So much to discuss.
First off, a Vancouver fan got a concussion when she was struck in San Jose at a game between the two teams. The reports state that the 16-year-old was taken away by ambulance. So far, no arrests. The victim claims it was an assault. But according to the Sharks, the other fan told police and arena staff the contact was accidental and occurred during the celebration of a Sharks goal.
There are other reports that say the victim, Maggie Herger was mocked by other Sharks fans while being attended to by paramedics. "[Another fan] looked in and said, 'You're faking it, you don't need an ambulance, suck it up,' ". A disgusting act. Even worse, Maggie had brain surgery four years ago to remove a tumor.
The family told the Mercury News that Herger suffered a "slight concussion" from the incident, but that her benign brain tumor "was not impacted by the hit".
It would be unfair to categorize all fans, or even all Shark fans in with these two individuals because: a) these horrible acts against humanity happen everywhere and b) there is no additional proof that these acts happened as reported by the family and victim. That being said, I find it completely possible that these events happened and do not doubt for a second they very possibly could have (and likely did) occur.
Fans are the best and worst of a sport or their team.
Next, Ian Cole of the Blues has been suspended for three games for an illegal check to the head.
Link to Video..
Next, Krys Barch of the Panthers is being accussed of using a racial slur on the ice against P.K. Subban of the Canadiens.
This situation is different than the incidents with Wayne Simmonds of Philadelphia in the preseason. There was the banana toss where he was the victim or the homosexual slur he used against Sean Avery. The banana was the result of a fan and there was no "conclusive" evidence in the Avery incident. Here, Barch was overheard by the on-ice officials and immediately given a game-misconduct penalty. It's one of the few times you'll see a box-score with just a game-misconduct with no minor or major penalties associated with it, nor does it have a description as to why.
Rule 23.7 (ii) specifically gives the Referee the authority to issue a game-misconduct for racial taunts or slurs. And that's what happened in Florida. Linesman Darren Gibbs overheard the exchange at the end of the first period which lead to the penalty. Neither Barch nor any officials spoke with the media after the game. But the Florida coach Kevin Dineen did.
"Well, my take is we have an incredibly broken-up player in there who feels extremely bad that there was an insinuation that something inappropriate was said and now it's moved on to a league matter," Dineen said. "And obviously the Florida Panthers, Krys Barch and all of us are really shaken up by this, that there was an insinuation that something was said that was inappropriate.
"Again I'll leave it with the league right now, but I think this is always a very sensitive area for anybody and we'll let the facts play out and make sure that things are handled accordingly and move forward from there."
Subban talked about it post-game too.
"Personally, I didn't hear anything. I don't even know what happened, really," Subban said. "A couple of guys on the ice told me that something was said. I don't know what was said. I didn't hear it. As far as I'm concerned it's really out of my hands, so I don't really know too much about it."
The League is investigating. Well, Colin Campbell is investigating. And if it's anything like the Laviolette-Ott incident in Dallas, we'll hear nothing else about it.
Last bit of news, Raffi Torres of the Coyotes will have a hearing tomorrow for his hit on Wild player Nate Prosser.
Link to video.
Wild fans finally feel there is some justice in the world after three no-calls from the Player Safety Department.
Fans are questioning why this hit gets a hearing when others do not. One big reason not related to this hit could be the one from the previous Coyotes game.
He recieved a $2,500 fine for the hit. Oh, and the game before that? He delivered another controversal hit.
No additional discipline for that hit.
But those three plays were literally three games in a row. That, if nothing else, merits a hearing for Torres' persistence on delivering questionable hits at best. And these three plays aren't the only time Torres has been in trouble before. He recieved a four-game suspension last season (two regular season, two post-season games) for a hit against Vancouver's O'Marra.
This could be a big one because of the history, and frankly the hit itself. The video of the hit is bad, but it looks like Torres lead with the shoulder to deliver a hit to the head after skating across the ice. Again, additional video evidence may change my mind on that, but that's how I see it right now from that video.
And if Cole got three games for his hit where the head was not necessarily targeted, but still hit with no previous history, that paves the way for a big suspension here. I mean, the ink wasn't even dry on the check Torres wrote from a game ago before yet another bad hit to the head.
We'll know before (maybe after) the Winter Classic. Which, again, starts at 3:00 not 1:00.
link to video.
