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Did Milan Michalek slew foot Keith Ballard? Accusations abound

Brian Elliott, Alex Burrows, Chris Neil, Chris Phillips

Vancouver Canucks’ Keith Ballard (4) lifts himself onto the bench after sustaining an injury when he fell to the ice after a collision during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators in Vancouver, Canada, on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

AP

Last night the Vancouver Canucks lost the services of defenseman Keith Ballard after an incident with Ottawa’s Milan Michalek. Ballard and Michalek were jostling for the puck when they skated past where the puck was. The two were tied at the hip and as Michalek went to turn to chase the puck, Ballard stuck with him as they both went down to the ice. Ballard’s leg folded up underneath him and he stayed down on the ice writhing in pain.

Ballard’s injury is bad enough to send him off to get an MRI to see what the damage is and rumors are abounding that Ballard could miss up to a month of action. Michalek says there was no intent to hurt anyone one on the play and that he had trouble sleeping because of the end result of the play. If he’s being insincere he’s doing a heck of a job selling it.

When a play like that happens, people get upset and when it happens in Vancouver, fans and team executives alike get angry. Michalek and the Senators claim there was no ill intent, but Canucks GM Mike Gillis feels otherwise as he told Team 1040 radio today.

“The play, in my opinion, was a violation of the rules, one that is not a highly respected play at this level,” the Canucks GM said. “The puck wasn’t near Keith when it happened and I’m not happy.”

Gillis isn’t the only one calling it a dirty play and some are even going as far to call it a slew foot. Gillis is right as the puck was gone from the play, but if you can tell from the video (which you can see here on YouTube) whether or not Michalek was doing that with ill intent, then a job as a mind reader is in your future.

Plays like this do happen and in this case it appears Michalek was just too tied up with Ballard to get free. This is the sort of situation where it might look like a slew foot but it’s not one just because of the circumstances and physics involved in the play. For now, Canucks fans will drive themselves wild with speculation on how long Ballard will be out until tomorrow when the team finds out just how bad the damage is.