I think it's actual venom. So for him, I root for another 39 years.

Been at the lake all weekend, but just thought I'd mention how crazy it is to here the season tickets for the new Winnipeg team sold out in seconds yesterday.

... Thank goodness the group of guys I'm in with had an 'in' and got ours on Friday! :D

That's awesome news, that they sold out so fast and that you managed to get some. Stuff Bettman's words down his throat.

Yep, Bettman can suck it. All season tickets had 3-5 year minimum commitments (ours was 4) with deposits ranging between $500-$1000 per seat that don't go toward the price of the ticket, and you only get the money back at the end of your term. They also have a waiting list that they had to cap at 8000 people. There are going to be fewer than 1000 single-game tickets available each game, which you can bet will be snapped up in seconds as they are released as well.

The MTS Centre is all but guaranteed to be sold out every game for the next 5-7 years.

I was being serious. I can't believe the NHL didn't suspend Burrows. A complete joke.


Not sure what this means.

It's been 39 years since the last Stanley Cup Trophy for the Bruins. He's saying that he hopes Boston doesn't win won till 2050.

That's a suspension... 20 games?

Horton looks like he's actually fucked... this could be nightmare scenario #1 for the NHL. A guy gets turned into a vegetable in a nationally televised Stanley Cup game on a brutal blindside hit. Scary stuff, pray he's OK.

That was very very bad. My buddy just mentioned to me that the rule should be if you lose a player to injury when a major penalty is given out, you can dress one of the healthy scratches in his place.

Did anyone else see Recchi demonstratively try to shove his finger into a Canuck mouth after a scrum?

It's on Versus ;)

Nationally covered then.

I would like a rule that if Rome gets suspended for that hit, Vancouver has to play with one less player for as long as the suspension is.

I understood what you meant...I was just poking fun.

Recchi is a douchebag

I just saw the hit...would it have been legal had Horton had or just passed the puck?

I know it was way past that point but I was just curious about if it was a head shot or not.

I thought it was a pretty clear headshot to the blindside of a prone player, with the elbow coming up and through after he hit him. Probably the most obvious one I've seen since they changed the rule.

I think it was a shoulder to head shot and I think he left his feet. If they're serious about trying to stop head shots, I'd have to think that's an illegal hit.

Recchi is a douchebag because he did what Lapierre did in game 2? Or did I miss something else?

DOLA - that was seeing it in real time and maybe one replay, so I could be way off. But it looked dirty and unnecessary to me.

Dirty and unnecessary yes.

Bruins are well and truly fucked now though. They have no damn scoring anyways in this series...now they're sunk.

And they didn't even get shit on the 5 minute major. Pathetic.

For me it has been compounding....he was a cancer in Pittsburgh which caused him to be let go. He was demanding who he was line mates with and was the reason Edzo got fired IMO. And his comments after the Chara turnbuckle hit was just stupid and idiotic. I use to love him as a Flyer, but it's gone down hill for him, in my eyes after that....

Sounds like Horton is going to be "ok" as he's moving his extremities. Good to hear.

This will be his second concussion in as many years. He missed significant time after the Richards hit last year. Glad he is "ok" as bhlloy said.

Don't know why I bothered but I went over to the Canucks blog just to see if they would admit that was a pretty bad hit. Nope - 100% of people seem to think it's Horton's fault for not keeping his head up crossing the blue line. Might be rooting for the Bruins now.

I just want to state the obvious...Tim Thomas has been playing amazing.

Wasn't Richards hit on Booth? Or am I missing one?

You are right...see kids...this is what concussions do to your brain!

Great goal by Marchant

Where was this fucking Bruins team in Game 1 and Game 2. They'd be up in the series if they had played like THIS.

Okay seriously - wtf? Why save all their goals for this game!??!

Haha. Or is it really just like they just said and maybe the physical play is starting to take its toll?

I don't think there are any bigger two faced whiner's than Bruins fans. At the start of the series I was torn on who to cheer for as, while I like a number of players on both teams such as Kesler, Bieksa, Horton and Lucic, I can't really stand either fan base. After the whining following games one and two, I'm now leaning more towards the Canucks.

First off, regarding the Burrows "bite", there was nothing there that warranted a suspension. Go watch the Jarkko Ruutu bite on Andrew Peters to see a real bite. In that distance, while Peters face washed Ruutu, he did not stick his fingers in Ruutu's mouth. Regardless, Ruutu bit down on the un-padded palm of the glove, broke the skin, and drew blood, leading to a finger that was still bandaged a few days later. For his efforts, Ruutu got two regular season games.

While I have no doubt that Burrows closed his teeth on Bergeron's finger, if Bergeron doesn't like it, don't stick your finger in the guys mouth. Bergeron's reaction was nothing like Peters, who was obviously in some pain, likely due to Bergeron having a padded finger. The fact is, if someone sticks a finger in someone else's mouth, a reasonable reaction is for that person to clamp down. Compare the two bites and the precedent set with the Ruutu suspension and I'm not sure that a one game suspension would even be warranted in the regular season, let alone the Stanley Cup Finals.

Secondly, regarding the Rome-Horton hit. As I mentioned before, I'm a Horton fan and hope for a speedy recovery and that he is back this series. First off though, Rome did not leave his feet. Secondly, this hit does not fall under Rule 48 which is specific to "A lateral or blind side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact is not permitted." Nathan Horton was traveling north-south and the onus is on him to have his head up. If anyone recalls the Willie Mitchell-Jon Toews hit, that was a legal hit by the definition of Rule 48 and I encourage a number of the people on this board to verse themselves a little before spewing off their clearly uneducated view points.

The one thing wrong with the hit is that it was a late hit and thus why Rome was correctly penalized for interference. However, watching in full speed, it is not as late as some people are making it out to be, although it does look very bad in slow motion. However, anyone who has played hockey at a high level can tell you exactly how difficult of a position Rome was in. Rome is by no means known as a dirty player. He was skating backwards and, based on my experience, surely mentally committed to stopping and throwing his weight forward into Horton, even before Horton dished the puck. Once Horton passed the puck, Rome was in a precarious position where he instantly needed to decide between stopping in his tracks, and risk either being blown past or bowled over by Horton, or following through with his momentum. With the environment that they are in, I'm not surprised by him following through on the hit.

However, there was nothing "dirty" about the hit. It was a late hit while Horton was in a precarious position, although not a precarious position as defined by the rulebook and one that Horton is technically responsible for (at least partially) ensuring his own safety in. If Bruins fans are able to remove their rose coloured glasses, they will see that the hit was not even as late as Chara's turnbuckle on Pacioretty and would likely be on par with Lucic's hit on Spacek in Game 6, another instance where a player committed to a check only to have to react late and be unable to do so.

And while there were not suspensions on either of those hits, there likely should have been but try as he might, I just don't think Colin Campbell was able to stay impartial with his son on the team. Rome will probably get a game or two and should, likely in part due to the fact that Horton was down and out and may miss some action.

I figured that was a simple mix up. This post...


...makes me think you've got a concussion. Someone might question your allegiances.

I wish we'd find out what went on between him and Sid. Most likely an issue with having a 19 year old captain, but he came off as a bitter old man, and has ever since. Great player, future HHOFer, but as classy as he was the first 15 years of his career, been a jackass the last handful

I really wanted Edzo to succeed, I like the guy. I know that Recchi had to do something horrible because I was listening to an interview one time with Edzo and he was asked about what happened in Pittsburgh and how did he feel about Recchi...his response.

"I was always told that if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all. That's where I will leave it and you can take my comment for what it is worth."

I love Eddie too. But I think that wasca disaster waiting to happen. I love Mario too, but under Lemieux/Patrick, that place was run like a country club and he was in that mold.

The year before the lockout, last game of the season, Edzo stood at center ice and talked to whoever was left for about 25 minutes, saying he hoped next season at the last regular season game, we'd be preparing for the playoffs.

You are incorrect, Carman: Blindside hits to the head have been a special bone of contention with the NHL, because a lot of the time, it ends up just the way it did tonight, with someone heading off the ice with at least a concussion. They have cracked down on it hard, very hard. So, yeah, he's going to get a game off (Probably no two game plus suspensions in the final..) but it's well deserved and well within the way they've handled it.

Especially since the puck was twenty feet gone.

Vancouver picking up the cheap shots here as the game winds down.

Yep. It's about time the skaters showed up in this series. Too bad about Horton. I hope he's ok.

SHORTIE FOR PAILLE!!!

Have you watched Lucic in any game Boston was losing by 2+ with less than 2 minutes to play?

Of course. But that's one guy, versus the like 4-5 guys on Vancouver who are slashing and instigating here.

And two wrongs don't make a right. Just because a guy on my team does it doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to point out the guys on the other team doing it.

PING Render

When will this stop?
WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?

8?

Jeezus guys...where were these goals when you lost the last 2 games by 2 goals total? Save some hmm?

Normally Horton follows Lucic's lead on that shit....and Marchand does it regularly.

Point is all teams employ guys who play up to and over the edge.

Eh

Horton looking behind him doesn't make that blindside.

Vicious? Yes
Late? Absolutely
Suspendable? Most likely

Sadly, head contact is still allowable.

You're forgetting that this is a Boston thing. Their teams are saints and it's only wrong when the other teams do it...

Um no. I already said up above though - just because there's a guy on your team who does something doesn't mean that you're no longer allowed to point out the guys on other teams doing shit.

If that was the case then nobody would be able to talk shit, because nobody's team is without that type of thing.

So whatever. Shove it.

The Canucks have a history of cheap hits like that in the playoffs. See Torres, Raffi. Rome should get a bundle but will likely sit 1 game.

So late doesn't make it dirty? (I'd also argue he did leave his feet slightly and he did extend his free elbow upwards, but I'm more used to watching lacrosse hits where those were the main points of emphasis this year.) I don't think he should get 20 games, but a game misconduct and 1-2 game suspension sounds right.

Getting more and more like the NFL. The players are too big, too strong, and the game is too fast to accommodate these guys.

I still think a permanent 4 on 4 format would eliminate a lot of this shit.

You are right in the fact that blindside hits have been a point of emphasis and I even quoted Rule 48 in my post. Where you are wrong is in defining the hit as "blind side". To quote the NHL reference video on head shots, in a "north south hit, the responsibility to be aware still remains with the player being hit" as well as the "player skating north south with the puck needs to be aware of where he is and who is on the ice." I made reference to it earlier, but watch the NHL reference video with an unbiased approach to differentiate between blind side and non-blind side hits.

Now, if you watch the Horton-Rome hit again, look at Daniel Sedin coming up on the bottom of the screen. If he cuts in and puts a shoulder into Horton's head the way that Rome did, it's a blind side hit by definition of Rule 48.

I'm not saying it was a clean hit because it wasn't. But if it was a few fractions of a second earlier, there would have been nothing wrong with it. I've actually broke down the video and the time on the clock when Horton makes the pass is 14:57 and the time on the clock when Rome makes the hit is 14:57. We're not even talking about a full second here (although probably very close to it) and only 1.5 strides by Horton.

Like I said, I won't call it dirty, because one of my pre-requisites for "dirty" is usually some sort of intent which I don't believe there was. However, it was late and did cause an injury. And while normally, Horton would be responsible for having his head up, while he should have anyways in this area, he can be excused somewhat because he was not expecting a late hit and is likely why Rome will get a suspension.

However, this hit does not even come anywhere close to comparing to the hit by Andrew Ference on Jeff Halpern, which I would say was by far the dirtiest hit in the playoffs and for which Ference didn't get suspended. Not to mention the aforementioned Chara and Lucic hits, in addition to both the middle finger and water bottle incidents, none of which warranted suspensions. Gregory Campbell was sure a good pickup.

LOL

If that's not a hit that is insanely dangerous and they need to take out of the game then I guess you are right, I don't understand the game at all.

I would have given Ference at least a couple of games for the Halpern hit and I think I've been pretty clear about where I stand on the Chara hit, but to pretend that the hit tonight wasn't terrible because some Bruins haven't been suspended before... you've lost me.

I know fan "classiness" is like the most important FOFC issue of all time, so I'd really like to know which fanbase, specifically, would be totally cool and would collectively shrug their shoulders at that hit and not "whine" about it. Nashville Predators? Minnesota Wild? Because if there's one out there, we need to give them the classiness Stanley cup or something.

Atlanta Thrashers...no one whined when they left :)

Penguins Fans...we trust that anything on the ice that goes against us, Uncle Gary will take care of.

It's not fucking Nashville that's for sure. I'm of the opinion they are one of the whiniest fan bases in the league after this year. The only reason anyone ever thought different was they didn't manage to achieve anything except get crushed by the Red Wings year after year and it was just kinda expected at that point.

Re: the Rome hit

NHL network reported that, in slow motion, 30 frames = 1 second real time. Time elapsed from Horton releasing puck to Rome making contact: 29 frames.

Horton out for the playoffs, back for start of next season, with a concussion per 98.5 and Tony Maz.

I know everyone says how fast the game is, but it looks like Horton actually takes 2-3 steps after passing before being lined up. Anyone who is of the impression that it was a clean hit is certainly biased...and I hate the Bruins :) It sucks because Boston loses a big scorer for the rest of the series while Vancouver loses their 6th defender, somebody just as likely to be a healthy scratch.

Yeah. Fucking pisses me off. I almost hope somebody on the 4th line goes headhunting for a Sedin or a Kessler. And yeah - I'm not exactly proud of that, but it's true.

That short handed goal by Marchand was awesome. Just a fantastic goal all around.

I have to admit, that, despite what Claude Julien says, I enjoyed all the finger taunting the Bruins have been doing. It makes me laugh. It's been a fun little rallying cry of sorts.

Losing Horton will be tough to overcome, but it could be a bit of a wake up call for the Bruins, much like the Torres hit on Seabrook was for the Blackhawks. I really hate Rafi Torres, by the way. I hated him when he was in Edmonton and still can't stand him. He's got those bug eyes, that ridiculous facial hair and, by all accounts, was a bit of a coke head, at least while he was in Edmonton. He also hurts people. He must be an incredibly solid guy because he really tends to destroy people when he hits them and looks to do it. I was very happy when he was moved to Buffalo for that short period of time, because I was tired of seeing him.

I enjoyed Thomas' hit on one of the Sedins. Should have been a penalty, but I liked it.

It is not clean..it is way late, but for those Bruins fans who are all up at arms about this, are you the same ones that cheered Chara after he slammed that Habs player into the turnbuckle?

About the suspension or potential one...I think it would be worth looking into having the offending team losing a roster spot for as long as the player is suspended.

Friend of mine just told me that the NHL defines a late hit as 15 frames.

I really think this is the only fair thing to do. Or else have something like "you lose one player from your pregame roster who played on the same equivelent line as the person who is injured" (although that opens it up to a lot more ambiguity I understand).

No.

This

The "only" thing wrong with Rome's hit, by the rules as they are currently written, is it was late. Resulted in an interference penalty.

Chara's hit was also interference.

I posted in the regular season thread at that time, but Campbell's decision on the Ovechkin-Brian Campbell hit last season was to the effect of "you are responsible for the result of the play." Ovy got 4 games due to the injury to Campbell. Chara got zero. New year, new standard apparently. 0 games for Rome.

Rome is out for the year.

4 game suspension, which will carryover into next year if the series doesn't go 7 games.

Wow. I was expecting a 1-2 game suspension (this is the playoffs,everything is magnified), apparently they decided to make "the punishment fit the crime".

I also wonder if this a whiplash reaction to the fact that the guy who was not suspended for the game 1 reaction scored twice in game 2?

I doubt the suspension would be this high had it been a higher profile player. So horray NHL...sorta.

I'm not really sure what the LOL is for, you'll have to elaborate.

It's really disappointing that Horton will be gone for the remainder of the playoffs. Hopefully Tyler Seguin will step in and have a positive impact with some improved ice time.

I'm surprised by the length of the suspension though. Definitely a case where they punished the outcome rather than the action itself. Obviously it was a late hit and Horton suffered a major injury because of it, but there did not appear to be any intent to injure nor was it in breach of Rule 48 regarding head shots.

I'm also speculating that the two players involved came into play. The fact that Horton is a star player and Rome is a fringe player make it easy for the NHL to "send a message." If it had been Kesler making the hit on a player like Thornton, Paille or McQuaid, I'm not even sure we would see a suspension or at the most, one game. Let's not forget Pronger's hit on Dean McCammond, which was much worse than the Rome hit.

It would be a lot nicer if the NHL could decide some actual parameters for suspensions and be somewhat consistent in their application.

I think we can all agree on that, at least

We've got, at most, 4 more games of the current group.

I've got high hopes for Shanahan, he's been rather progressive with suggestions since his retirement, so I'm praying that carries over. The first thing that needs to go is punishing the result and not the action.

Kunitz's elbow to Gagne's head is 10X more intentional than Rome's hit. But, since Gagne skated away, 1 game.

But until the NHL eliminates ALL headshots, there will still be a gray area, like this hit.

There's no gray area in this hit - nice revisionist history though. See above, who was it, Logan talking about the NHL standard for a late hit is "15 frames" and this was 29 frames. So it was clearly late...clearly to the head. I think I'm going to go with the opinion of every single talking head on every network saying that it was a violation of Rule 48 if you don't mind.

It was clearly late but I would never say it was clearly to the head.

Fair enough. Logan's point was that it was late only.

I'm no expert on hockey rules - all I know is that every single commentator/ESPN talking head/journalist that I have seen seems to feel that it falls squarely under this Rule 48. As apparently did the league since they gave him 4 games.

I didn't see the game, nor have I watched the Rome-on-Horton hit with any decent quality. Having just watched a low-resolution version of it on my phone, though, it looks like Horton got hit in the shoulder, but he landed on his head. The hit looked late, but I don't see much more than an interference penalty here (which is what Rome apparently got before the suspension). If Horton somehow managed to skate off the ice and not miss any time because of that hit, I don't think Rome would have gotten suspended at all. Hell, if Horton had somehow managed to land on his back instead of his head, people would call it a great hockey hit by Rome and move on with their lives.

It's bad for Horton that he's hurt, and it sucks for Bruins fans, but I'm just not seeing anything dirty here by Rome. Maybe my opinion will change when I actually see a video that doesn't look like shoddy 8-bit animation from a Sega Master System.

I said last night it was late, and today I repeated that.

But, I've seen nothing saying he's being suspended as a violation of Rule 48.

THE HEAD CAN BE THE POINT OF CONTACT IF IT IS NOT BLINDSIDE!

You might not like that, I surely don't. Savard was knocked out by it, Crosby missed 5 months of hockey because of a similar hit. But, as the rules are written, contact to the head is not outlawed. I think it should be, but it's not.


I think everyone will agree it was late. But I think that is the only thing, by the books, that was wrong with the hit.

Dola

2011 Stanley Cup playoffs: Vancouver Canucks' Aaron Rome suspended 4 games, Boston Bruins' Nathan Horton to miss rest of playoffs - ESPN Boston


No mention of blindside

Yeah I'm with you. I was just differentiating that the NHL has a mechanism in place for determining if a hit is late (15 frames), so this "clearly" was. There are only rare instances when you can say that the head is "clearly" targeted (Cooke elbow on McDonagh for example).

Can I give you just one bit of advice...never turn to ESPN for hockey talk. First off you will spend 59 minutes of every Sportscenter waiting for it and second of all, they only talk about it when there is controversy to make it look bad....oh yeah and you have Barry Melrose.

can i get official word from jack edwards on this whole situation please

Serious question: Had anyone ever heard of this 15-frame rule before last night?

I watch about as much hockey as anyone, and I'd never heard of this before the Horton hit.

I wouldn't say I "turn to it." More that I watch sportscenter while i work out everyday.

nope. when Mackenzie said this morning that the NHL considers anything over 30 seconds (ie 15 frames) as late, it was the first I'd ever heard of it.

I am pretty sure it's in the NHL Rulebook. Same chapter as "The Hitting Zone".

Had never heard of the rule, and think it makes Murphy's explanation that much more asinine.

"Clearly" late...less than 1/2 second...there are probably more hits made outside of that threshold than inside it every game. Just they aren't nearly as violent.

Waiting for Lapierre to get rubbed out a full second after releasing the puck, and launch himself to the ice in agony.

Perhaps the coverage around the Boston area may think that the hit falls under Rule 48, but any media that I've watched or read all says that it is not. Not to mention the fact that I've personally actually watched the video released by the NHL regarding the rule and the hit is clearly north-south. And not to mention the fact that the NHL made no reference to Rule 48 in the reasoning for the suspension as someone else here posted. I'd really like to see where you are getting this information from.

It was interference, and from what what was revealed this morning, it was 14 frames too late which would be about 0.46 seconds. However, that was the only thing wrong with the hit. There were probably at least 10 hits last night alone that were close to or equally as late, however none had the same impact due to players being ready for the hit. The fact is, if Horton gets up and skates away, that play is likely not even called, let alone warranting a four game suspension.

On an aside, Claude Julien stated regarding Max Lapierre that it "Certainly wouldn't be acceptable on our end of it." It will be interesting to hear Julien's response now.

Just play the damn game....it's a contact sport...people get injured cleanly and sometimes with a cheap shot.You cannot compare one illegal hit to another based on how long someone was or is injured for...it doesn't work like that...ever.

Rome was suspended end of story.....and it was an 8 game suspension really...not a 4 as playoff suspensions count double what regular season suspensions are.

Do i agree with every suspension...hell no...but i deal with it cause i love the dman game.The end.

Fine - maybe I was paraphrasing with the Rule 48 bit, or misunderstanding what people were saying. Regardless - I haven't heard any commentators talking about how the suspension is some grave injustice or isn't deserved.

I guess I am a Canadian too because I pretty much have agreed with everything he has said. :eek:

Hoser

Also, as far as media against the suspension, NHLnet last night, of the panel assembled, Marty Turco and Mike Johnson said no suspension, Doug Weight said suspendable...and said it was between 1 and 2 seconds late. I don't know that anyone's going to come out now as outraged, but clearly people disagreed.

The Phoenix Coyotes have traded the negotiation rights of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2012 draft and future considerations.

That's a pretty big deal for the Flyers if they can get him signed... they've been a top 10 goalie away from being a clear favorite for a couple of years now

20 games each for Bryzgalov, Leighton, Boucher and Bobrovsky.

Ron Hextall starts the other 2...and is named playoff starter after leading team in wins.

It will be interesting to see if they can sign him. By all accounts Bryzgalov was looking for a big money, long term type of deal. He wants to get paid and this is likely his best opportunity to do so.

He is a great goalie, so long as he doesn't have to face Detroit in the playoffs.

Pretty cool story on NBA Player Popeye Jones who's son is pretty much a lock to be a 1st round pick in a couple of years:

Awesome story.

He was also featured in last year's THN Future Watch (Feb 2010 edition)

Luongo-noooo