Nichol's Sucker punch

[will]

gracias. i gotta be more innerweb savy. my resolution.

 

way to be a punk, scotty.

[BuffalOhio]

I agree with Coach Trotz on this. He's got it right. It was a dangerous play by Spacek, although it was unintentional. The way he went down, Nichol is lucky to be uninjured. His response was appropriate, although it could've been without the sucker punch. I can't believe Spacek just stood there and turned away from the guy he just took violently into the net.

 

Here's Trotz's quote:

 

?Plain and simple, it was a very dangerous play,? Trotz said. ?Scottie was driving the net and got corkscrewed. You can break a back, a neck or a leg. He went hard into the net. The referee made the right call on his response. His response was probably not correct and he was punished by the referee. I?m sure we will talk to him about that.?

[Taro T]

I disagree. Nichol's action was just as bad. Bertuzzi at least attempted to get Moore to engage. The end result was much worse but it was exacerbated because both players were skating and Moore ended up coming down on his head with the 260 pound Bertuzzi driving him down. That's what caused the most serious injury. Jaro was really, really lucky because he had no idea what was coming.

 

I don't want to sound callous, but Moore was at least partially responsible for his situation because he could have just turned around and clinched up until the linesman showed up. I'm not absolving Bertuzzi in any way, either.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree. The Bertuzzi hit, IMO, was one of the worst things I've ever seen on the ice. I put it up there with Lemieux intentionally driving the Wings' head (Draper's ?) into the edge of the glass by the bench or Forbes going nuts on Boucha. I saw that as being worse than a typical sucker punch (which is what Nichol threw) and even worse than that piece of dung Macoun 2 handing Patty across the face or McSorley "tapping" Brashear on the melon. I would have made Bertuzzi miss at least the next full played season after his hit.

 

What Nichol did was disgusting, no doubt. And, to send a message I would like to see a 40 game suspension. But standing on its own, I'd give him somewhere between 10-20 games.

Marty is a great teammate. Always has been. Personally, I'm glad he didn't do much more. The last thing we needed was that to escalate further. I was really impressed with Paetch on the play, too. We really have a great group of guys, who obviously care about each other.

 

I was hoping to get another one or two. There's no better message to send.

Pretty much agree with you on that count except I wanted to see 5 total on the 5-on-4.

Just more evidence of how society has changed. Broadcasters are smacked around repeatedly from every angle (teams, league, fans). They've all pretty much learned to stay far away from the truth on controversial things. If Notre Dame can fire Tony Roberts for no apparent reason, no broadcaster is safe.

 

I doubt he gets more than a couple. The NHL is a joke on this stuff.

Typically. Hopefully this one will be different, but I wouldn't want a mortgage payment riding on it. (Heck, I wouldn't want a cup of coffee riding on it.)

[Alaska Darin]

I agree with Coach Trotz on this. He's got it right. It was a dangerous play by Spacek, although it was unintentional. The way he went down, Nichol is lucky to be uninjured. His response was appropriate, although it could've been without the sucker punch. I can't believe Spacek just stood there and turned away from the guy he just took violently into the net.

 

Here's Trotz's quote:

 

?Plain and simple, it was a very dangerous play,? Trotz said. ?Scottie was driving the net and got corkscrewed. You can break a back, a neck or a leg. He went hard into the net. The referee made the right call on his response. His response was probably not correct and he was punished by the referee. I?m sure we will talk to him about that.?

Mostly because he didn't take him violently to the net. Nichols DROVE the net and Spacek put him on his hip with his stick out in front - which is pretty much expected in that situation. Nichols' own momentum and attempt to avoid both Marty and the net coupled with the defensemen's stick being between his legs is what made him crash.

 

Jaro did what defensemen do in that situation. Have any of you played this game?

[shrader]

the sports network.com site says that he got a gross misconduct which is similar to a match in that it indicates 'intent to injure.' stay tuned!

 

It was announced as a game misconduct during the game, but I think the league is allowed to step in and change it. If they did do that, there's a decent sized suspension on its way.

 

 

As for the comments in this thread about the NHL needing to send a message, this is the perfect time. It's Scott Nichol. No one cares anyway. They can give him a big suspension and people will actually think they're making a statement, but most of us will see right through it.

[wjag]

Mostly because he didn't take him violently to the net. Nichols DROVE the net and Spacek put him on his hip with his stick out in front - which is pretty much expected in that situation. Nichols' own momentum and attempt to avoid both Marty and the net coupled with the defensemen's stick being between his legs is what made him crash.

 

Jaro did what defensemen do in that situation. Have any of you played this game?

I agree with you 100%. There wasn't anything cheap or dangerous about the play. Nichols knew he was going hard to the goal and he had a D-man with him. What did he expect to happen when he got there?

 

Spacek just stood there not looking after a very vilolent collision. He didn't even look to see if the guy was okay. He has got to know that is coming. He is partially responsible for getting suckered IMO. He should have anticipated Nichols would be pissed.

 

I also agree that Nichols should have tapped him on the shoulder before he dropped him like a sack of cement. He must have one tough jaw. If that happened to me, I'm quite positive my jaw would have been jumbled.

[Alaska Darin]

I agree with you 100%. There wasn't anything cheap or dangerous about the play. Nichols knew he was going hard to the goal and he had a D-man with him. What did he expect to happen when he got there?

 

Spacek just stood there not looking after a very vilolent collision. He didn't even look to see if the guy was okay. He has got to know that is coming. He is partially responsible for getting suckered IMO. He should have anticipated Nichols would be pissed.

I think that's the European in him. Had it been Phaneuf or another North American, they'd have been ready. Of course, had it been Phaneuf or any number of North American defensemen, Nichol would likely have just barked at them and then skated off.

I also agree that Nichols should have tapped him on the shoulder before he dropped him like a sack of cement.

That's my biggest rub with it. I don't mind a guy starting a fight, even when it's not an even match. There's honor to it when it's done properly.

[Knightrider]

One game suspension at most, you heard it here. Did everyone forget this is the NHL? When was the last time any suspension the NHL has given deemed appropriate?

 

 

I'd have said the same if Betman wasn't trying to get the Bertuzzi thing settled out of court at the moment, and the fact that it is in the wake of Thomas - Anthony fiaso...

 

From a competition standpoint, my guess is that he gets at least as much as Anthony. 15-30 games is my guess.

[ko12010]

I don't think our reaction was bad at all. It looked like Paetsch was concerned for Spacek and "covered him" while Biron appropriately went after Nicki.

 

Does anyone know if spacek was injured? CI had the Nashville feed and they didn't even bother to mention he was down.

 

Oh, and pumping two in on the powerplay was a nice touch, too.

 

 

 

 

 

I know, the local announcers on the CI feed basically validated what Nichols did and pretty much said that Spacek was at fault for not looking when he was sucker punched.

 

In a situation like that, if Nichols wants to punch Spacek, the appropriate thing to do is shove him first and then try to get him to drop the gloves. You do not punch someone without a glove on or ever when they are not looking, especially in the face. He should definitely be suspended. Someone shouldn't have to get a broken neck from a sucker punch for it to be suspendable. He deserves a lengthy suspension.

[Alaska Darin]

I'd have said the same if Betman wasn't trying to get the Bertuzzi thing settled out of court at the moment, and the fact that it is in the wake of Thomas - Anthony fiaso...

 

From a competition standpoint, my guess is that he gets at least as much as Anthony. 15-30 games is my guess.

I don't blame Bettemen for trying to keep that stuff out of court. Any legal ruling, regardless of how it goes, would be bad for hockey in the long term

[SCSabresFan!]

I have extreme faith that the punishment will be in-line with what the league normally does.

 

You mean nothing will happen?

[JoeFerguson]

That's how I saw it. I am not sure when the interference call came but I thought it was well after the whistle.

 

I was at the game sitting at the opposite end of the ice, but I had a pretty good view of what happened. The referee raised his arm immediately after Spacek dumped Nichol into the net, but before Nichol threw the punch. Based on that, I'm assuming that the interference call was going to be called regardless of Nichol's retaliation. I was pretty unimpressed with a lot of the Predator fans in the crowd, who were cheering when Nichol sucker punched Spacek, and then shouting that "he deserved it."

 

Also, I didn't know this (from this morning's Buffalo News)

 

Nichol, the same player who delivered the legal, knockout check that kept Tim Connolly out the entire 2003-04 season, was unavailable to comment.

 

Can anyone describe the nature of that first hit on Connolly?

[Knightrider]

I don't blame Bettemen for trying to keep that stuff out of court. Any legal ruling, regardless of how it goes, would be bad for hockey in the long term

 

I've got a 20 month old who likes to pick the keys off the keyboard... While they usually snap back on, the keys don't always work on this PC. Should have noticed that though... :lol:

 

I don't blame Bettman either.

[shrader]

I know, the local announcers on the CI feed basically validated what Nichols did and pretty much said that Spacek was at fault for not looking when he was sucker punched.

 

In a situation like that, if Nichols wants to punch Spacek, the appropriate thing to do is shove him first and then try to get him to drop the gloves. You do not punch someone without a glove on or ever when they are not looking, especially in the face. He should definitely be suspended. Someone shouldn't have to get a broken neck from a sucker punch for it to be suspendable. He deserves a lengthy suspension.

 

I feel like nitpicking here. You don't punch someone without a glove on? Why have they been dropping the gloves for years?

[inkman]

I know, the local announcers on the CI feed basically validated what Nichols did and pretty much said that Spacek was at fault for not looking when he was sucker punched.

This isn't going to be popular but if you take a guy hard into the net, you better make sure said player isn't coming back right quick. It wasn't like play was continuing. Maybe he was looking for retaliation from Nichol's teammates but he sure looked out to lunch. That being said, I'm not excusing what Nichol did but Jaro has to be a little more aware.

[shrader]

This isn't going to be popular but if you take a guy hard into the net, you better make sure said player isn't coming back right quick. It wasn't like play was continuing. Maybe he was looking for retaliation from Nichol's teammates but he sure looked out to lunch. That being said, I'm not excusing what Nichol did but Jaro has to be a little more aware.

 

Players are taken hard into the net at least once every single game and they never react like Nichol did. I can see why Spacek thought nothing of it.

[BuffalOhio]

Mostly because he didn't take him violently to the net. Nichols DROVE the net and Spacek put him on his hip with his stick out in front - which is pretty much expected in that situation. Nichols' own momentum and attempt to avoid both Marty and the net coupled with the defensemen's stick being between his legs is what made him crash.

 

Jaro did what defensemen do in that situation. Have any of you played this game?

 

Um, yeah, AD, I still play twice a week, and I officiate most other days. I know the game. I play defense myself.

[inkman]

Players are taken hard into the net at least once every single game and they never react like Nichol did. I can see why Spacek thought nothing of it.

Sure, but I think it is human nature to push back when pushed, just keep yer head on a swivel.

[Kevbeau]

Nichol has at least two suspensions in the past. That should weigh in when the verdict comes down. As someone else said, I think they make an example out him...mostly due to the fact that he's a borderline NHL player and the penalty will be compared to Carmello Anthony's, who actually is a star.

 

As for what Spacek did, until the new rules came about, that's textbook (We called it the canopener, they call it interference now :D ). You get your stick down between his legs and take away his lateral movement. Is it dangerous when someone's crashing like that. Yeah, but my job as a d-man is to prevent him from playing the puck, not to worry whether we're going into the post. I've also seen on some other boards that Spacek should have road him away from the post. It's true, you can leverage and ride a guy out of the play pretty easily if you've got him hogtied, but for the most part you would have to push him out of the play. In this case (at the speeds they were going) Spacek couldn't ride him off, as he would have went right into Marty. Also, maybe my technique sucks, but I've never been able to pull someone out of the play with my stick (unless I have a leg behind his, but that's another story). The stick is there to keep his leg movement limited, it's the body on body that's riding the guy out of the play.

 

If I was Nichol, I would have been pissed to, but it doesn't change the fact that he jacked a guy who wasn't looking. What makes it even worse in my opinion is that he grabs Spacek by the back of the yoke and "pulls" him into the punch. To me, that says he's not giving Jaro an opportunity to get set.

 

Does Jaro need to be more aware. Sure does. Taking Nichol's past history into account, you need to know who you're taking out of the play. Even in rec leagues, I make it a point to be aware when the other team's hotheads are out on the ice. Either to draw them into a penalty or to watch out for my own @ss.

[inkman]

Guess I was wrong, 9 games per WGR.

[Knightrider]

Wrong, too...

 

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