Comments on: NHL: No disciplinary hearing for Wild’s Coyle after Stajan hit

By: larsonjessie16

larsonjessie16 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:26:36 +0000

This is a clean hit. Croyle hit him with the shoulder and his elbow was in the guys chest. Just look at the video on this post and you can’t even argue what part of Croyle’s body hits his head. This does,not even look like a major, maybe just an Oscar.

By: spiciercheez

spiciercheez — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:00:33 +0000

Stajan is one of the best actors in the league…on top of being hit slightly in the chin but mostly chest. This happens in hockey, good call on no suspension.

By: nylund97

nylund97 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 05:44:40 +0000

Not worth writing a page on something that has been dealt with accordingly. We can all see the video u know we don’t need step by step what happened, its right there.

By: woodstakes

woodstakes — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 05:44:03 +0000

Ok so the shoulder does reach his jaw… Stajan is what 5’11″ to 6’0″ and Coyle is 6’2″ to 6’4″.. so the fact that Coyle is little taller than Stajan leads to a hit where Coyle’s shoulder hits Stajan in the chest/shoulder area and he explodes into him in an outward/upward motion which reaches Stajan’s chin at the very end of the hit while most of the force was already absorbed by the Stajan’s body. If his head/chin would have had a bunch of force into it you would see his head jerk back/to the side.. something. It hardly moves!

Are we really crossing that line where a player skating at NHL speeds now not only has to watch where he puts his hits… no head shots, no knee to knee, no contact with defenseless players (which I AGREE with)… but now they need to size them up first too?? Bigger players can only hit big players etc etc.. Cripes, Chara could never EVER hit anyone again because his shoulder to shoulder shots almost always end up as shoulder to head hits.

Bottom line is if Coyle would have left his feet and launched himself into Stajan’s head (alla Torres) I could see where the problem would be. But the fact that Coyle has Stajan by a few inches which lead to some contact to the ‘chin’.

I am NOT calling you out here stakex, I usually like virtually all of you posts, but that slope on whether there is any contact to the head is getting a little ridiculous. There is a large difference in my mind between slight contact to the head and intention to contact the head and accidental contact to the head, but the point is the contact should at least look like it was semi-vicious in some way. My god we keep going like this and its going to be as bad playing hockey as it is to play defense in football soon! In the video Stajan’s head hardly moves until he decides to make it look worse than it was!

By: woodstakes

woodstakes — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 05:28:26 +0000

IF you don’t want to see ‘shoulder to body’ hits.. you should really consider watching soccer!! Because that was a legit hit, your either a fan of Calgary, a hater of The Wild or you just know very little about the game of hockey. That hit was EXACTLY what you teach kids to do when you make a hit!

By: nvandy42

nvandy42 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:07:28 +0000

well Coyle is a tall dude. Maybe Stajan will keep his head up from now on

By: just4funhockey

just4funhockey — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 02:09:27 +0000

Oh stop it. That was a good hit. Thats how they teach you to hit. It wasn’t blatant that’s BS, Coyle makes contact and explodes into the body properly. Stajan is acting like a crybaby who can’t take a hit. Coyle’s elbow isn’t anywhere near Stajan’s head, the shoulder comes up and makes the hit WHICH MAKES IT CLEAN, Coyle’s not even facing Stajan he’s looking into the corner, and ya know what? COYLE’S GOT HEIGHT it’s gonna look like he hit him high because Stajan is smaller compared to Coyle. All young hockey players take note THAT THIS IS HOW YOU HIT, shoulder to body and explode into the body. Elbowing? Don’t make me laugh that wasn’t an elbow, kid didn’t deserve the penalty they gave him. If Stajan can’t take a clean hit he should go play in the ECHL.

By: loinstache

loinstache — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:13:51 +0000

you guys are ridiculous, even the still image used in this article shows his shoulder hitting his jaw

By: stakex

stakex — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:17:54 +0000

The video is pretty clear…. he hits him right in the jaw with his shoulder. Not saying the hit should have resulted in a suspension, but don’t say there wasn’t contact with the head when the video is as obvious as it gets.

By: nunan

nunan — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:44:47 +0000

Do you know how many times people have said that over the past few years? It doesn’t really hold weight anymore. The call on the ice was enough. There was no targeting here. If you’re ‘targeting the head’ (which literally no player in the league is stupid enough to do anymore), then you don’t hit them like that. There was contact up high but it was clearly unintentional. Again, people seeing what they want to see. Good call by Shanahan. People call for suspensions for the most ridiculous hits now. I’m glad Shanahan is the ‘filter’ in all this and recognizes plays for what they are. Most are not dirty.

By: sknut

sknut — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:20:06 +0000

I didn’t think it was a dirty hit but I am a Wild fan so I am not the most objective observer but here is what Russo had to say on his blog today:

“Some were saying on Twitter last night that the check was a perfect example of Rule 48 – Illegal Check to the Head. But as is explicitly written in Rule 48 (a rule that some hockey writers have trouble grasping despite its adoption two years ago), the head must be BOTH targeted AND the principal point of contact.

According to the video, the principal point of contact in this case appeared to be Coyle’s shoulder to Stajan’s upper chest. While there is significant contact to Stajan’s chin after the fact, Coyle doesn’t go out of his way to hit the head and makes a full body check – two criteria the league uses when determining discipline.

While the hit may have been late, that alone is not grounds for suspension.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/193646721.html

I just wish an alternative point would have been presented in the post.

By: credible316

credible316 — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:54:14 +0000

And the Oscar goes to………Matt Stajan! He should be fined for flopping.

By: kopy

kopy — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:37:13 +0000

Man, why are the timestamps on the Tweets set at like, UTC +2? I feel like Wes Gilbertson is Tweeting from the future.

By: thehighcountrybear

thehighcountrybear — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:03:30 +0000

Nothing blatant about it…even the penalty as called was unwarrante in hindsight? Action reaction, cause effect…the behaviour of Stajan’s head indicates zero contact from elbow or shoulder. Take an elbow or shoulder in the beak, and you gotta know Stajan’s head would have gone full Kesler, slamming backward at the speed of light! Stajan took the force of the blow in his chest, protected by his shoulder pads, and the carry- through knocked him on his backside. Shanny’s right on this one…

By: mj1818

mj1818 — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:02:38 +0000

It seems like the NHL has consistently been very lenient on these types of hits and it bothers me as a fan that they won’t step in and do something. Bettman needs to be in between what he does and goodell does.

By: loinstache

loinstache — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:53:30 +0000

Well that was pretty damn blatant. Starting to seriously doubt Shannys ability in this role, sad since he was such a stellar player.