Lucic hit

[cprice12]

Miller came charging out and beat Lucic to the puck. What's Lucic supposed to do, teleport past Miller?

That's the price you pay if you come wandering out of the crease to challenge a forward. None of us seemed too upset when Janssen creamed Carey Price in Montreal.

This.

If Miller is coming out to play the puck like a regular player, he should be hit like one.

I agree with you...however, that's not what the rules are.

In the crease or out of the crease, Lucic needs to avoid contact with Miller if possible, otherwise it is a penalty.

[theohall]

Rules need to be changed. Goalies shouldn't expect protection all over the frickin' ice. Next thing you know, a goalie will be playing the puck at the blueline with a forward bearing down on him and the player will be at fault for trying to play the puck.

[cardsfan04]

Miller came charging out and beat Lucic to the puck. What's Lucic supposed to do, teleport past Miller?

That's the price you pay if you come wandering out of the crease to challenge a forward. None of us seemed too upset when Janssen creamed Carey Price in Montreal.

This.

If Miller is coming out to play the puck like a regular player, he should be hit like one.

Show me a "regular" player that's wearing a blocker, a trapper, a paddle and two large leg pads. Netminders are -stationary- players, meaning they can't move much beyond blocking pucks. Try to skate with that much hardware on and try to take a hit when you can't move fast to begin with and you get hit by a train.

And just to bring this up, but the penalties Luc got hit with are for hitting a Netminder. Netminders aren't "regular" players. We're not talking about a D getting hit or a forward getting hit, we're talking about a Netminder. This ain't the old days where Plante and Roy and others come out and mix it up with the opposition, if that had been the case, whip Miller a new one. Those days are over, and you can see why.

Lucic's hit was intentional. He didn't go after the puck, he was NOT intending to even consider going after the scoring chance, since if his head was -really- down and he was -really- concentrating on the puck, he would have zoomed around Miller and put it in the basket, he was concentrating on MILLER.

Argue that.

If that had happened to Halak or Elliott, we'd want Lucic's head. So what's the difference here?

First off...goalies are actually some of the best skaters on the team. Growing up playing hockey, they participate in all team drills wearing their equipment.
They are far from immobile. If they were immobile, they would never leave the crease.

Yes, hitting goalie is a penalty...A PENALTY. It doesn't say anywhere that hitting a goalie is a suspension...unless during the hit the player targets the head or boards him or something else that is actually a suspendable offense.

And as I said before, if this had happened to Halak or Elliot, I'd be livid and want the player's ass beat later in the game. But again, this is not a suspendable offense.

Shanahan got this right.

I think I agree with this. It's worth a penalty, but not a suspension. As far as hitting goalies, I don't mind their being less tolerance than other players (within reason), but a zero-tolerance policy in terms of hits resulting in suspension would be a bad thing.

[ViPeRx007]

I think he should be sentenced to death by stoning and every hit should be a suspension.

[theohall]

Show me a "regular" player that's wearing a blocker, a trapper, a paddle and two large leg pads. Netminders are -stationary- players, meaning they can't move much beyond blocking pucks. Try to skate with that much hardware on and try to take a hit when you can't move fast to begin with and you get hit by a train.

And just to bring this up, but the penalties Luc got hit with are for hitting a Netminder. Netminders aren't "regular" players. We're not talking about a D getting hit or a forward getting hit, we're talking about a Netminder. This ain't the old days where Plante and Roy and others come out and mix it up with the opposition, if that had been the case, whip Miller a new one. Those days are over, and you can see why.

Lucic's hit was intentional. He didn't go after the puck, he was NOT intending to even consider going after the scoring chance, since if his head was -really- down and he was -really- concentrating on the puck, he would have zoomed around Miller and put it in the basket, he was concentrating on MILLER.

Argue that.

If that had happened to Halak or Elliott, we'd want Lucic's head. So what's the difference here?

Ummm... Lucic had his head down at the blueline. Miller threw an elbow at Lucic when the contact happened. Lucic only brought his hands ups. Should a goalie be protected at the friggin' faceoff dot against a potential breakaway opportunity? I don't think so. Should a goalie be protected around the net and in the trapezoid area - absolutely. There has to be a limit between when a goalie is actually playing goal and when he is trying to act like a defenseman. The trapezoid and limited puck-handling areas for goalies are a direct result of goalies holding the puck forever and acting like defenseman who could not be checked.

This case isn't about "protecting goalies" IMO, but the idiots ignoring where it happened on the ice are making it seem like it is all about protecting goalies. There has to be some honus on a goaltender when they go that far out of their friggin' net. Right now - there is absolutely none which is complete idiocy.

[rbochan]

...Shanahan got this right.

I wholeheartedly disagree.
Shanny keeps talking about awareness and the responsibility of the hitter in terms of head shots, yet Lucic _deliberately_ makes a reckless play leading to the injury of a goaltender and gets nothing. Is it going to take Boston actually killing someone on the ice before they're penalized?
It's a damned joke.

[DaDitka]

...Shanahan got this right.

I wholeheartedly disagree.
Shanny keeps talking about awareness and the responsibility of the hitter in terms of head shots, yet Lucic _deliberately_ makes a reckless play leading to the injury of a goaltender and gets nothing. Is it going to take Boston actually killing someone on the ice before they're penalized?
It's a damned joke.

You're right...f' it......let's just have our goalie play every puck that come into our zone. That way they can't touch him. That would be GREAT hockey.

I think that entire play went down exactly as it should have. I would fully expect him to run the goalie...he did let up, and thus was not trying to injure....I would expect a penalty....he should expect as ass whopping...no suspension. It's hockey, a contact sport. They give goalies there 'safe area', and he CHOSE to leave it.

And I know there are rules and a penalty was called. IMO that doesn't mean he was wrong. How many times have we said a guy took a 'good penalty'? IMO that was a 'good penalty' that had an unfortunate outcome for the goaltender.

Unless you want it like the NFL where you're not even allowed to breath on the QB. Again, Miller chose to put himself in that position. I'm fairly certain that his entire coaching staff are just as upset with his decision as they are with the hit (not publicly, but honestly among themselves)

[cprice12]

...Shanahan got this right.

I wholeheartedly disagree.
Shanny keeps talking about awareness and the responsibility of the hitter in terms of head shots, yet Lucic _deliberately_ makes a reckless play leading to the injury of a goaltender and gets nothing. Is it going to take Boston actually killing someone on the ice before they're penalized?
It's a damned joke.

Lucic didn't target the head, nor did he make contact with the head...so the head shot argument can't be made.

Even though technically contact is supposed to be avoided if possible with a goalie, Miller needs to be responsible and somewhat protect himself. He put himself in an awkward position which contributed to the concussion. On a bang bang play like that, Miller should expect that contact is quite possible.

I don't want to defend Lucic too much. What he did was penalty worthy, and they could have even tossed him from the game. But a suspension would have been too much...no head shot, no intent to injur, no boarding.

[Oaklandblue]

I sat back down and watched the video a few more times today. I will admit that I watched the video once and got steamed at it because what I thought I saw was that Miller had his shoulder/back to Lucic when he cleared the puck and that Lucic was at a distance. I'm pretty sure I let my emotions get the best of me on it. I like fair play and I'm not going to laugh if netminder/player x from this team gets hurt because it's not right. It's a sport, it's not life. That's a peeve of mine.

I don't normally do this, but right is right: Lucic doesn't even deserve a penalty on this play, Miller came out, Miller put himself at a ridiculous risk to himself. While I agree that netminders DO need added protection due to their ability to get injured more easily than players (Go butterfly and have a skater run over your ankle, etc.), but I think it should be two-way. If a Netminder does something stupid, they shouldn't be protected. That's my five-bits.

[ohio BLUES]

I sat back down and watched the video a few more times today. I will admit that I watched the video once and got steamed at it because what I thought I saw was that Miller had his shoulder/back to Lucic when he cleared the puck and that Lucic was at a distance. I'm pretty sure I let my emotions get the best of me on it. I like fair play and I'm not going to laugh if netminder/player x from this team gets hurt because it's not right. It's a sport, it's not life. That's a peeve of mine.

I don't normally do this, but right is right: Lucic doesn't even deserve a penalty on this play, Miller came out, Miller put himself at a ridiculous risk to himself. While I agree that netminders DO need added protection due to their ability to get injured more easily than players (Go butterfly and have a skater run over your ankle, etc.), but I think it should be two-way. If a Netminder does something stupid, they shouldn't be protected. That's my five-bits.

Glad to see you've come around, bro.

The goalies do have a special place on the ice where they can be protected from big bad skaters, and it's called the crease.

[sparty09]

Rules need to be changed. Goalies shouldn't expect protection all over the frickin' ice. Next thing you know, a goalie will be playing the puck at the blueline with a forward bearing down on him and the player will be at fault for trying to play the puck.

I completely agree with this. It's fair that goalies deserve protection, but Miller put himself in that position and had to know that something would happen.

[Winning Unlimited]

Miller's first game back, and gets ran down by Tootoo.
[youtube][/youtube]

[STLADOGG]

Miller's first game back, and gets ran down by Tootoo.
[youtube][/youtube]

I love the announcers reaction lol.
Rule #1 Don't (Frank) with someones goalie.

[drwoland]

Just saw this again on SportsCenter, and it made me just as happy the 2nd time around.

[Ruutu15]

Miller came charging out and beat Lucic to the puck. What's Lucic supposed to do, teleport past Miller?

That's the price you pay if you come wandering out of the crease to challenge a forward. None of us seemed too upset when Janssen creamed Carey Price in Montreal.

That's a problem. Speaking as someone on the outside, Thornton on Perron was nothing but a bigger guy vs a smaller guy who didn't keep his head up in the "trolley tracks". Personally, I hated that Perron got hurt, but I saw nothing wrong with that hit either.

Did Lucic deserve a suspension? Maybe not...but everyone on Buffalo's bench should have come off to defend their goalie, suspensions be damned. Is it the price that Miller had to pay? According to the rules, absolutely not. He's a goalie, Lucic has no choice but to pull up in that situation.

[cprice12]

Miller came charging out and beat Lucic to the puck. What's Lucic supposed to do, teleport past Miller?

That's the price you pay if you come wandering out of the crease to challenge a forward. None of us seemed too upset when Janssen creamed Carey Price in Montreal.

That's a problem. Speaking as someone on the outside, Thornton on Perron was nothing but a bigger guy vs a smaller guy who didn't keep his head up in the "trolley tracks". Personally, I hated that Perron got hurt, but I saw nothing wrong with that hit either.

Did Lucic deserve a suspension? Maybe not...but everyone on Buffalo's bench should have come off to defend their goalie, suspensions be damned. Is it the price that Miller had to pay? According to the rules, absolutely not. He's a goalie, Lucic has no choice but to pull up in that situation.

This has been discussed to death...but Thornton came out of the box, blindsided Perron and targeted his head. Thornton didn't have to hit Perron in the head, but he did. Easy suspension in my opinion. He didn't mean to give Perron a concussion, but he was careless with his hit as he saw Perron with his head down.

Agreed about sticking up for Miller. You defend your goalie to the death...you defend any player on your team to the death. Which was an issue with Thornton on Perron...nobody held him accountable, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
I agree with Kelly Chase...the Blues should have went after Thornton.

Tootoo is a POS and needs to be beaten to a pulp for things he has done in the past.
But in this case, it does look like he tries to jump over Miller and failed. I don't think he was trying to go after Miller like the announcers are implying.
It was a reckless play by Tootoo and kudos to the Sabres for going after him because you should always defend your goalie...but I don't think Tootoo was headhunting in this case, even though it looks pretty nasty. On the replays it's a little easier to see what Tootoo was trying to do...at least that's what I think.

[Winning Unlimited]

[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]

[kodos]

Seeing 4 guys piled on top of Tootoo punching away at whatever part of his body they could reach brings a smile to my face.

[gaijin]

:dietootoo:

[Winning Unlimited]

Suspension: Two games for tootoo