Quote:
Originally Posted by Ahbroody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV4Ew...e_gdata_player
Mike when the punch to the back of the head is delivered the puck is in Zs feet. The hulk smash occurs maybe 2-3 seconds after that and is a continuation. Weber has no idea the puck has left he is in the moment and has gone over the edge. Come on man. Im not saying its not dirty. It is dirty. I am saying its playoff hockey and I can see why the league sees it as a Weber just going over the edge. As opposed to Bitz which was calculated. I could see a game, but no injury and playoffs equals fine. The puck traveled that 30 feet in 1 second mike. 1 second. Okay maybe 2 seconds tops. About the length of time it took Weber to give some Nashville fans a very close look at Zs lips.
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What you're not mentioning is this all occurred
after the game had ended. In as much as Bitz's hit ended up being illegal, and he should be suspended for it, he was also just trying to clean out an opposing player to free a puck being fought for on the boards. That play happens dozens of times each game and is completely valid part of hockey. Bitz's hit was illegal only because Clifford was in a vulernable position at the time of impact and Bitz should have therefore not completed, other than that it was an normal hockey play.
On the other hand there is absolutely no way anyone can claim Weber's head smash on Z to be a "hockey play" with anything resembling a straight face. That is why I say that if the NHL is setting the bar such that an incident like Weber's is not suspendable there is no way an incident like Btiz's should be. To me they are both deserving of suspension, and the fact that Weber wasn't is just another example in a long line of ball drops on the league's behalf.