"When you stick your elbow in his face and put knee on knee that's an intent to injure. That's why he got kicked out of the game," said San Jose Sharks Head Coach Ron Wilson after Wednesday nights game against Predators.
Here’s the deal…I was at the game. I saw the hit. I knew when it happened that he was getting the 5 minute major. I did not know if a game misconduct was coming or not…I should have known the refs would have sided on the ‘intent to injure’ side and give him the game misconduct.
While I am sure the spin in San Jose has been ‘hang Hartnell from the rafters’ the spin in Nashville is quite the opposite. And I don't think this is stick up for the hometwon boy either. People have been looking at this video A LOT!
After watching the video several times myself I can only say that the intent to injure is not clear at all. Also if you have the ability to watch the clip in a clear slow motion you will see that Hartnell did not elbow Cheechoo. So…Ron Wilson has flat out lied by saying that Hartnell knocked his tooth out.
I should not be shocked at all...if the NHL gave awards for the biggest whiner it would be called the Ron Wilson Award. But hey…maybe it works because several of those calls last night were very questionable against the Preds.
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Stop motion frame by frame clearly shows Hartnell leading with the knee and placing it directly into Cheechoo. Of that there is no doubt. Hartnell did not connect with an elbow to the head of Cheechoo, but as the knee hits knee, Hartnell does raise his elbow up and connects with Cheechoo's shoulder. All reports I have seen indicate that Cheechoo lost the tooth when his head hit the ice as he crumpled. Hang Hartell from the rafters? No. But he got exactly what he deserved on that play.As for your crucifixion of Ron Wilson, show me one coach who isn't a whiney bastard when his top scorer is injured. Coaches lie and cry all the time, not just Wilson. Trotz has doen it enough in his time, as have the majority of all coaches in all sports.And that's an unbiased view. I could care less who wins that series and have no preference either way.