In last nights contest between the Minnesota Wild and the visiting team Pittsburgh Penguins, Pen’s Sergei Gonchar laid a questionably dirty and hgih hit on Wild winger Cal Clutterbuck.
The league this season is cutting down on head shots and recently displayed this by handing a suspension to Phoenix Coyote defenseman Ed Jovanovski for his elbow to New York Islanders John Tavares. The question becomes though, will the league suspend Gonchar?
The league has been under scrutiny for wanting to make the game a cleaner, safer game for the players, by removing dangerous plays. This year specifically by the means of removing head shots. Yet earlier in the season, when time to muscle up and stick to their guns, the league did not suspend Philadelphia Flyer’s Captain Mike Richards for a hit on Florida Panther’s star David Booth, leaving Booth on the IR to this day. So the question becomes, is the league playing favorites?
Recently stated, the league suspended defenseman Ed Jovanovski for an elbow to John Tavares’ head. Was this done because it was dangerous and shouldn’t be in the game? Was it done because it was blatantly obvious? Or was it done because the person being hit was The John Tavares, the next greatest thing to hockey according to Canadian news for the past few years?
One would hope that that the league intends on removing dangerous plays, for the betterment of the players, but sometimes you do wonder if favorites are being played. Are you more likely to get a suspension if you hit a prominent figure in the NHL, or is the justice blind?
Underneath is the play where Gonchar took a run at Clutterbuck. You be the judge on a suspension or not.
That hit really suprises me because I don’t think of Gonchar as a dirty player who throws hits like that. But why is Gonchar throwing that hit anyway? Clutterbuck didn’t even play the puck and Gonchar came in and took a run at him. He should be suspended for the hit because it was reckless and uncalled for.
I agree with Chris, it was a dirty hit and he deserves a suspension.
Jovanovski’s suspension is completely justified, that was quite a flagrant elbow to the face. The problem I see is that had it not been Tavares, no suspension would have been issued. But even if its a fourth liner getting hit like that, its still ridiculous, uncalled for, and deserving of the same punishment.
I expect more from this site than mere “Gonchar” journalism. Sure, I could possibly post a video of OJ killing Nicole and her lover, but would that mean that he actually did it? Not according to the law.