Life threatening OHL hit

[mgoblue]

Claude Lemieux thinks this play was perfectly awesome!

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by DrJones

I've seen plenty of games from the 70s and 80s and don't believe there was "mutual respect" at all. Yes, players are now bigger and faster, and the boards don't "give" nearly as much as they used to. Fine. So change the rules then. You can't throw the book at a player if he hasn't broken any rules.

I understand your point. This kid was only doing what he's always been taught to do.
I have a feeling if Liambas was a 17-year old future first-round NHL pick the punishment would have been a lot lighter.
But Branch saw an opportunity to send a message and get some publicity and figured with Liambas being an over-ager with little future as a pro hockey player, he would be the perfect sacrificial lamb.

At the same time, I'm not that disappointed that a punishment as great as this was handed down.
There's almost no respect out there anymore. If this suspension helps save more kids from a hit like this, then it's a good thing.
But like you said, Branch should set more rules so players KNOW what they can and can't do.

[Pink Mist]

This was a charging major by the way, so really the hit wasn't legal. The goal of a hit is to take the player out of the play. Not to put him through the boards and end his career and not to threaten his life.

The suspension my be a bit steep, but the said player is just an over-aged goon, who really had not much of a future to pursue in hockey after the OHL.

[Madman55]

I'm pretty sure it was Bob Clarke on TSN saying the suspension was ridiculous. I agree 100%. You don't end a player's career with a season-long suspension when it was CLEAN with an unfortunate result. Who cares about age? They're both out there playing hockey, knowing full well what can happen.

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I understand your point. This kid was only doing what he's always been taught to do. I have a feeling if Liambas was a 17-year old future first-round NHL pick the punishment would have been a lot lighter. But Branch saw an opportunity to send a message and get some publicity and figured with Liambas being an over-ager with little future as a pro hockey player, he would be the perfect sacrificial lamb. At the same time, I'm not that disappointed that a punishment as great as this was handed down. There's almost no respect out there anymore. If this suspension helps save more kids from a hit like this, then it's a good thing. But like you said, Branch should set more rules so players KNOW what they can and can't do.

I just don't see how this kind of hit is going to be prevented. If you watch the replay, Liambis is already past the goal line before Fanelli turns his back to him (please note I'm not blaming Fanelli, I think it was instinctual on his part). It's clearly shoulder-to-shoulder. Suspending Liambis might make Branch and a few others feel better, but it's hardly preventive. If Fanelli wasn't turning at the time of the hit, if Fanelli's face hit the glass rather than the metal stanchion, if Fanelli's helmet hadn't inexplicably popped off, none of this would've happened and nobody would be talking about "lack of respect", even though Liambis' actions would be identical.

[BlueNGold]

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=297454

Quote:

Michael Liambas of the Erie Otters spoke for the first time on Friday after being suspended by the Ontario Hockey League for his hit on Kitchener Rangers defenceman Ben Fanelli. "I feel like I'm going to jail for this. I feel like I'm stuck in a box," said Liambas. "When you get punished for anything, you try to learn from it, you try to take a life lesson out of it and make sure it doesn't happen again. But that's what I'm having trouble with." Last Friday, Liambas skated toward Fanelli on the forecheck and hit Fanelli into the end boards, knocking his helmet off in the process. Fanelli fell to the ice unconscious, was carted of the ice on a stretcher and airlifted to hospital in Hamilton with skull and facial fractures. Liambas was assessed a match penalty for boarding and a game misconduct on the play. On Wednesday, he was suspended for the season. But Liambas isn't sure what he did wrong on the play. "I guess I could slow down next time, not skate as fast, but I really don't know what I could do different," Liambas said. "I've probably made that hit about 500 times. Not that exact same hit, but the same situation where the [defenceman] is coming behind the net and the forward is coming the other way. You can catch the [defenceman] off guard, it's an easy play and usually everyone gets back up from that. Whatever could have gone wrong that night, went wrong." Liambas stressed that it was not his intent to injure Fanelli but rather to create some energy for his team. "I can respect what Branch is saying about me speeding and going too fast, but I'm never out there to hurt anyone," said Liambas. "It's my style of play, I've made it this far being that little spark plug." "No one's ever out there to intentionally hurt anyone. I know we're on different teams, but we all have the same dreams and the same goals and I don't think anyone is trying to take that away from anyone." But OHL Commissioner Dave Branch felt the Erie forward showed a lack of respect for Fanelli. "Players must understand they shall be held accountable for their actions," Branch said in a statement on Wednesday. "We must all work towards improving the level of respect players have towards opposing players and the game in general." Fanelli remains in a Hamilton hospital and his condition has been upgraded from critical to serious, but stable.

[olliethebum85]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

But Branch saw an opportunity to send a message and get some publicity and figured with Liambas being an over-ager with little future as a pro hockey player, he would be the perfect sacrificial lamb.

Are freaking kidding me? Please tell me you are joking. Seriously, you cannot really think that while this guy was skating around he thought, "oh man this kid is 16 years of age, well if I hit him really hard, it will get me a lot of publicity and the resulting factor will be me getting famous on the internet."

Because that is the logic you are implying.

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

At the same time, I'm not that disappointed that a punishment as great as this was handed down. There's almost no respect out there anymore. If this suspension helps save more kids from a hit like this, then it's a good thing. But like you said,

It's HOCKEY. I thought hockey players were supposed to be tough, what happened to the old days when none of the players had teeth? If these 16 year olds are so vulnerable, then why are they even on the ice? You can't handicap everyone else because you don't want little bobby joe getting hurt.


If he had made this hit, and the guy got up and skated off and scored a goal, you never would have thought twice about it.

[headrulz101]

Someone clear this up for me.

Everyone is saying it's a "hockey hit", but he did get a five minute major for boarding, and a match penalty right? So what's so "legal" about it? It looked like he was charging in there to me; that isn't a clean hit.

Then again, clean or not, there is no more respect on the ice. Yeah, some people may say that the 70's and 80's showed no respect, but you'd think the later generations would learn from the mistakes of the past right? No.

Furthermore, there are so many "if's" in this situation. If Fanelli gets up with just a minor concussion, Liambas isn't suspended for the season. If Liambas is a highly rated prospect, he might get a few games. If Liambas wasn't the goon on the ice that he was, maybe he gets a lesser punishment.

I also think Branch had his hands tied on his decision. The severity of the injury and the age difference between the two players made the situation very tough. If he doesn't give a lengthy suspension to Liambas (he almost killed the kid), then he isn't protecting his players. If he does, then all the "hockey hit" people come out and start crying about the nature of the game; "players are taught to hit."

Yeah, players are taught to hit, but in a case like this, when a sixteen year old kid is in critical condition, don't give me that bull**** of the "hockey hit." I don't want to see dead bodies on the ice, and I don't give a damn if bad luck plays into it.

Clean hit or not, Liambas was the culprit and he should suffer just as much as Fanelli is.

[Pink Mist]

Quote: Originally Posted by olliethebum85

Are freaking kidding me? Please tell me you are joking. Seriously, you cannot really think that while this guy was skating around he thought, "oh man this kid is 16 years of age, well if I hit him really hard, it will get me a lot of publicity and the resulting factor will be me getting famous on the internet." Because that is the logic you are implying. It's HOCKEY. I thought hockey players were supposed to be tough, what happened to the old days when none of the players had teeth? If these 16 year olds are so vulnerable, then why are they even on the ice? You can't handicap everyone else because you don't want little bobby joe getting hurt. If he had made this hit, and the guy got up and skated off and scored a goal, you never would have thought twice about it.

Difference is, the culprit is a repeat offender with a reputation for dirty plays.

So if this 16 year old kid dies from this hit, you are still standing by your position that it's clean and there was nothing wrong with charging from the top of the faceoff circle at full speed and hammering someone with enough force to knock off their helmet and causing the player to go into a coma.

Nothing wrong whatsoever with this?

It was really a unnecessary hit.

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by olliethebum85

Are freaking kidding me? Please tell me you are joking. Seriously, you cannot really think that while this guy was skating around he thought, "oh man this kid is 16 years of age, well if I hit him really hard, it will get me a lot of publicity and the resulting factor will be me getting famous on the internet." Because that is the logic you are implying.

Money is referring to Branch (the OHL commissioner), not the player (Liambis) who made the hit.