An Evaluation of the Non-Suspension of Marian Hossa

Good stuff, and rec’d. Would comment more but I’ve exhausted all my thoughts on the subject. As mentioned in Clips, I’m more upset that he wasn’t ejected. Another guy serving that penalty might’ve gone to the bench for a change…

I am also more upset that he was not ejected. The call that was made was boarding, but could have just as easily been called under rule 44, checking from behind, in which case the imposition of a major penalty (there is no minor penalty for this call) carries with it an automatic game misconduct.

44.3 Major Penalty – Any player or goalkeeper who cross-checks, pushes or charges from behind an opponent who is unable to protect or defend himself, shall be assessed a major penalty. This penalty applies anywhere on the playing surface (see 44.5).

44.5 Game Misconduct – A game misconduct penalty must be assessed anytime a major penalty is applied for checking from behind.

I am glad he wasn’t suspended/ ejected.

Legislating by the degree of injury is a dicey endeavor. There are plenty of legitimate hockey plays that wind up as injuries due to freak accidents and plenty of dirty hockey plays where no injury(thankfully) occurs. This was one of the latter. From everything Colin Campbell said at the time Ovechkin was suspended, it came down to the fact that Brian Campbell was injured more so than prior records, intent to injure, etc. In typical CC fashion, he vacillates and retreats from previous statements made to fit his insane application of justice(or complete lack thereof). The fact that Hossa did the EXACT SAME THING that led to the suspension of another player should matter a hell of a lot more than the fact that a) Hamhuis seems to be okay and b) Hossa has no record. The only way you get rid of these types of hits is to apply justice equally. Put it this way: a player at the end of a losing playoff series does something like this to a member of the winning team who fortunately doesn’t get injured. The sore loser should avoid suspension at the beginning of the next season because he doesn’t have a record and because there was no injury? I call shenanigans.

excellent write up though, rec’ed

IF you’re going for consistency, Hossa should sit one game, maybe two. But of course, consistency is not what the NHL does.

  I don’t think Hossa should sit, because it would really only be punishing the result. I wasn’t pro the Ovie suspension either though.

Well, according to the Flowchart, it fell under the “No, he’s never done anything like this” clause. That meant no suspension for Hossa. When In Doubt, Flowchart out!

Until the NHL sets a standard and shows consistency making rulings there will be angst/anger/disbelief, whatever word you want, whenever Campbell makes a ruling.

I think that weighing the injury as heavily as Campbell apparently does is a bad idea. Think of some of the variables, what if the player that was injured had a history of concussions. Everyone knows that the more you have the easier and more likely you are to suffer another one. So there’s a borderline hit, like either the Hossa and Ovechkin hits, and the guy has had 3 concussions and suffers another. Should the hitter be suspended because the guy had a higher likely hood of concussion and is now out 3 weeks when the exact same hit might produce no injure what so ever with a player that had never had a concussion?

I am 100% for looking at prior penalties when making these calls but if there is no consistency when the penalties are handed down there is the potential for a severely warped record.

Disclaimer, I am not comparing the Hossa or Ovechkin hit nor am I arguing for or against the penalty handed down in either case. I am simply looking at the reasoning behind the penalties and wondering if that is a fair method instead of looking strictly at the actual act and prior “records” of the players.

Campbell had a concussion? I can’t find any articles confirming this. Every article I can find, like the one below, only mentions the broken clavicle and ribs.

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell has returned to team practice for the first time since he broke a collarbone and a rib after a hit from Washington’s Alex Ovechkin on March 14.

The Blackhawks initially said Campbell would miss seven or eight weeks.

Also, are you sure both Kaleta and Gleason had to leave their games? I don’t recall if Kaleta did but I’m pretty sure Gleason came back to play after the hit.

Also, speaking of inconsistencies, I was reading some of the articles discussing the Hossa hit on Hamhuis and found this comment in one of them. I had forgotten about this hit and it does make me wonder why there was not penalty given to Adams in this case.

The most confusing part in these comparisons for me is the fact that no one has brought up the fact Ovechkin got absolutely demolished by Craig Adams of Pittsburgh a few months back. If you do not know what I am talking about, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkQKBGAQExQ

But you know what happened on that play? NOTHING. No penalty. No Suspension. Everyone just moved right along because it is Ovechkin who got hit. Who Cares?

In my opinion this play was 100X worse than Ovechkin or Hossa’s by far. Craig Adams clearly saw the opportunity to crush Ovechkin and took it. There was no reason at all for Adams to hit someone who is reaching for the puck like that. Also notice that they were a solid 10 feet from the boards yet he ends up going headfirst and on top of it get absolutely crushed by Adams running into him while he is already against the boards

.

I’ll defend Hossa to a degree.

Ovechkin did have a two hand borderline shove.

Hossa had a one hand nudge. Looked to me like he barely tapped the dude.

One way or another,. you can’t defend either in the boarding call. Both did something that lead to the person going head first into the boards. But boarding doesn’t automatically mean suspension. It’s just a major penalty.

I disagreed with Ovechkin’s ejection and suspension though. And I don’t think one was warranted with Hossa. I think Ovie got it because the NHL had to redirect the “head shot” heat somewhere at the time.

But I will say, Ovechkin had a bit more force in his push.

some reaction:

Hamhuis says “it was a little bit light.”

Ryan Kennedy doesn’t “want to rag on the NHL’s lack of good judgment again, but when the items are so blatant, it’s almost antagonistic.”

I feel as if the NHL, especially Colin Campbell, felt that it would be best to allow a big-name player (Hossa) to remain in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when his absence could in theory be used as a reason for Chicago dropping two games to Nashville. If you feel as if this assessment is a big one to make, I’d suggest you take a look at who scored the game winner in OT for the Hawks.

I’ll not say that I completely disagreed with the suspension given out to Ovie after his very questionable “boarding” against another Campbell (insert typical conspiracy theory). But what I do have to disagree with is the blatant inconsistency that is being shown by what I can only describe as the ‘Suspension Fairies’ who must be telling Mr. Campbell whether or not to suspend someone for what was essentially the same occurrence.

Very well summarized. Another instance of Campbell disciplining (or not in this case) based on result rather than the actual action. I’m not a fan, and believe it leads to the opposite of the desired effect, namely unintentionally encouraging dangerous play.

A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player or goalkeeper who checks an opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to be thrown violently in the boards. The severity of the penalty, based upon the degree of violence of the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee.

The section in Bold is where Ovechkin was assessed a Game Misconduct. That section has been interpreted to provide the officials essentially unlimited latitude in the time penalty they can assess as a result of a boarding infraction.

I don’t fully buy into that interpretation, but that’s the justification for the Game Misconduct in the absence of the head or facial injury. Of course, it would be asking an awful lot of the officials to skate over the player being tended to by the training staff to ask him “Hey, how’s your head? Is your jaw hurt at all? Do you think you might have a concussion? No? You just can’t move your arm and you’re struggling to breathe through broken ribs? Oh, only a 5 minute Major in that case.”