Well I guess we know what’s on next Saturday’s Coach’s Corner with Don Cherry now

Clutterbuck on Gonchar: “He better hope he retires at the end of the year, I’ll tell you that … Somebody’s going to hurt him before the end of the year. Someone will. It’s not going to be me, but someone will.”

This sounds like he believes there’s some kind of widespread Gonchar hatred in the NHL. Really? If there’s any widespread interest in hurting somebody, as Clutterbuck suggests, I’d venture that he would be a much more popular target than Gonchar.

But maybe I’m wrong. Is there widespread Gonch-hate out there? Does he have some kind of secret reputation that only players like Clutterbuck are privy to?

Make sure to watch all the way through — at the 55 second mark you get an explanation for why Gonch did that. Pretty stupid of Gonch to rise to the bait, though, at 12:40 in the 3rd period of a game where the Pens were down by a goal. Good on Clutterbuck for drawing the penalty and for taking Pittsburgh’s best offensive defenseman off the ice for so long. That’s what Clutterbuck is paid to do.

Pretty bush hit by Gonch. If Ovie did this, he’d get suspended.

Also, the Wild GM in NHL 10 just refuses to trade Clutterbuck to me, much to my chagrin. That guy is a great role player.

Hell I named my cat after him, but that was a cheap-shot that is very unlike him (hell he rarely hits at all, never mind dirty). I hate to say it but he should be suspended for that. A game or two…

Am i missing something or is the date wrong on the video above?

I see Sidney’s leadership-by-example is really rubbing off on the rest of the team!

What’s taking Hooks so long to get in here?

I’ll start this off by saying I’ve been following hockey intensely for only 2 years (and only Caps games basically) but I’m having more and more trouble identifying a clean hit from a dirty one (or at least one outside the rules). It seems everyone here agrees this was a dirty hit. I didn’t go check the internet if this is agreed by everyone, what Pens fans think etc…, but to me it’s pretty much the same hit than the Richards on Booth hit which so many hockey specialists said was a great hit. Gonchar checks him with his body, doesn’t put his arm or elbow up. Heck, he doesn’t even put his shoulder down, like Richards, which could have seriously hurt Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck turns away from the puck, has his head way down, and receives the hit. Is it because he is “away from the puck”. From my point of view, he was close enough to play it until he turned around. So if the puck had gone through Fedotenko and Clutterbuck had played it, and gotten smacked a second later, it would have been a great hit?
This is an honest question and thank you for trying to explain the situation to me; unless you consider it is so obvious it shouldn’t even be up for discussion, at which point I’ll try to educate myself. For me, the Richards hit is more dirty because he aims straight for the head with the shoulder. Gonchar doesn’t go for the head, it seems, Clutterbuck just turns at the last split second.
One final note: from what I’ve seen from Ovechkin, in the same situation, I’m pretty sure he would have destroyed Clutterbuck in exactly the same way.

Thanks, I guess the main thing I fail to see/understand is the fact the guy never touches the puck. I see so many hits, though, where the guy has the puck, gets rid of it, and gets hit a full 1 or 2 seconds after, I thought it was OK to hit someone who is trying to make a play on the puck, but never actually gets to it. About Ovechkin, we have seen Ovechkin anticipating the play to make a hit, and follow through nevertheless when the puck isn’t there (the knee on knees come to mind). But once again the main thing is the “he never had the puck” problem.
About the forearm/elbow, would you say that is worse than the shoulder? I think elbowing is worse, but the Gonchar hit I would call more of a body/forearm check with an arm follow-through.
So then, if the puck had gotten through Fedotenko, and Clutterbuck had it for a split second before getting hammered, and Gonchar would have hit him with his shoulder (a lot of ifs, I know), that would have been clean?
Putting aside the whole “retaliatory” thing, even though it’s pretty clear it’s there, Clutterbuck goes in there to play the puck, sees Fedotenko has it and turns away at the last moment, which is when Gonchar arrives. I think Gonchar is trying to hit him but I don’t think he expected Clutterbuck to turn around right in his check. It’s one of those “I couldn’t stop at the last split second” things. Well, looking at it again, I better understand, Gonchar actually speeds up when Clutterbuck turns away from the puck. Looking at it this way, I understand the whole thing better. he clearly chose to hit him without the puck.
Thanks again.

Wild Cal Clutterbuck is now his official name from here on out.