up, seeing Pacioretty coming and continuing to shoot rather than protecting himself.

Sorry but this isn't a good argument.  The league has said that the hitter needs to be aware and pull up.  How many times have you seen boarding majors called this season when the player... seeing the oposing player coming turns toward the boards "to protect the puck" and gets creamed.  This is the same principle - abeit that Pacioretty had the option to hit Letang in other ways and still disrupt the play.

I still believe the decision to suspend could have gone either way - even though I disagree with this line in your argument.

Riceroy... fair enough.  Difference of opinion, I see your point, but I disagree and vice versa.

Sister said,

this was shoulder to shoulder ... initially.

That may well be true, but doesn't exactly address my point.  Would you see it as shoulder to shoulder if Cooke made the hit, and be honest... interpreting the tape in the most unfavorable light and be posting things like....

COOKE IS A GOON - OBVIOUS HEAD SHOT..... MARIO SHOULD CUT HIM

Because I have known you for a while now (online) - and I have told you in the past you make me laugh with some of your antics, but I really see you posting that (even if just to get a rise from the masses).  Others would almost certainly jump on that bandwagon.

Sorry again - I don't see this as a pure as the driven snow hit, it was close, but I can see the suspension.