2011-12 NHL Playoffs LD

[Lowdown]

I am so proud of Kings fans for not acting like a bunch of assholes last night



Link to the full article- http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nh...ll-behaved-according-lapd-070507915--nhl.html

I figured overall it would be mostly classy by the fans. Being from LA, I've witnessed a lot of chaos from many Laker fans. So I'm glad nothing got too far out of hand.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Well not really surprising, but I gotta be honest, I didn't think the penalty to Bernier should've been 5 mins. 2 mins for boarding at most. Scuderi didn't protect himself.

That play was clearly a boarding penalty for one reason, and one reason alone: Bernier NEVER TRIED TO PLAY THE PUCK. Never. Not once. His sole intention was to hit Scuderi, which says to me that his mind was simply not on making a hockey play, but rather on punishment. While that in and of itself is not a bad thing, when coupled next to the fact that he obviously injured AND boarded a player, the 5:00 major was absolutely deserved and regardless of the color of his jersey or the team he plays for, the subsequent game miscondcut and power play awarded to the Kings was spot on and a fantastic marker of officiating.

Scuderi is traveling paralel to the boards as he attempts to play the puck but is ALREADY turning to bring the puck back around the boards to his left by the time Bernier is lining him up. Bernier ABSOLUTELy had the opportunity to (a) play the puck, not the man, and (b) let up on the hit that he knew his opponent would be in a vulnerable and defenseless position on.

@mirtle:

From the NHL's boarding rule: "The onus is on the player applying the check to ensure his opponent is not in a defenseless position and if so, he must avoid or minimize the contact." This is why Bernier, not Scuderi, is to blame here.

This is a clear case of a situation where players are almost always going to be unable to "protect themselves" without sacrificing body position on the puck in the most critical part of the ice. Telling defenders to essentially let up and not touch pucks for the sake of not potentially being driven head/face-first into the boards by checkers they cant' see coming is ridiculous. This, same as the rules in place to protect goaltenders from being run, are incredibly important to protecting the safety of players who need it in very specific situations.

No one is saying you can't hit a defenseman who's attempting to make a play on the puck, but your job as a checker is to make a play FOR the puck, not a play on the man. There are times when a big hit is still a play on the puck (see Campbell, Umberger) and there are times when a big hit is the furthest thing from that (Downie, McAmmond).

Either way every replay I've watched shows Scuderi making the play with his face to the wall, which means whether or not any of us feel he felt the presence of Bernier or not, there's no way to know whether or not he truly "knew" he was going to be hit. This, IMO, is not a case of a player turning into the hit, because the player was ALREADY turned before the hit got there. This is a clear-cut case of boarding, and as it pertains to the rule book, was absolutely deserving of the punishment it was disciplined with.

Oh, and in case you were curious:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26329

41.1 Boarding – A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player or goalkeeper who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently in the boards. The severity of the penalty, based upon the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee.

There is an enormous amount of judgment involved in the application of this rule by the Referees. The onus is on the player applying the check to ensure his opponent is not in a defenseless position and if so, he must avoid or minimize the contact. However, in determining wheter such contact could have been avoided, the circumstances of the check, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the check or whether the check was unavoidable can be considered. This balance must be considered by the Referees when applying this rule.

Any unnecessary contact with a player playing the puck on an obvious “icing” or “off-side” play which results in that player hitting or impacting the boards is “boarding” and must be penalized as such. In other instances where there is no contact with the boards, it should be treated as “charging.”

41.3 Major Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence of the impact with the boards, to a player guilty of boarding an opponent (see 41.5).

1. The check was avoidable, ergo the call was right.
2. The defender was in a defenseless position, ergo the call was right.
3. Bernier made no effort the minimize or avoid the contact, ergo the call was right.
4. The referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penlaty, based on the degree of violence of impact, ergo the call was right.