Dein erstes Forum » The same cant be said of last Saturdays

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry! I hope you saw that attempt by Joffrey Lupul to elbow Henrik Sedin in the head on Saturday, but missed and took out Nazem Kadri. I just wanted to find out if the NHL has a rule against attempts to injure players. Im sure a running elbow would be a concussion or something serious had Lupul hit his intended target. The refs are not doing enough to protect the players, this went uncalled! Thanks,Adrian Wong --- Hi Kerry, Been wondering about Joffrey Lupuls attempted elbow to the head of Henrik Sedin in the Canucks win over the Maple Leafs. Lupul clearly attempts to use his elbow to hit Sedin as he is flying by him. Sedin dodges it, and it takes a bad turn for the Leafs as he hits Kadri instead. With this, I have two questions: 1. Does Lupuls failure to hit Sedin clear him of everything, or does his obvious attempt to injure stay with him? 2. If it doesnt clear him, why is this hit not being looked at by the league, especially with Lupul having a previous suspension? Thanks,Ben Arends --- Hi Kerry,I was watching the Leafs-Canucks game and completely missed this occurrence. I couldnt believe that this attempt at Sedin was not even brought up by most news operations. Even though Lupul didnt connect, should this attempt to elbow Sedins head not be a suspension or at least be reviewed? To me, it clearly looks like Lupul was attempting to head Sedin in the head. Yes, he didnt connect, but the attempt to connect was there. I would be interested in your thoughts. Jay --- Hi Kerry, In the Toronto/Vancouver game Saturday, Lupul extends his elbow with the intent of hitting Henrik Sedin. Henrik luckily ducks out of the way and Lupul ends up elbowing Kadri instead. Yes, it was a very amusing outcome (perhaps not for Kadri), but this makes me question why the NHL does not use rule 21.1 (Match Penalty) to punish these types of plays when it is clear that Lupuls intent was to strike Henrik Sedin in the head and only because Hank saw it coming, was it avoided. Seems to me like the NHL waits for a significant injury instead of ever punishing the intent. Can you explain this to me? Can you explain why we have a rule that allows refs to punish intent, but it never gets used? Thanks,Steve Platt Adrian, Ben, Jay and Steve: We have another full mail bag today on a potentially very dangerous play. This time we examine Joffrey Lupuls deliberate flying elbow intended for Henrik Sedins head. The forceful elbow narrowly missed the mark but instead caught Lupuls teammate Nazem Kadri flush in the kisser. No call was made on the ice. First, let me offer my perspective concerning the lack of a penalty being assessed on the play (video link). In most cases there needs to be some form of contact for the Referee to assess a penalty. I can therefore understand why one wasnt forthcoming on this play. Elbowing, kneeing and most other fouls come to mind where a narrow miss becomes a non-event and therefore not worthy of a penalty. Slashing on the other hand is the act of a player swinging his stick at an opponent, whether contact is made or not. Other exceptions to this standard of contact are when a player attempts to butt-end or spear his opponent. In these cases a double minor is assessed when no contact is made and a major plus game misconduct results from contact. In the previous two fouls a match penalty is assessed when injury results. The reason for these applications is the inherent danger to a players safety when struck with a stick. We also now recognize the potential for serious injury when an elbow cap is forcefully delivered to the head of an opponent. A number of suspensions have resulted from these types of illegal hits. In all cases the parameters and criteria change when an infraction is deemed to be an attempt to injure an opponent. In this particular situation, even with the absence of contact but given the deliberation and severity of the attempt Joffrey Lupul made to elbow Henrik Sedin in the head a different standard must apply. I want to specifically reference rule 45.4 which I believe should have been applied by the Officials at ice level; "The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a match penalty if, in his judgment, the player attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by elbowing." The decision Joffrey Lupul made to leave his feet and fully extend his elbow at his opponents head was beyond just tremendously irresponsible but one he should know would result in some degree of injury to Sedin. Just because Sedin veered from his original path behind the goal and cut hard toward the front of the net does not excuse Lupuls subsequent actions with some separation as an attempt to simply make a check. The evidence here clearly demonstrates that Henrik Sedin narrowly avoided the intended contact to his head by looking down at the puck in his skates and thereby altering his head position. Lupul did not let up after missing Sedin and accidentally planted the elbow in the face of Nazem Kadri. Striking Henrik Sedin would have been no accident! I look at this play similarly to a player swinging a stick at the head of his opponent from close range but where no contact was made. Without question I would assess a match penalty for "attempt to injure." I would hope every Referee would do the same. I recall giving Chris Knuckles Nilan a match penalty after assuming his position in the penalty box following a fight, then grabbing a puck out of the bucket and throwing it at his opponent seated in the visitors penalty box. The puck missed Knucks intended target but it was still an attempt to injure! The Player Safety Committee on the other hand has a more challenging task to suspend a player where no contact or adverse result occurred given the standard they have set to this point in their deliberations. I can only imagine the fallout from a team and the NHLPA if a player was suspended without physical evidence of contact—the smoking gun. The primary objectives of supplemental discipline are to hold players accountable for poor and dangerous decisions in an effort to provide player safety and ultimately prevent future injuries. While proving "intent" can be a very difficult task, the overwhelming evidence on this play can only lead a reasonable thinking person to conclude that Joffrey Lupul fully intended on elbowing Henrik Sedin in the head. There have been many times that the Player Safety Committee has suspended a player where no injury resulted. I cant think of one situation where a player was suspended where contact with his opponent did not actually occur. The reality is that this play was likely judged in the same consistent fashion given the absence of physical contact. Any lack of supplemental discipline in cases such as this not only sends the wrong message but misses the intended target completely; namely to provide a future deterrent to a player committing an illegal and dangerous act where injury is likely to result. China NFL Jerseys . The same cant be said of last Saturdays 2-2 draw at Olympic Stadium against a very weakened New York Red Bulls side and one which had three stalwarts in Henry, Cahill and Olave back home in Harrison, NJ. Cheap MLB Jerseys . The Red Sox maintained a share of the AL wild-card lead Tuesday night, using four home runs to beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-7 and set up a dramatic conclusion to the regular season. The skidding Red Sox were 6-19 this month before rebounding to edge the last-place Orioles. https://www.cheapnfljerseysjustwholesale.com/ . - Leon Draisaitl scored a hat trick as the Prince Albert Raiders stormed past the Swift Current Broncos 5-2 in Western Hockey League action Tuesday. Cheap NFL Jerseys China .ca! There is plenty of blame to be shared as a result of the most recent NHL player (Pittsburghs Brooks Orpik) to be evacuated from the ice on a stretcher following an ugly incident Saturday night in Boston. Cheap Football Jerseys . The San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders are giving it a try, too.DETROIT - When Jay Cutler guided Chicagos offence down the field for a touchdown on its first drive of the game, the Bears never once tried to run the ball.It turned out that was a bad sign.Calvin Johnson caught 11 passes for 146 yards with two first-half touchdowns, and the Detroit Lions boosted their post-season hopes with a 34-17 victory over Chicago on Thursday. The Bears were held to 13 yards on eight carries by the NFLs top-ranked run defence.Instead of trying to establish any sort of running game, Chicago used sort passes early on, but that only took the Bears so far.That front four is so good that we felt we needed to get them running sideline to sideline, and that was the best way to do it, coach Marc Trestman said. We got off to a quick start, but we werent able to maintain it.After losing at Arizona and New England and falling out of first place in the NFC North, the Lions (8-4) spotted Chicago a 14-3 first-quarter lead before rallying with relative ease in the second. Johnson had perhaps his best game of the season, and Detroit finally showed a bit of life offensively.Joique Bell ran for two touchdowns for the Lions, and Cutler threw two TD passes for Chicago (5-7). Detroits Matthew Stafford went 34 of 45 for 390 yards with the two touchdown passes to Johnson.Detroit had not scored this many points since a 35-14 win over the New York Giants in the season opener.Chicagos Matt Forte was a non-factor on the ground, finishing with 6 yards on five carries. Cutler went 31 of 48 for 280 yards with two fourth-quarter interceptions.Theyve got a really good front four, so we went to a lot of three-step drops and tried to use short passes as handoffs to try to break up their rush. It worked early, but we had short fields, Cutler said. After that, we started having to throw the ball down the field a little more and they were able to take advantage of that.Johnson had been held under 60 yards in two of three games since returning from an ankle injury, and there were rumblings that the 29-year-old receiver was slowing down. His first half Thursday was an emphatic responsee: nine catches for 109 yards.ddddddddddddGuys still believe in what we got going here, Johnson said. We had a good week of practice — it was a very short week, but we were very detailed in what we did on the field, coaches taking care of us. Its our part to come out here and do our job on the field.The Bears opened the scoring on Cutlers 10-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery, and they scored again after Jared Allen sacked Stafford, forced a fumble and recovered it at the Detroit 5. Cutlers 6-yard scoring pass to Jeffery made it 14-3 with 3:35 left in the first quarter.Stafford, however, was brilliant in the second. Johnson made a leaping catch for a 25-yard touchdown, holding on despite a hit from defensive back Kyle Fuller. That was the first time Detroit had reached the end zone since Nov. 9 against Miami — and a sign that the Lions were shaking off some of the problems with their passing game.I dont know that they really did anything that we didnt expect, although they didnt have the drops that weve seen on film, or make the other mistakes that shut down offences, Trestman said. We were the ones that had those, especially penalties that took us out of good positions.Bell put the Lions ahead with a 1-yard scoring run on fourth down — leaping toward the goal line and extending the ball just far enough for a touchdown. Staffords 6-yard touchdown pass to Johnson made it 24-14 with 24 seconds left in the half.Stafford went 22 of 26 for 275 yards in the first half, and Johnson set a record as the fastest to 10,000 yards receiving, surpassing that milestone in the second quarter of his 115th game.Bells 1-yard run in the fourth was the only touchdown of the second half.NOTES: Chicago lost S Chris Conte early on because of an eye injury. ... Detroit C Dominic Raiola became the first Lions player to start 200 games. ... Lions WR Corey Fuller caught a 21-yard pass in the first half, and his brother Kyle — the Chicago CB — came over and playfully knocked the ball out of his hands after the play.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '