By now everyone has heard or seen the Cam Janssen hit on Tomas Kaberle. Everyone in Canada is outraged, calling it a charge, a late hit, an elbow and flat out dirty. Cam is being turned into a monster who is out on the ice to take off the head’s of his opponents. They are calling for a suspension all over Toronto and Cam might as well be known as the dirtiest player in hockey for now on. I think a lot of the comments about the hit and about Cam are totally unfair. First off Cam is not a dirty player. He does not try and cheap shot players or injure players. He is an energy player who looks to make a big hit to get the team and crowd going. He would never mean to purposely hurt somebody. Now that I have gotten that off my chest, I want to break down the hit.
Forget what Harry Neale said. The hit was not 3 to 3 and a half seconds or counts after the pass. That is ridiculous. The Score timed the hit at 1.33 seconds after the pass. There is a major reaction for a few reasons.
- Who made the hit? It was Cam Janssen Cam is a 4th line fighter who gets very little ice time. Immediately he must be a dirty hockey player. He also has some history with the Leafs. Him and Tucker hate each other. Remember last year when Tucker nailed him twice over the head with his helmet?
- Who he hit. It was Tomas Kaberle. The Leafs top defenseman.
- The result. Kaberle had his head down while he was admiring his pass. A complete no no in the NHL. You can’t do that, plain and simple. Your head must be up at all times. Because it was down, he could not see the hit coming and went flying awkwardly into the boards.
A few more things. It was not an elbow contrary to what everyone wants to believe. The angle might see it like that but it was all shoulder. Now going back to the 1.33 seconds. That is late but it isn’t that late. Scott Stevens’ famous hit to Paul Kariya was made around the same time after Kariya got rid of the puck but no one made a fuss because it was the great Scott Stevens and not some 4th line fighter named Cam Janssen.
The fact is Kaberle had his head down. If he has his head up like he is supposed to, this is a non-issue. Leafs fan can scream for a suspension but I’m not too sure about that. We have seen a lot worse and a lot dangerous this year including Ovechkin’s bump from behind on Briere. Remember, this hit was not from behind or from the side. It was straight on while Kaberle had his head down. Unfortunately he got injured. I pray that he is okay and he has quick recovery. Wa it late? Yes. Does it deserve a suspension. I don't think so. No one hopes for anything like that to happen but I felt I needed to get this off my chest before the media destroys Cam if it hasn’t already.
4 comments:
Bullshit.
3 game suspention. Kaberle out 1-2 weeks. give me a break. he deserves more games. dirty hits like that shouldn't happen.
You failed to mention the fact that it is quite debateable that his feet slightly left the ice.
Shoulder to the Head. Dirty player or not the hit was unnecessary and of all people Kaberle. Kaberle isn't exactly the type that loves to throw his body around and delivery body crunching checks. He is one of the more overall skilled defencemen in the league and to see that happen to him is very unfortunate.
The league backed up the belief that the hit was late and on the "dirty" side. Should Kaberle have been watching his pass? Absolutely not. You are correct in saying that is the biggest no-no in hockey. But still, 99% of the time the player forechecking on a play like that won't even go near the passer.
Overall, not impressed with the hit, the suspension was deserved, maybe slightly less than what most people would have liked but at least it was handed out. Hope Kaberle is alright.
you see jannsen change direction to go after thomas after he passes the puck off, an then you see him jumping up and no matter what you say, his elbow comes up
in addition, im supprised there was a suspension, not because of the players involved, but because its the leafs that had the injured player, all year the leafs have been attacked by the refs
Everyone says "the feet came a little bit off the ground." Please... if you watch Stevens hitting Lindros back in the day, it looked like he jumped, but it's only because Lindros is a tall oaf. If this play happened on time, it's as clean as Stevens pwning both Lindros and Kariya. Only reason for any action by the league is the lateness.
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