*The Views Expressed in the Article are the Views of the Author and do not represent the views of the entire LWOS Hockey Department*
I was asked by a Twitter follower to analyze the incidents between the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty which led to a fractured vertebrae and severe concussion to Pacioretty and the incident between Alexei Emelin and Milan Lucic which resulted in an injury to Emelin.
I will start with the older incident that took place March 8, 2011 between Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens and Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins. Before the end of the second period right after a faceoff, Pacioretty rushed after the puck towards the boards near the benches. Chara went after Pacioretty and the puck attempting to check him but instead he finished the check resulting in what was a legal check in form but nowhere near the puck. The finish shoved Pacioretty into the stanchion near the end of the bench. Pacioretty was rushed to the hospital and Chara received a five minute penalty and a game misconduct but no further punishment from the league after review. Pressure from Air Canada threatening to remove their sponsorship in the league led the league to look into preventing further violence on ice.
This may be hard for a lot of Canadiens fans to hear but reviewing the tape over and over again I believe that this hit was accidental. Yes, Chara should have backed away as the puck was no longer near the play but he didn’t and it caused a freak accident. On Pacioretty’s part the only thing I can say is that there was no way he could have avoided the collision unless Chara backed off. Even then it would have been very difficult.
Montreal citizens were angry at Chara and some resorted to calling 9-1-1 which in my opinion was the stupidest thing fans could have done for the sake of all Habs fans. When that happened, all the fans in general began to look like a joke with the Bruins and the rest of the NHL. Montreal police did investigate the hit and questioned Chara.
At first Pacioretty (and all Habs) fans were angry at the NHL for not giving Chara a deeper punishment but it was deemed a clean hit. They were mad at Chara and the National Hockey League. Pacioretty said he was expecting there to be a one-three game suspension and was upset saying he felt Chara meant to do what he did and said that he felt targeted. Pacioretty felt this way due to a previous game when Chara went after Pacioretty at the end of a game for scoring the game winning goal. Chara was quick to claim he didn’t know he was hitting Pacioretty.
As much as this story can go back and forth about who is right and who is wrong there really is nothing left to analyze. The only person who will ever know if the hit was intentional is Chara but for the sake of his career and his team he will only say it was accidental. The good news out of everything is Pacioretty made a full recovery despite now having a concussion hitory and he was able to start at the beginning of the 2011-2012 season.
Now the Emelin and Lucic freak accident on April 6, 2013. I have no idea what to really say about this one because it was Emelin who charged Lucic but ended up rebounding himself and fell weird, injured his knee. There is really nobody to blame unless you are a Canadiens fan and hate the Bruins and blame them for everything. Or a Bruins fan who hates the Canadiens and blame them for everything.
A lot of people blamed Lucic for Emelin’s injury but for sure another freak accident that was caused by the now injured player. He recently had surgery and the last time I saw him was with his daughter at the arena in mid-July and he was no longer using crutches which is a very good sign for Habs fans. As of right now he is supposed to come back in December but I really would not be surprised if his return will be sooner than expected.
Some details and information in this article added by Senior Editor @AaronWrotkowski.
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