Worlds Championship: Canada vs Belarus

I'm on the fence as to how to think about it.

I mean, that is (as some would argue) how North Americans play this sport of ours; having said that, did he absolutely HAVE to treat this Hungarian player the same as he would an NHL brother? Maybe, maybe not. Whether this fella had his head down or not, I'm personally torn on whether he could have let up a little bit, while at the same time admiring the huge hit.

davetherave wrote:Anyone see this hit by Scott Upshall on the Hungarian player Benk?

Upshall received a match penalty and a one game suspension.

One wonders why he wasn't simply suspended from the tournament.

This is supposed to be a friendly international competition, representing one's nation for pride and demonstrating sportsmanship.

Upshall seems to think he's still in Philly.

Was definitely nasty, but they also showed the hit he had on the German player a few years ago, I say hit, but it was an elbow clearly, that one was even nastier, sheesh, Canada might have to stop inviting this guy.

Cronie wrote:I'm on the fence as to how to think about it.

I mean, that is (as some would argue) how North Americans play this sport of ours; having said that, did he absolutely HAVE to treat this Hungarian player the same as he would an NHL brother? Maybe, maybe not. Whether this fella had his head down or not, I'm personally torn on whether he could have let up a little bit, while at the same time admiring the huge hit.

International rules are different from NHL rules, and this is an international tournament.

Upshall received an automatic one-game suspension, and according to RDS, the IIHF is considering a more severe sanction.

As they should.

This was a gratuitous act. Completely unnecessary in a game where Canada totally outclassed the weaker opponent.

In my opinion, Upshall should be banned from international play.

davetherave wrote:

Cronie wrote:I'm on the fence as to how to think about it.

I mean, that is (as some would argue) how North Americans play this sport of ours; having said that, did he absolutely HAVE to treat this Hungarian player the same as he would an NHL brother? Maybe, maybe not. Whether this fella had his head down or not, I'm personally torn on whether he could have let up a little bit, while at the same time admiring the huge hit.

International rules are different from NHL rules, and this is an international tournament.

Upshall received an automatic one-game suspension, and according to RDS, the IIHF is considering a more severe sanction.

As they should.

This was a gratuitous act. Completely unnecessary in a game where Canada totally outclassed the weaker opponent.

In my opinion, Upshall should be banned from international play.

It looks tremendously bad on Canada too, even though it probably shouldn't, it will because he was wearing our maple leaf, and it is a true testament to the Hungarian fans, team and the country as a whole because they did not express any bitterness, they instead raved about it was a dream to play Canada, even if it was a blow out because for them, that is a sign they made it, plus it was a dream of one of their players that died suddenly a few months ago, he wanted to play in the A pool at the World Championship, sadly he isn't able to, but his teammates are doing so in his honour. I would definitely not be against Upshall never playing an IIHF/Olympic sanctioned game ever again, there are plenty of guys chomping at the bit to get on that squad.

I'm so glad you brought that up SF, because I too was caught off guard when reading the Hungarian netminders quote about how truly great it was to be sharing the ice with Canada... I can tell you that reading tugged at the ol' Patriotic heartstrings, that's for sure.

And so, part of me feels that when taking that into account and seeing how the game went, Upshall needn't have done what he did, and quite frankly, even though some of the players and Ruff himself downplayed it (which I truly hope was for the sake of PR and nothing more) the fact is, I agree that Scottie should probably be hit hard...

Honestly, what if Canada was Hungary in this position, and our player took that kind of punishing hit? How would we feel?

The game was embarassing on every level, and being in the weakest division in the tournament is even more of a joke.

Why does Canada even need to play these games?

The game was embarassing on every level, and being in the weakest division in the tournament is even more of a joke.

Why does Canada even need to play these games? We should be sending a team of semi-pro's to this thing like we used to... It's not even fun to watch and can hardly be enjoyed.