Friday, March 11, 2011

Bruins Hit Causes Uproar

The Boston Bruins Montreal Canadiens game the other night turned serious when Zdeno Chara hit Max Pacioretty into a partition wall.

Max suffered terrible injuries, actually described as horrific. He has a neck fracture, a concussion and is still in the hospital.

The Montreal POLICE have opened a criminal investigation into the incident, but the NHL has declined any sort of penalty - pissing off the Canadiens to no end.

Said Max: "I am upset and disgusted that the league didn't think enough of (the hit) to suspend him," Pacioretty told told TSN's Bob McKenzie. "I'm not mad for myself, I'm mad because if other players see a hit like that and think it's okay, they won't be suspended, then other players will get hurt like I got hurt."

The hit drew criticism from Gary Lunn, the minister of state for sports, and others outside the league. Lunn called it unacceptable.

For the record Max Pacioretty is really really really angry at Zdeno Chara. If he was able to stand or walk or function he would kick his ass.

Also plaguing Hockey is the current state of players safety. We did an article last week regarding the concussions and life altering situations these brain injuries can cause. Well, commercial sponsors of the game are getting antsy.

"Air Canada released a letter Thursday where it threatened to withdraw its sponsorship following a violent headshot to Habs player Max Pacioretty by Zdeno Charo of the Boston Bruins.

All six Canadian teams and five U.S.-based teams charter Air Canada flights. In addition to charter contracts with teams, Air Canada has the naming rights in Toronto for the home of the Maple Leafs and NBA Raptors.

Air Canada may have been emboldened to act because of a groundswell of public concern resulting from a series of recent player concussions.

He said they also have more leverage than a standard sponsor like a beer company, which would be replaced by a rival in a heartbeat. Later Thursday, Habs (Canadiens)owner Geoff Molson issued a public letter expressing his, “frustration, disappointment and shock” over the issue — and he said NHL Commissioner Bettman had agreed to make safety a priority issue at next week’s league meetings."


See the hit for yourself. We've seen much much worse. But you can see in the slo-mo that Max was pushed into a partition and when he hit it literally broke his neck.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The hit clearly was late as the puck was already dumped into the zone. Then when you figure the size of chara its just wrong,bullshit and he should be suspended!! Someone on Montreal should have skated up behind him and just clubbed him with a stick!! I don't condone cheap shots or violence but you just can't allow this kinda shit to your teammates!! Chara's not a fighter nor is he known as a cheap player but this was totally uncool!! Suspend his ass for a long time,a message needs to be sent now!!