Ryan Miller playoff blog.....

[wil1226]

Interesting insights from Ryan

 

http://www.maxim.com/NHL-BLOG/blogs/2171.aspx

[That Aud Smell]

i found this especially interesting:

 

"It was good to see Johan Franzen back in the lineup. You never like to see a player miss so much time with concussion-like symptoms. That is also why I was surprised that Gary Roberts got away with a pretty blatant punch to Franzen?s head. I don?t like to see shots to the head. If the NFL can work to nearly eliminate intentional contact to a player?s head, the NHL can work on it a little harder. Keep the hits to the shoulder and do it by driving with the legs. No jumping into a hit, using the forearm shiver like WWE or raising the hands to drive into a player?s head. The idea is to keep the talented players on the ice and playing every night. I am not recommending that the league eliminate hitting or fighting. I am not recommending that players become soft and walk away from a challenge. We will still have the highlights to fill up Don Cherry?s ?Rock ?em, Sock ?em? style videos, I just want to see a lot more respect in the game. Even in the finals."

 

i can't recall the members 'round here who educated me to the primacy of the head-shot issue in the nhl -- might've been blue, pa and/or shrader -- but what miller had to say here was very well-stated and, obviously, comes with a ton of credibility.

[shrader]

i can't recall the members 'round here who educated me to the primacy of the head-shot issue in the nhl -- might've been blue, pa and/or shrader -- but what miller had to say here was very well-stated and, obviously, comes with a ton of credibility.

 

Yeah, I make my thoughts on the contact to the head issue very obvious. Its good to see that someone on this year's competition committee agrees. Hopefully the rest will to and they'll actually push for something other than just cutting down the size of goalie gear. Sure, trying to make the game more entertaining is worth looking into, but protecting the lives of the players far outranks it.

[MajorMinotaur]

its actually pretty pathetic that the head contact is still an issue. In USA Hockey (almost all youth hockey in the US), head contact is a penalty.

 

 

(a) A minor penalty, major penalty or a major plus game

misconduct penalty, at the discretion of the Referee, shall be

assessed to any player who intentionally or recklessly

contacts a player in the head, including with the stick or by

an illegal body check.

 

 

Now should the drury hit to the head have been a penalty? up to the ref, and we will never know what he would have called. But if it's a penalty, a player might think twice about hitting someone in a compromised position.

 

 

its surprising they haven't adopted this penalty, but then this comes from the same league that doesn't have a penalty for checking from behind....

[SabresFanInRochester]

Regarding the contact to Franzen's head in game 2 (and it was more than just one ocassion), I had to think twice about who I was rooting for. From the start of the playoffs, I had told my wife that I wouldn't mind seeing Pittsburgh win the Cup. She started watching 5 minutes of the Game 2 in the Cup Finals, and it happened to be a span where Franzen was punched in the head, and then attacked again to his head. When I told her that this was Franzen's first game back from a concussion, she couldn't understand why I would want to see Pittsburgh win. Seriously, is that Pittsburgh, or Philly in the finals against Detroit. Complete lack of class.

[Taro T]

its actually pretty pathetic that the head contact is still an issue. In USA Hockey (almost all youth hockey in the US), head contact is a penalty.

(a) A minor penalty, major penalty or a major plus game

misconduct penalty, at the discretion of the Referee, shall be

assessed to any player who intentionally or recklessly

contacts a player in the head, including with the stick or by

an illegal body check.

Now should the drury hit to the head have been a penalty? up to the ref, and we will never know what he would have called. But if it's a penalty, a player might think twice about hitting someone in a compromised position.

its surprising they haven't adopted this penalty, but then this comes from the same league that doesn't have a penalty for checking from behind....

:huh:

 

Was rule 44 (checking from behind) revoked?

 

44.1 Checking from Behind ? A check from behind is a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to

protect or defend himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body. When a player intentionally turns his body to create contact with

his back, no penalty shall be assessed.

[outlaw16511]

Hits to the head will not be a major problem in the NHL league offices until someone either dies on the ice or ends up paralyzed from a shot to the head. I like good physical hockey but allowing guys to throw forearms into another player's head is ridiculous. Hockey players generate too much speed on the ice to continue to allow it to happen IMO.

[wonderbread]

Thanks for the link. Its interesting to get RM's POV on things.

[deluca67]

:huh:

 

Was rule 44 (checking from behind) revoked?

Like many rules in the NHL it's rarely enforced to the level it needs to be on the ice. Added with that the refusal of the NHL, Colon Campbell specifically, to punish hits from behind in a manner which would eliminate it from the game.