Comments on: Wojtek Wolski elbows Daniel Alfredsson – in the face

By: bcisleman

bcisleman — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:18:17 +0000

BTW, why is this not a double minor? A player gets a double minor for injuring another player with his stick if there’s even a drop of blood and even if it was obviously unintentional. Wolski obviously intended intended to use his elbow and obviously caused a serious injury.

By: bcisleman

bcisleman — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:13:41 +0000

Skating into other players is something that happens in hockey. Wolski appeared to do exactly what he did: use his elbow in response to contact. He may not have intended to hit Alfredsson in the face so perhaps a suspension is not in order.

By: stakex

stakex — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:32:37 +0000

At a quick glance this hit looks bad, but if you watch it from all angles its really not. Alfredsson pretty much skated right into Wolski, who appears to simply be lowering his shoulder to protect himself. Thats a normal reaction when you see someone skating at you out of the corner of your eye. If Alfredsson had his head up and was aware of where he was skating, this never happens.

However with the way the NHL is right now, its almost a given that Wolski will be suspended, even though he really shouldn’t be. In fact, all these damn suspensions are really getting out of hand. There are penelties for a reason, and in a situation like this a 2 minute penelty should be all thats needed (it cost the Rangers the game, so it REALLY hurt). If a guy is a persistant offender, or is making a clear and deliberate effort to hurt someone…. THEN bring out the suspensions. However the NHL needs to stop handing suspensions like they are candy to guys who are clearly not going out of their way to hurt someone.