Rutherford's anger understandable, because he's seen Canes KO'd so often

by Sean Zandberg on Oct 26, 2008 10:36 PM PDT Comment 2 comments

But that is really about it. The hit by Doug Weight on Brandon Sutter was a beauty, and hopefully Sutter has learned a valuable lesson from it. He's got to keep his head up.

"I've had four players - Erik Cole, Trevor Letowski, Matt Cullen and now Brandon Sutter - get badly injured on hits to the head and only one of the guys who hit them was suspended. So don't tell me the league is concerned about hits to the head because it's not."

I don't mind hits to the head in this fashion. I think Don Cherry has always said the right thing, and that is that the hard plastic shoulder gear needs to go.
Anyways, for your viewing pleasure, here are the video clips of each of the aforementioned hits. I assume the one suspension Rutherford was referring to was Orpik's boarding of Cole? Well that's a different scenario as you'll see below.
Enough to make Canes fans cringe...

Weight hits Sutter

Colby Armstrong smokes Trevor Letowski

Colton Orr decks Matt Cullen

Brooks Orpik boards Eric Cole
(nasty stuff by Orpik. At the same time I hate it when the player turns at the last second as well and goes face first into the boards.)

0 recs | Comment 2 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

IMO, these are 4 very different situations and shouldn't all be lumped together under one banner. The Weight and Orr hits were both cases of a forward failing to protect himself while concentrating only on the puck. I think the Weight hit was clean, and Orr's was definitely a cheapshot even if Cullen should have known better. The Armstrong hit was well after the pass and clearly a cheapshot. Orpik should've pulled up but it was a classic case of having to make a split-second decision whether to hit a guy who's in motion toward the boards.

So IMO, you've got two cheapshots, a solid hit and a questionable decision. I can understand the frustration -- we Bruins fans basically lost a season when Bergeron got hit from behind -- but players simply have to protect themselves at the NHL level. You don't skate around with your head down, especially not when you're going parallel to the blueline or perpendicular to the boards.

by Tom on Oct 27, 2008 8:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

"You don't skate around with your head down, especially not when you're going parallel to the blueline or perpendicular to the boards."

Exactly. Cullen was going through the "trolley tracks" with his head down then BOOOM! That hit was questionable? I liked it. You don't like it because his arms were up?

by Sean Zandberg on Oct 27, 2008 12:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs