The furor over this makes a suspension INEVITABLE.
- philco28

like the Weber face plant, right?

Call me an idiot and whatever else you might want to say, but I really do not see how this hit was so malicious. I am not comparing this to any other hit, nor am I biased to any team in this series. I seriously could not care any less who moves on. What I do see- torres is definitely going full speed and left his feet. What I don't see- a late hit and the head being the principle point of contact. When I say principle I mean that the head took the brunt of the hit and nothing else was touched. This is simply not true. It looked like the chest took most of the hit which already deflates the hits significance. There is also the timing of the play. As hockey fans, we always see late hits near the boards (over a second or two). In this case, torres made contact less than a second after hossa lost the puck. Just because it was a bigger hit and an injury was a result, people are more likely to say it was late. I really do not understand that. It's hockey. Everything is bang bang. There is no way torres, who was obviously going for a big hit anyway, could do much at that point to get away.

Do I think he should be suspended for a long time? Yes, of course. But for the reasons everyone says? No. Just my two cents.
- selanne4pres

1. None of the 4 zebras claimed to have seen it. So either no one was watching the play or it was well behind the action. Can't have both.

2. When you leave your feet, you're trying to aim for more than shoulder contact. You're aiming for the head.

Now...can we chat about HOW they lost?

Really quick:

Worst goal I have ever seen scored against a Hawk goalie live in my lifetime. Right in front of me, and the guy was maybe 1-2" from the red line. Almost mathetmatically impossible to score from there given the parrallel, etc.

Goal 1 is on Leddy. He looked HORRID last night. Scared, adn timid, and his inability to take a hit, led to the turnover, led to the goal.

Goal 2 is on Crawford and Keith. i get shooting at the far pad for the rebound, but don't kick it to the slot, and WTF is Keith ever going to learn to cover his backside man? Ever?

I thougth Froik was a beast. Toews looks out of whack, but was throwing checks, and doing other things to help the team. Seabrook is by FAR, and I mean a country mile, their best D man.

Keith...how the hell did he miss 2 POINT blank chances? that's the game. Up 2, and the Coyotes are done. Hawks can't seem to get that next goal.

lastly, that BS stickhandling by Kane in OT can't go unnoticed. Why? This was a flash back to old, selfish Kane, and that's just stupid, stupid hockey and those turnovers high in the offensive end always come back and bite....hard.

Don't see how they win 3 of 4 without Hossa, Smith playing amazing, Crawford letting in crap goals, and relyinig on guys like Kruger, Leddy, Hayes/Saad/etc to play a lot of minutes.

They may give the old college try hard on Thursday, come out firing but if Smith holds fort, then it's all back on Crawford to match that...and guess what...he hasn't shown he can do that..and until he wins a playoff round I refuse to buy into this guy. Goalie is the most mentally challenging position in sports outside of NFL QB and Crawford doesn't look to have the stones to handle it....
- SteveRain

Great post Rain Man...and Sharp equally to blame on the 2nd...no one and i repeat NO ONE picking up the trailers in this series. TERRIBLE D-ZONE coverage by the forwards.

like the Weber face plant, right?
- Sconnie

Did Zetterberg leave on a stretcher ?

You would think Tippett would have the stones to sit the guy on the bench the rest of the game and call out his player for that egregious action.

I think the James Neal hit is the closest comparison though no one was stretchered off and he assaulted two players in a 5 minute stretch... That some how equated to 1 game.

Torres can easily only get 1-3 based on suspensions so far. The NHL has to make a decision how out of control they want this series to get. I like that the Hawks are trying to take the high road but if they aren't satisfied I am convinced that either word will come down from the top, or some player will take it upon himself to even things out and this series will get very ugly very fast. Because aside from that hit, it was pretty competitive with out as much nonsense as the other games.

Kind of surprised Keith didn't lose his mind again so it looked like that suspension worked...

Stuff like this continues and you'll start to see players take punishment upon themselves (which is happening to a certain extent). Remember this criminal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz9RE9RGrVY

Folks, I hate to say this but I was wrong. I did not see the hit live. I saw many slo-mo replays and felt the punishment should be severe. Go back and watch the play at gamespeed. Torres has a big collision with Olsen seconds before his hit on Hossa. The difference is Hossa had his head down. It's easy to see how 4 officials "missed" the call. I quote missed because I think they saw it but felt it wasn't a penalty.
- 12,9 and 22

I agree. They saw it. Had to. How they missed him leaving the ice—whether Hossa had his head down or not (which is irrelevant) is mystifying.

For anyone that has watched the pacific this year it's no surprise raffi throws a hit like this. He has been charging throwing elbows and just plain out a gong show all year. At least once a game that scumbag throws at someones head. This is just the first time everyone saw it, and now hockey gets to deal with the fallout. Sick of this thuggery play the damn game.
- onac22

He was the same even back when he played for Brampton in the O. The fact of the matter is he is encouraged, and has been encouraged, throughout his entire professional career to throw these reckless hits whenever he gets a chance. He's good at timing them for maximum destruction of the opposing player. It won't change, even if the league goes out of its way to suspend him for 25+ games, within a year, we'll see the same type of hit delivered by him and we'll be back here discussing it.

The best retaliation the Hawks could do is use this as a rallying point and WIN THE SERIES and send the Yotes to the golf course.

A terrible Tuesday with an awful trifecta, Shaw-Hossa-Game 3 Loss. On My Fox Chgo:http://bit.ly/HSgggs

Plus a SiriusXm audio link.

On Twitter@AlCimaglia
- Al

I would submit it's the worst 1-day trifecta in the history of the Tomahawk.

You would think Tippett would have the stones to sit the guy on the bench the rest of the game and call out his player for that egregious action.

I think the James Neal hit is the closest comparison though no one was stretchered off and he assaulted two players in a 5 minute stretch... That some how equated to 1 game.

Torres can easily only get 1-3 based on suspensions so far. The NHL has to make a decision how out of control they want this series to get. I like that the Hawks are trying to take the high road but if they aren't satisfied I am convinced that either word will come down from the top, or some player will take it upon himself to even things out and this series will get very ugly very fast. Because aside from that hit, it was pretty competitive with out as much nonsense as the other games.

Kind of surprised Keith didn't lose his mind again so it looked like that suspension worked...

Stuff like this continues and you'll start to see players take punishment upon themselves (which is happening to a certain extent). Remember this criminal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz9RE9RGrVY
- fattybeef

I will tell you fatty, based on the tone of the press releases—and what I heard and saw from Q's reactions and what I heard about some conversation that took place last night, it is very puzzling. Meaning, there is more to this right now than is being said publicly.

Goal 1 is on Leddy. He looked HORRID last night. Scared, adn timid, and his inability to take a hit, led to the turnover, led to the goal.


- SteveRain

He really did look horrid. Leddy totally got pushed around. What's even worse is that he allowed it to happen. He was a total no show on the defensive side of things.

Oduya didn't look all that hot last night either, especially when he was paired with Leddy. I'm at the point where you can toss that defensive paring in the trash.

If Leddy is going to be on the ice from here on out, it should be third paring minutes and he should only be paired with Seabrook.

The best retaliation the Hawks could do is use this as a rallying point and WIN THE SERIES and send the Yotes to the golf course.
- jhawk159

BAZINGA

Did Zetterberg leave on a stretcher ?

- philco28

Who cares, they need to quit punishing based on the outcome and the offending players salary.

>Yes, Yes, Yes -- this is the problem -- refs NOT making the right calls before things escalate -- and then broadcasters, coaches, players, fans of the offending team all hiding behind "the hockey hit" defense
>Torres hit was .8 seconds late -- after Hossa released the puck -- NHL rule is .5
>On digital frames, it was a full 25 digital frames late
>Anyone who can't see that Torres targeted Hossa's head on that hit is either a cretin, Hawk-hater or both
>Torres has a career highlight reel of dirty, suspendable hits to the head -- most with him jumping off the ice to make contact, all of them late
>If Torres hit would have happened to Henrik Sedin, I would be calling for the same severe suspension to Torres
>I love hockey and have a hard time understanding what value the NHL sees in a Raffi Torres in their league
>10 game minimum -- but it should be 25 games -- maybe Raffi would learn that late and high are not allowed
>Lastly, can Torres be tested for steroids? He looks like the poster child of a NHL player that juices
- SnapitUpstairs

This is ridiculous. You're arguing that in .8 seconds, a player has the ability to completely change direction, stop, or otherwise avoid the hit, where in .5 seconds they do not? Now I know, that a player probably gets a second or so lead time as they're skating towards a player to see that the player is passing the puck based off his movements, but the difference between the .5 and .8 seconds does not make this a 'very late hit'.

Torres charged, he left his feet. He connected primarily in the chest, but continued upwards and caught the jaw also, and with a lot of force. It's an illegal hit in many different ways, but I'm not sure it was so late that it should be a big consideration.

I expect 4 games, which eliminates him from this series minimum.

NHL players are all tested 1, 2, or 3 times a year. They do not know how often or when they will be tested.

Did he have to leave the ice? The puck was not anywhere near the player. He has a history.
- John Jaeckel

Torres touched every base...Charged, late, left the ice and targeted the head.

Outside of that I agree nothing malicious.

An NHL supervisor of officials indicated to me between periods...He thought the hit was late and was charging.

@AlCimaglia
:http://bit.ly/HSgggs

Your attitude towards this hit is the embodiment of everything that's wrong with the NHL. No respect for the lives of the players who play the game.
- Ogilthorpe2

The other thing is that in watching Hossa over the years, I have never seen him get knocked off his feet so there must have been a ton of power in that hit. Same thing with Seabs last year. Torres is an out of control freight train.

like the Weber face plant, right?
- Sconnie

Bingo!

Seems to me you guys were talking about Karma a few weeks ago, no?
You were right, it is a b****.

Sorry yall.

Did Zetterberg leave on a stretcher ?

- philco28

you are failing to understand the point... nothing with these clows in inevitable regardless of fact or precedence. Torres could've chopped Hossa's head off with his stick and we would still need to wait to see what the wheel of discipline stopped on.

The refs were a joke. here's a breakdown of a few things:

--Torres hit on Hossa - no call
--Kane blatantly tripped someone at center ice - no call
--Torres trips Blackhawk player (forgot which one) with leg - no call
--Hammer highsticks and draws blood - no call
--Hammer and Doan casually flip the puck at each other - unsportsmanlike conduct for both

WTF!!

Funny, you say Keith got a penalty? Ya a 2 min penalty that was a complete joke. He should of had 5 and a game, so the refs blew that one too. Not only that, but Keith got a nice 5 game rest before the playoffs started while Daniel sat at home for a month with headaches. Hit was dirty and late, but join the club.
- Slacker

Why are we comparing what everyone "ligitimately" here considers to be two very bad hits - one has been punished (and is done with), the other - we'll see.

i think it was clean. hossa just put himself in bad postion

torres is torres tho so he will be suspended and nhl needs to set an example outta someone

Actually the league will only start punishing around .5 you have around a .4 second leeway so I think my post was pretty accurate .

As for comparing the hits, that was more because of the huge outrage I've read then actually using the hit as comparison for punishment.
- Cfser

Well no because if you say its was .40 then most will assume you have the half second leeway and therefore assume the hit was not late. The hit was .83 after the pucks was gone. So you are stretching the truth and leaving out details in order to better support your argument. This was was almost a second after hossa dished the puck. COunt one-one-thousand and leave out the "and". Thats too much time to shoulder someone that hard in the chin. Maybe a touch a guy on the boards and let him no you are there after he dishes the puck. But not to crush a guy from the opposite side of the play that hard.

I dont care if we are comparing them for punishment outrage or whatever then when do we stop. There have been 30-40-50 or so hits like this over the last few years and everytime people say. "well what about this hit or you are being a homer" Dumb arguement. Simply judge each on its own merit is what I say.

Torres touched every base...Charged, late, left the ice and targeted the head.

Outside of that I agree nothing malicious.
- Al

Didn't he slew foot Stalberg later on too?

I like that you proposed an actual solution instead of just saying "Shannahan needs o be fired" or "These inconsistencies are terrible." I like your idea...you should present it to the NHL at the new CBA. Good work. (If that sounds sarcastic, it isn't I actually mean it).
- anawrocki

Thanks. Another idea that I've heard is that when a guy gets suspended his roster spot cannot be filled. I think this will help eliminate the incentive teams have to have goons like Torres, because really how much does it hurt Phoenix if they lose him and then replace him and the hawks are minus Hossa.

So many missed calls, maybe its time all four guys can call a penalty if they see it