GDT: Panthers @ Sens - Saturday, Feb 21st, 7:00pm

NEELY wrote:It was a cheap, needless shot.  Nothing confusing about it.

Again...I'm not disputing that. Illegal plays are disciplined by penalties. Might as well get rid of penalties then and suspend for every infraction. Should you suspend for a hard slash? What's the point of an elbowing minor now?

How about Jamie Benn punching zetterberg. Gets nothing. The league is biased.

Ev wrote:How about Jamie Benn punching zetterberg. Gets nothing. The league is biased.

Zetterberger had him in a headlock off the faceoff and wouldn't let go. Benn got a penalty for roughing, didn't he?

I wish that every video (for late hits) had an actual honest-to-goodness timer added showing the time between puck release and hit. Then make a clear definition of what a late hit is (with provisos, of course, for a player trying to minimize impact -- you can't always do a flyby or you'll be riding the bus in the AHL).

That way they can say "The hit came 0.75 seconds after the puck left the stick, clearly in violation of the league's 0.5 second allowance."

Sounds good, right? I've said this a bunch of time -- I even asked NEELY a direct question -- the play we all call "finishing your check" is most often a blatant late hit. If you are going full-bore at the guy but then, if you see the puck is gone you let up or veer off, that's one thing. But if you not only continue coming, but also extend your arms, spring up from bent knees to hit up, raise your stick/arms, jump into the hit, or take more than one stride *after* the puck is gone it's nothing but intent to intimidate or injure and is not a hockey play. Hitting in hockey (outside of fighting) is only allowed to separate the player from the puck; when the puck is gone, you tip your hat to the guy for being quicker than you and mutter to yourself "I'll get you next time."

Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:It was a cheap, needless shot.  Nothing confusing about it.

Again...I'm not disputing that. Illegal plays are disciplined by penalties. Might as well get rid of penalties then and suspend for every infraction. Should you suspend for a hard slash? What's the point of an elbowing minor now?

Well a buttend is a lot worse than a slash if we are comparing penalties. You're penalized for it but there is a lot more intent with one vs the other.

NEELY wrote:

Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:It was a cheap, needless shot.  Nothing confusing about it.

Again...I'm not disputing that. Illegal plays are disciplined by penalties. Might as well get rid of penalties then and suspend for every infraction. Should you suspend for a hard slash? What's the point of an elbowing minor now?

Well a buttend is a lot worse than a slash if we are comparing penalties.  You're penalized for it but there is a lot more intent with one vs the other.

I'm of the firm belief that there was no intent to make a late hit. The intent was to make a punishing hit and he was just too slow.

There is nothing and no one that can convince me Cowen didn't deliver that hit knowing it was late. It was a dirty play.

NEELY wrote:There is nothing and no one that can convince me Cowen didn't deliver that hit knowing it was late.   It was a dirty play.

I think you are over-rating his abilities. Sure, he knew it was late and could have pulled up at the last second, but his intention when he first made his move was not to hit late. What's the point. The difference between hitting him right as he lets go of the puck (or a split second earlier) and coming in two strides after is 3 games.

That was not a split second, that's the point.

NEELY wrote:That was not a split second, that's the point.  

Meh. OV takes the lumber to Letang, no penalty, no hearing, no suspension. Cowen hits a guy at the end of the long "one steamboat" count, gets two minutes, has to fight, then an hearing, then 3 game suspension?

Whatever else is going on here, Ev is right about one thing: there's no clear logic or rationale for the process, and as a result there's certainty nothing like equity.

I still don't get why Thornton didn't get an instigator when he jumped Cowen. They've been handing out instigators all season long.