Boulerice crosscheck

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rudy2262

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your thoughts on the Boulerice crosscheck to the face of Ryan kessler in the flyers vancouver game. I think the suspension should ride along the same lines as what Chris Simon got last year. maybe less since he doesnt have the resume simon had.
 
TSN's Bob McKenzie thinks it's an easy call for the NHL to be at least 20 games. Their facts were:
- Kesler did not have the puck
- It was a blow to the head of an unsuspecting player
- Premeditation is likely, due to their ongoing battle through the game
- It was late in the 3rd period of a game that was out of hand

Also, the fact he was suspended for the entire 98-99 season in Junior's, and was charged with assault for a hit to the head with his stick. That 'should' not be considered in the NHL's decision, but it will almost certainly be in their mind.

Was this worse than Downey's 20-game suspension hit? I think so. If the NHL are to be consistent, I think he'll get 20+.
 
Really, the NHL has to cut down on these borderline minor leaguers who do this. Imagine a GM or coach... "hmmm... Crosby is in our division... imagine him gone for all those games... imagine we use Joe McGoon to take him out and play the 'oh, I didnt mean it, I'm sorry" ...then get his 20, 30, heck a season suspension and then the team doesnt need to deal with Crosby?? I am sure 100% of teams wouldn't think like that... but what if just 1 team does........ not good for the game.
 
vegaspuck said:
Totally uncalled for, and I'm a Flyers fan. I don't think it was as severe as the Simon issue. But I'd say 10 games is appropriate.
Click to expand...

Your becoming more and more of a fan of the soft NHL each time these instances come up. In the old NHL, guys like Chelos and Hextall made a living on cheap shots. Kesler was asking for it. He was trading slashes with Jesse all night, Kesler made a B line for Jones, luckly he missed. Boulerce took offense and gave him a check with fists and stick in hand. Does it deserve suspension, yes. 3-5 games. But since he is a Flyer, he will get 10 or 12. What will help Boulerce was that Kesler was talking to the media after the game, meaning the injury is not severe. He has a fat lip and his jaw is a little swollen. He will play next game
 
DXFlyers said:
Your becoming more and more of a fan of the soft NHL each time these instances come up. In the old NHL, guys like Chelos and Hextall made a living on cheap shots. Kesler was asking for it. He was trading slashes with Jesse all night, Kesler made a B line for Jones, luckly he missed. Boulerce took offense and gave him a check with fists and stick in hand. Does it deserve suspension, yes. 3-5 games. But since he is a Flyer, he will get 10 or 12. What will help Boulerce was that Kesler was talking to the media after the game, meaning the injury is not severe. He has a fat lip and his jaw is a little swollen. He will play next game
Click to expand...

I don't mean to sound like a bitter Canucks fan (which I'm really not) but would you be saying the same thing if Jeff Cowan did that to Joffrey Lupul? (Using comparable players in the situation) -- There's no argument you can make in regard to the "old NHL" and a blatant intent to injure.

When I saw the shot, I thought "10 games" and the fact of the matter is I still don't know that it calls for more than 15 or 20...I think 20 would be the limit in my eyes.

The fact that Kesler was talking to the media after the game was irrelevant. As I recall, Ryan Hollweg only had a cut that required two switches and played the next couple games. Chris Simon's stick even hit him in the shoulder pads before it hit his face. Kesler caught this one flush on, and could have suffered any number of broken facial bones as a result of hitting the ice hard.
 
DXFlyers said:
Your becoming more and more of a fan of the soft NHL each time these instances come up. In the old NHL, guys like Chelos and Hextall made a living on cheap shots. Kesler was asking for it. He was trading slashes with Jesse all night, Kesler made a B line for Jones, luckly he missed. Boulerce took offense and gave him a check with fists and stick in hand. Does it deserve suspension, yes. 3-5 games. But since he is a Flyer, he will get 10 or 12. What will help Boulerce was that Kesler was talking to the media after the game, meaning the injury is not severe. He has a fat lip and his jaw is a little swollen. He will play next game
Click to expand...

If you are going to go to bat for someone for a stick offense, Jesse Boulerice is not the guy to pick. Dude's a loose cannon, I don't care if he's wearing orange and black or pink and purple. He won't get suspended because he's a Flyer, he'll get suspended because it was a cheap, stupid play in a game that was well in hand.
 
The NHL doesn't hand out suspensions for head shots arbitrarily any more so it's useless to compare incidents. They have a checklist they created last summer that they go through to determine the length of suspension. It's quite likely that this incident will meet the exact same criteria (intent, blow to the head, etc) as Downey's hit, so expect the suspension to be the exact same.
 
As well, the effects of the incident rarely are considered in determining the length of the suspension. I'd say 20 games.

And Nick, don't forget, the majority of players back in the 70's while viscious with their sticks and fists, were not the muscular monsters they are today. There's no way a two hander 25 years ago is as hard as one (on average) delivered in todays game.

Besides, I get enough random violence from my wife; I don't need it in my hockey games.

Cory
 
I just don't want to see players and coaches try to rationalize their way down to a lower suspension like a kid saying "but he started it!". I also don't want a "how much can we get away with" attitude to develop, if it hasn't already.

Knock guys into the boards until they're like pancakes. Hip-check the hell outta them to your hearts content. Have as many fights as you want. But don't use your stick as a weapon. Don't aim your elbow or shoulder at a guy's head like a Muy Thai fighter.
 
The question that needs to be asked....what part in these two incidends does the Philly management take, if any? Keep in mind they had a horrible season last year and no doubt were looking to really take on a new identity this year. And they've laid out alot of money to some star players in order to help change that. So do they instruct their "role" players to play this way? A "play hard or don't play" type of mentality, especially to their players whose role it is to play that brutish type of hockey?

I don't think it's a coincidence to have two guys from the same team refusing to be outmuscled by the other team and going outside of the rules in order to come out on top. I think both the Downey incident and this one are freakishly similar in that regard. So is it right to only punish the players if they are being coached and persuaded to play this way?

The teams are responsible for putting these players on the ice in the first place. At what point do the teams take some fall for the game being played in this manner?
 
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After seeing this I was shocked since the Downie incident wasn't that long ago. I realize that hockey is considered just a "sport." Though for the players it is their career or JOB.
Let's say forinstance you took a worker at a local McDonald's or fast food place. Your bound to have different workers that don't get along with one another. Though if "John Dow" decided one day to take things into his own hands and physically assult someone by hurting them. This being his job do you think that his or her boss would say go home and don't come back for 20 work days? More than likely this worker would be fined and taken to court and probably lose their job.
Compare this to an NHL player...who works by playing hockey to put bread on the table. He goes and visciously attacks another player.
Do you all think that not being allowed to play in 10 or 20 games is a fair punnishment? Or do you think that more actions should be taken by the NHL to do more than suspend a hockey player when purposely trying to hurt someone?
 
I see your point here, but the big difference between the instances is that Philly's coach, GM, etc. were all behind Downie after his hit, as Downie felt he did nothing wrong. They stodd behind him, yet still respected the NHL's decision. For Boulerice, everyone in the Philly organization, including Boulerice himself, immediately concurred the hit was unacceptable.
You could argue they don't want to stand behind every players dirty hit, or they'll look even worse. But I think the 2 instances are different in that regard.
I'm expecting nothing less than 20 games for this.

Ferris said:
The question that needs to be asked....what part in these two incidends does the Philly management take, if any? Keep in mind they had a horrible season last year and no doubt were looking to really take on a new identity this year. And they've laid out alot of money to some star players in order to help change that. So do they instruct their "role" players to play this way? A "play hard or don't play" type of mentality, especially to their players whose role it is to play that brutish type of hockey?

I don't think it's a coincidence to have two guys from the same team refusing to be outmuscled by the other team and going outside of the rules in order to come out on top. I think both the Downey incident and this one are freakishly similar in that regard. So is it right to only punish the players if they are being coached and persuaded to play this way?

The teams are responsible for putting these players on the ice in the first place. At what point do the teams take some fall for the game being played in this manner?
Click to expand...
 
Whatever he gets, what is going to happen when a "name" player flies off the deep end and pulls a Downey/Boulerice? Will the braintrust in New York give Ovechkin or Iginla or Thornton 20 games?
 
Breakaway Dealz said:
I realize that hockey is considered just a "sport." Though for the players it is their career or JOB.
Let's say forinstance you took a worker at a local McDonald's or fast food place. Your bound to have different workers that don't get along with one another. Though if "John Dow" decided one day to take things into his own hands and physically assult someone by hurting them. This being his job do you think that his or her boss would say go home and don't come back for 20 work days? More than likely this worker would be fined and taken to court and probably lose their job.
Compare this to an NHL player...who works by playing hockey to put bread on the table. He goes and visciously attacks another player.
Do you all think that not being allowed to play in 10 or 20 games is a fair punnishment? Or do you think that more actions should be taken by the NHL to do more than suspend a hockey player when purposely trying to hurt someone?
Click to expand...

Hockey's a sport, and sports are unique and seperate from the general working world (generally speaking), which is why I find this a bit of an unfair comparison.

You don't need to look much further than if two hockey players disagree, they can throw their bodies at each other in an attempt to send a message, and if all else fails, they can drop the mits and fight it out. If two McDonald's employees disagree, and they decided to throw down the fry tray and burger flipper and go at it, they're not just going to sit for 5 minutes and go back to work...
 

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