He was hit right as he would have received the puck had he not missed it (for whatever reason). They don't call interference on that. He didn't hit him late, he finished the check.
So now this is interesting. Raymond didn't touch the puck, neither did Boychuck, and Boychuck drove him into the boards in a vulnerable position over 1 second after the puck had left their area. Raymond now has fractured vertebrae and will be out 4-6 months.
Horton HAD the puck, Rome hit him with an otherwise clean hit (there was some head contact but that's allowed so long as it isn't targeted), in open ice, and Horton will miss several games with a concussion from when his head hit the ice.
Rome got a major, a game, and a 4 game suspension. Boychuck gets nothing.
Mike Murphy's two reasons for giving Rome the 4 games were the lateness of the hit and the extent of the injury. Boychuck's hit was later, and the extent of the injury was worse so... ?
He was hit right as he would have received the puck had he not missed it (for whatever reason). They don't call interference on that. He didn't hit him late, he finished the check.
Possession of the Puck: The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession. The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is rendered immediately following his loss of possession.
56.2 Minor Penalty - A minor penalty shall be imposed on a player who interferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck.
A minor penalty shall be imposed on an attacking player who deliberately checks a defensive player, including the goalkeeper, who is not in possession of the puck.
Yes they absolutely do. See the Torres hit on Seabrook in the first round. He got an interference penalty on that just as Seabrook was about to touch the puck. He hadn't touched it, and Torres got an interference penalty on it.
The rulebook also disagrees with you. Key words are "touch" not "play" or "is near" and "immediately following loss of possession". Hasn't touched it? Can't hit him.
It was early (by .02 seconds) incidental contact. Watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoSLSU4e1XQ
No ref is going to call interference on that, Raymond flat out missed the puck under his stick. No good d-man is going to just wait until the puck hits the stick, it's called anticipation. If you think the ref should have called something on that you are living in Wonderland. This isn't the National Prissy League.
It was early (by .02 seconds) incidental contact. Watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoSLSU4e1XQ
No ref is going to call interference on that, Raymond flat out missed the puck under his stick. No good d-man is going to just wait until the puck hits the stick, it's called anticipation. If you think the ref should have called something on that you are living in Wonderland. This isn't the National Prissy League.
I have to admit, I was pretty much rooting for Vancouver at the start of this series. I know too many arrogant Bostonians and New Englanders to want any Boston team to win anything. Even though Vancouver is a Avalanche division rival, I've always liked the Canucks. Overall though, I didn't really have a vested interest in either team winning.
After this has gone on though, Boston deserves this series.
Luongo is a rediculously overpaid shell of a goalie, especially showing his true make up in the Boston games. How does someone give up 15 goals in 3 games and only allow 1 goal in the other three games at home. What is mentally wrong with Roberto? There clearly is something.
Then there is all of blatant chicanery and idiot play going on by Vancouver. Biting, seriously? Dirty hits, terrible plays. The list really goes on and on. Boston is guilty of some of this too, and more so probably going into this series, but a lot less so in this series as a whole. I'll never forgive Chara for his hit on Pacioretty or agree that no suspension was warranted, but at least the man has passion and wants to play. You can tell he is giving it his all every time on the ice.
The Canucks on the other hand, don't even look like they want to be there. Even on the games they won, they won by one goal and the games are practically a fluke. Especially game 2. Whereas Boston has litterally destroyed the Canucks in their 3 victories at home. Tim Thomas is clearly the best goalie in every game. Chara and Seidenberg are clearly the best Defenseman in every game. And someone for Boston is clearly the best forward on the ice at any given time.
Its games like last nights that make me wonder if I'm even watching the Stanley Cup Finals. Seriously, these are the two best teams in the league? Boston just seems to be skating circles around Vancouver at any given time.
Bottom line, I'm affectively switching sides. Arrogant New Englanders be damned, and even though I'll have to listen to how good the Bruins are for a while, the Red Sox playing as well as they are right now won't help matters either - but it is what it is. Boston deserves the cup over the Canucks in a landslide. If Vancouver wins it, I suppose there will be something to be said for them. I guess you could argue that they can sit around on their hands, get beat physically to a pulp, cheat, have the worst goaltender in the series, and still win the cup. Which is saying something I suppose. Especially when Boston has to claim the latter - clearly the better team with the better goalie and somehow losing. Crazy stuff.
Not to worry, if that was Bieksa taking out Marchand, or something similar, he'd be in here saying it was a great hit.
Yes it was early. And Raymond hadn't touched the puck. Look at this one. .02 seconds early there, arm goes up, interference call. It's called anticipation and apparently it is illegal. The rulebook explicitly disagrees with you, and this example shows it being called in practice. Torres got a 2 minute interference penalty for hitting a guy without the puck.
Now I agree that actually calling interference on Boychuk is a stretch, but they did it to Torres. Be consistent.
Murphy's ruling on the Rome hit is also very inconsistent with this hit. Player without the puck? Check. Injury? Check. Those where the only two reasons he quoted.
The Torres hit was a high speed violent collision to the head so they had to call something or risk the replay making the refs look like fools. The hit last night was slow and just a freak accident since all of Boychuk's weight hit hunched over Raymond whose spine was vulnerable. Nobody could have predicted such an injury since they were facing each other and in a slow sliding clinch. You could also argue that Raymond had a very good shot at touching the puck, even after contact was made. Seabrook, hell no. He was laid out like a mac truck hitting a biker.
Too bad the interference penalty doesn't mention anything about "high speed" or "the head". Seabrook being laid out wasn't the reason why that hit was illegal, it was because he hadn't touched the puck yet. Same with the Rome hit - it wasn't that he laid Horton out, it was because Horton wasn't in possession of the puck. Raymond never had possession of the puck.
Boychuk's stick was between Raymond's legs which caused him to spin around. At that point, as they are going into the boards, Raymond is in an obvious vulnerable position. The NHL rules clearly state that when hitting a player into the boards, the player doing the hitting must avoid contact if the other player is in a vulnerable position. It is part of the boarding rule.
I don't think anyone would have complained about a boarding penalty. But this is Boston, and they finish their checks to establish stance of dominance. I could buy boarding, but this type of injury is very rare and it's debatable that Raymond could have defended himself. I think he was scrapping back and forgot that the boards were that close and it was too late. By the technical definition of vulnerable, they could have called boarding but I can understand why they didn't.
I agree that Luongo has looked like shit in Boston, but he has bested TT in all the Vancouver games.
Last night's game wasn't Boston skating circles around Vancouver at all. They got 4 quick goals (the 4th one was a fairly lucky tip that went past Schneider) due to Luongo being out to lunch. Besides that, shots were 40-38 Boston, hits were 43-38 Boston, and Vancouver hit the post 3 times. Vancouver also had a breakaway and at least one 2 on 1. Vancouver played well enough to win last night, with the exception of Luongo. The other games in Boston, yeah... Vancouver didn't show up.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2011/news/story?id=6659965
And Daniel Sedin is now guaranteeing victory for Vancouver in Game 7, lmao. Gdam, does that team ever stop running their mouths?
"We're going to win Game 7," Sedin told the Vancouver Sun.
"We're 3-3 and we won all three games at home and we have the fourth game at home," he said of the series, according to the report. "So we have the seventh game at home and we'll take that. We are confident."
I have to admit, I was pretty much rooting for Vancouver at the start of this series. I know too many arrogant Bostonians and New Englanders to want any Boston team to win anything. Even though Vancouver is a Avalanche division rival, I've always liked the Canucks. Overall though, I didn't really have a vested interest in either team winning.
After this has gone on though, Boston deserves this series.
Luongo is a rediculously overpaid shell of a goalie, especially showing his true make up in the Boston games. How does someone give up 15 goals in 3 games and only allow 1 goal in the other three games at home. What is mentally wrong with Roberto? There clearly is something.
Then there is all of blatant chicanery and idiot play going on by Vancouver. Biting, seriously? Dirty hits, terrible plays. The list really goes on and on. Boston is guilty of some of this too, and more so probably going into this series, but a lot less so in this series as a whole. I'll never forgive Chara for his hit on Pacioretty or agree that no suspension was warranted, but at least the man has passion and wants to play. You can tell he is giving it his all every time on the ice.
The Canucks on the other hand, don't even look like they want to be there. Even on the games they won, they won by one goal and the games are practically a fluke. Especially game 2. Whereas Boston has litterally destroyed the Canucks in their 3 victories at home. Tim Thomas is clearly the best goalie in every game. Chara and Seidenberg are clearly the best Defenseman in every game. And someone for Boston is clearly the best forward on the ice at any given time.
Its games like last nights that make me wonder if I'm even watching the Stanley Cup Finals. Seriously, these are the two best teams in the league? Boston just seems to be skating circles around Vancouver at any given time.
Bottom line, I'm affectively switching sides. Arrogant New Englanders be damned, and even though I'll have to listen to how good the Bruins are for a while, the Red Sox playing as well as they are right now won't help matters either - but it is what it is. Boston deserves the cup over the Canucks in a landslide. If Vancouver wins it, I suppose there will be something to be said for them. I guess you could argue that they can sit around on their hands, get beat physically to a pulp, cheat, have the worst goaltender in the series, and still win the cup. Which is saying something I suppose. Especially when Boston has to claim the latter - clearly the better team with the better goalie and somehow losing. Crazy stuff.
Thats what he said. Where in there is the word "guarantee"? Being confident and saying you are going to do something isn't the same thing as guaranteeing it. Media putting words in his mouth.
Thats what he said. Where in there is the word "guarantee"? Being confident and saying you are going to do something isn't the same thing as guaranteeing it. Media putting words in his mouth.
His guarantee also came after a late-game run-in with the Bruins' Brad Marchand, who landed six unanswered punches on Sedin during a scrum -- another chippy moment in a series that has been chock full of them. Sedin didn't return any punches at Marchand.
Sedin's guarantee could be more bulletin-board material for the Bruins. Boston is already playing for forward Nathan Horton, who has been sidelined for the series following a hit by the Canucks' Aaron Rome that resulted in Rome's rest-of-the-series suspension.
Yeah I mean, he has a mic shoved in his face and a question asked about if he thinks they'll win game 7. What's he gonna say? Uh no, I think we'll lose?
Well said. My switching point was after the nasty Rome/Horton incident. Honestly - I couldn't care which team wins as the team I have a vested interest didn't make it into the playoffs
Vancouver didn't even show up for last night's game. They showed very little emotion when Vancouver scored their 2nd goal. My guess is they are betting on winning at home so this game "didn't matter" - nothing's sweeter than winning the cup at home.
IMHO - Boston is hungrier for the cup while Vancouver seems to have this attitude of "we deserve it but we're not going to try as hard to win it" attitude.
Whatever you say about the team, consider the city and fans too.
The Canucks have sold out their arena to every game of the SCF. Even the away games.
Tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people sit in the street and watch the games.