Sutter, The Hit.
Posted 7:25 PM ET | Comments 5
Oh boy... here we go again.
Another player out with a concussion after a great big shot to the head.
For those who havent seen it yet (which is highly improbable, as it's one of the biggest hits of the past couple seasons)....
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After I had a minute to cool down, as any fan would be upset watching their teams top prospect go down in such a way, I started to think about just how this hit occurs.
1) Sutter brings he puck ut of a scum, and chips it by the Islanders defender.
2) Weight, recognizing that he is the lone man back, moves to take Sutter out of the play and begins to move towards the point of contact.
3) Sutter is totally focussed on the puck and reaches out in an attempt to get a handle on it, not recognizing that there is still one man back.
4) Weight closes and makes contact immediately after Sutter reaches out for the puck. Sutter is in a vulnerable position and what would have been a shoulder-shoulder hit, becomes a shoulder-head hit.
Doug Weight is a classy player. Clearly, he himself is shaken up after the hit and the look on his face is pure concern for Sutter. His body language is not saying "Oh crap, am I going to get suspended for this?" It's saying "Oh crap, I hope he isn't hurt."
Simply put, this was a rookie mistake by Sutter. Hockey players are taught from the minute you step on the ice to ALWAYS keep your head up. Brandon Sutter did not, and he just found out why everybody was telling him that.
Clean hit, Bad decision by Brandon Sutter, and absolutely no fault to be put at the feet of Doug Weight. This is nothing more than a nice hit delivered to a player wo put himslf in a bad position.
Discuss.
Another player out with a concussion after a great big shot to the head.
For those who havent seen it yet (which is highly improbable, as it's one of the biggest hits of the past couple seasons)....
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/...t;</param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/...&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
After I had a minute to cool down, as any fan would be upset watching their teams top prospect go down in such a way, I started to think about just how this hit occurs.
1) Sutter brings he puck ut of a scum, and chips it by the Islanders defender.
2) Weight, recognizing that he is the lone man back, moves to take Sutter out of the play and begins to move towards the point of contact.
3) Sutter is totally focussed on the puck and reaches out in an attempt to get a handle on it, not recognizing that there is still one man back.
4) Weight closes and makes contact immediately after Sutter reaches out for the puck. Sutter is in a vulnerable position and what would have been a shoulder-shoulder hit, becomes a shoulder-head hit.
Doug Weight is a classy player. Clearly, he himself is shaken up after the hit and the look on his face is pure concern for Sutter. His body language is not saying "Oh crap, am I going to get suspended for this?" It's saying "Oh crap, I hope he isn't hurt."
Simply put, this was a rookie mistake by Sutter. Hockey players are taught from the minute you step on the ice to ALWAYS keep your head up. Brandon Sutter did not, and he just found out why everybody was telling him that.
Clean hit, Bad decision by Brandon Sutter, and absolutely no fault to be put at the feet of Doug Weight. This is nothing more than a nice hit delivered to a player wo put himslf in a bad position.
Discuss.
Basically, you nailed it.
Players need to be careful about what type of position they put themselves in. The hit on Sutter was clean, and unfortunately he was hurt.
Very good take on what happened. Doug Weight is not a dirty player and did not set out to hurt Sutter.
good hit, but if someone else made the hit who was knowen for big hit's you guys would be all over him. head shots should only be talked about if the head is the only part of the body hit. not if it's a regular hit and someones head bounces off the hitter...
I agree with you all. The last thing we want is hitting to calm down in the NHL. I think Sutter actually saw Weight coming before he got hit. Headshots can and will happen. Putting yourself in a bad position has to be avoided. Kelly Chase has talked endlessly about it. He says back in the day they just didn't put themselves in that position. Adding an automatic penalty for hits like some suggest is pretty silly at this point. But if problems continue to arise the NHL may have to look into it. I hope Sutter gets better and learns from his mistake. Shoot I've seen just about every Sutter play in Blues jersey.