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Tom Wilson gets lightly reprimanded |
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Tom Wilson got three games for his hit that broke the jaw of Zach Aston-Reese.
It's a light suspension. The NHL has had a problem with head injuries for years, and the fact that there's even a debate (as gawdawful and ignorant as it was) as to whether this should be a suspension just shows how far the NHL needs to still go to protect it's players.
Wilson left his feet to make a hit, and smashed a guy in the face so hard his jaw broke.
Que the pathetic cries of 'You never played the game,' the sexist cries of 'why don't you play ringette' and the insane arguments that because he might have meant to do something else, or because he might have brushed up against the chest/shoulder before making contact with the head that it's 'just a hockey play.'
That these are the debates shows that the NHL isn't the only problem, it's the entire culture of the game.
Wanting to make the game safer apparently means that you've never played it, or that you're some kind of sissy.
OK fine, but if you're going to act like that, if you can't see how shameful such views are, it just discredits everything else you think. Don't be a bro with a mustard-stained Sublime shirt.
The other problem with the NHL system is this ridiculous idea that three playoff games is equivalent to six regular season games. The fact that the NHL changes it's rules for the Playoffs - not officially, just unwritten style - is patently insane.
But as bad as Wilson is (this is his 3rd suspension and he's been the most penalized player since he came into the NHL) the NHL and it's culture are just as much to blame. All Wilson is doing is playing on the edge that made him a multimillionaire NHL player.
A perfect example of what is wrong with the NHL came in the Toronto / Boston series. I believe it was game six, in the Bruins offensive zone someone tripped Kadri and the ref's hand went up.
But then two separate Bruins cross-checked him in the neck/back while he was down. There is no way that none of the four referees saw these extracurricular hits, but since it's the playoffs, it certainly wouldn't be fair to give the Bruins three minor penalties at the same time, so they stuck with just the first one and ignored the other two illegal infractions.
Experiment: get out a hockey stick, find someone as big and mean as Zedeno Chara and ask him to cross check your neck with it - see how you feel in the morning.
The NHL is fun. Hockey is great. But we need to stop listening to the guys whose defense about every little safety issue is to make sexist comments about how tough they are.
The NHL needs to go through one awful season where they call 9 million penalties and never, ever let up with it. (Remember this year's pathetic October crack down on slashes to the wrist and....I honestly forget the other thing they were supposedly going to crack down on. )
They need to institute an automatic suspension for any headshot. You're liable if you accidentally high stick someone, so what's the difference?
Three games for Wilson? Considering it's the third guy he's injured with a questionable hit in three weeks, I'd say it's not enough.
The Capitals and Penguins play game three tonight.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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