Post-Game Talk: Controversy, thy name is Bruins vs Jets; Jets win 5-4 in SO

[raideralex99]

I don't see nothing wrong with the hit ... if Gryzelcyk continues to skate Morrisey has the angle and hits him into the boards. Gryzelcyk tries to turn the other way and duck ... it looks like Morrisey hits the boards harder going over the top. Seriously is Morrisey a dirty player?
Other than Bruin fans if anyone thinks Morrisey should get suspended needs to get their head examined. I'm sorry but any player who turns his back at the last second before being hit bears the blame too. I'm sure the next time Gryzelck won't try this ... he will take the hit head on.

 

[Board Bard]

Thanks for posting this, I clicked on the button beside the pause to slow it down to 1/8 speed. At this speed it is clear that Morrissey is leaving his feet to avoid contacting Grzelcyk after the sudden turn. I think if he had not jumped Grzelcyk would be leaving on stretcher.

If Morrissey had been going at a speed required to injure the guy, he could have left with a broken neck himself after hitting the boards. He had momentum, sure, this isn't ringette, but he wasn't trying to maim the guy.

 

[Tillyman]

DOPS got it right.

 

[Baywulf]

I can slow it down further if you'd like, but Morrissey's right foot is clearly planted when contact is made. The left foot is less clear because his leg bounces, but there's clearly no launching motion. There's a spray of ice from his right skate as a result of him turning into the hit.

Morrissey is not even hitting that guy but trying to avoid contact the best he can.

 

[Saidin]

I see the narrative is now that Morrissey wouldn't fight those two guys .39382 seconds after the hit...

 

[DRW204]

my take

i think it was a dangerous hit, 5 mins was warranted, the thought of a suspension of 3+ games that is floated on the main boards is laughable. A game? ok sure whatever. But shouldn't be more than that. It was a play with an unfortunate outcome.

Morrissey pinches in to potentially accept a pass from Wheeler, Wheeler loses the puck and goes the empty side behind the goal line. Morrissey and Connor are the only ones facing the BOS end and close enough to try and retrieve the puck. The latter is flat footed and JoMo still has momentum so goes in for the forecheck, Grz retrieves the puck, Morrisseys first play when he goes past the BOS goal line is a lunge-pokecheck which causes Grz to lose the puck, and Morrissey is engaging in a hit (this is within 0.5 secs). Morrissey has his left arm out wide and parallel to the ice (maybe tying Grz up and holding him?) but Grz sort of turns/ducks/crouches and turns his back to Morrissey in order to retrieve the puck. JoMo cant do anything at this point (again, within 0.5 secs) and gets his back.

i think they got it right, would have been fine with a game.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

Heres the thing... You give Morrissey a game for that and what you will see is more guys turning their backs at the last possible second .

This is not what they want... Personally thought the hit on Kulikov earlier in the season was worse. No suspension there. Regardless no games... NHL got it right... You cant suspend a guy for another guy being an idiot. Even 5 minutes might have been a bit much... What can you do when a player turns last second... Nothing. Should have been 2 for Boarding IMO.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

Heres the thing... You give Morrissey a game for that and what you will see is more guys turning their backs at the last possible second .

This is not what they want... Personally thought the hit on Kulikov earlier in the season was worse. No suspension there. Regardless no games... NHL got it right... You cant suspend a guy for another guy being an idiot. Even 5 minutes might have been a bit much... What can you do when a player turns last second... Nothing. Should have been 2 for Boarding IMO.

This is ridiculous. You think players will let themselves get injured, potentially ending their career, just so they can have the other player suspended, for a game that the two teams won't even face each other?

 

[DRW204]

Heres the thing... You give Morrissey a game for that and what you will see is more guys turning their backs at the last possible second .

how do you figure? to draw penalties? at the risk of getting hurt?

 

[Gabe Kupari]

how do you figure? to draw penalties? at the risk of getting hurt?

Yes. Exactly that. The fact remains... It wasnt as dirty as all those oh so specisl Bruins fans think.

 

[Positive]

Heres the thing... You give Morrissey a game for that and what you will see is more guys turning their backs at the last possible second .

That's a silly 'slippery-slope' argument IMHO. There isn't going to be a trend of players risking injury in an attempt to draw suspensions.

 

[DRW204]

Yes. Exactly that. The fact remains... It wasnt as dirty as all those oh so specisl Bruins fans think.

i don't think it was dirty, more of an unfortunate play. i think the 5 is justified. understood if he got a game. anything beyond is excessive. It was a hockey play gone bad

 

[surixon]

That's a silly 'slippery-slope' argument IMHO. There isn't going to be a trend of players risking injury in an attempt to draw suspensions.

Agreed. No doubt players try to draw penalties when possible but I have a hard time seeing a bunch of them allowing players to crush them from behind in order for the hitter to be suspended. What is the point of it when there is a good chance the player turning will be out with injury longer than the player who has been suspended.

 

[SensibleGuy]

I don't think either of them were really thinking as much as some of you guys. It just looks to me like Morissey is looking to rub Grz out along the wall and get the puck and Grz looks like he's trying to pull the puck back and quickly change direction hoping JoMo will miss and he'll create some space for himself. They both sort of misjudged and things got "awkward."

 

[King Woodballs]

if he didn't take the hit like a man, what did he take it like?

An idiot

 

[raideralex99]

This is ridiculous. You think players will let themselves get injured, potentially ending their career, just so they can have the other player suspended, for a game that the two teams won't even face each other?

Why do players try to block shots?
It's ridiculous ... they have a chance to get injured and potentially ending their career too.
Professional athletes want to win at all costs ... no they don't want to get injuried ... nobody does. But stepping in front of a puck or bracing yourself for an impact hit for a chance for the team to score or win a game ... players will do that ... injury is the furthest from their mind.

Sorry Gryzelcyk tries to turn the other way and duck at the last second while at the same time Morrisey is trying to get a piece of him ... end of story. Gryzelcyk deserves to get some blame. Double minor ... that's it. A major is too much because they can scores a few goals and still be on the PP.

Seriously if I'm Morrisey and see Jet fans saying I should be suspended and call it a dumb play ... I'm not resigning here.

 

[ocdaddy]

Agreed, not happy with Po Mo for that stupid challenge, or his spotters who told him to challenge. You HAVE to be 100 % confident it was offside, the price of giving up a 5 on 3 with a 1 goal lead was not worth that.

t
TSN showed an angle after the challenge was done and it looked like the puck was out.

Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[CaptainChef]

I don't think either of them were really thinking as much as some of you guys. It just looks to me like Morissey is looking to rub Grz out along the wall and get the puck and Grz looks like he's trying to pull the puck back and quickly change direction hoping JoMo will miss and he'll create some space for himself. They both sort of misjudged and things got "awkward."

Thats all it is, no more no less. Yet so many think it was dangerous with intent, and worthy of suspension. A hockey play gone bad, with Gryz deserving more of the blame for the result than Morrissey in my viewpoint. A 5 min major was defenitely not the "deserved" penalty it warranted, but refs viewing it without the benefit of slow mo replays could definitely think it was intent to injure

 

[Positive]

They looked at everything in slo-mo and decided Jo-Mo didn't deserve supplemental discipline. Cool, that's great, I don't disagree with that. But just to argue my views about the share of responsibility between hitter/hittee:

The majority of the onus is always on the hitter. The hitter initiates the contact. From angle of approach, to point of contact, to the follow-through. The 'It's mostly the other guy's fault because he turned his back, so he deserves it' trope should die as far as I'm concerned. I felt the same way about the Kulikov hit.

Players sometimes turn their back to an opponent in order to protect the puck, make a play on the puck, or even as part of a human instinct to shy away from a hit. The player that does this bears some responsibility for what happens next...but the hitter has greater responsibility in ultimately deciding how each micro-event plays out.

That is, if we assuming the hitter is capable of reacting in time (also remembering that hockey players are capable of reacting very quickly) to keep the play legal/respecting his opponent's safety. That's up to Player Safety to look at...review each event in detail and look for evidence of malice/intent of the hitter.

 

[HannuJ]

They looked at everything in slo-mo and decided Jo-Mo didn't deserve supplemental discipline. Cool, that's great, I don't disagree with that. But just to argue my views about the share of responsibility between hitter/hittee:

The majority of the onus is always on the hitter. The hitter initiates the contact. From angle of approach, to point of contact, to the follow-through. The 'It's mostly the other guy's fault because he turned his back, so he deserves it' trope should die as far as I'm concerned. I felt the same way about the Kulikov hit.

Players sometimes turn their back to an opponent in order to protect the puck, make a play on the puck, or even as part of a human instinct to shy away from a hit. The player that does this bears some responsibility for what happens next...but the hitter has greater responsibility in ultimately deciding how each micro-event plays out.

That is, if we assuming the hitter is capable of reacting in time (also remembering that hockey players are capable of reacting very quickly) to keep the play legal/respecting his opponent's safety. That's up to Player Safety to look at...review each event in detail and look for evidence of malice/intent of the hitter.

well stated.

the funny thing? That big Malarky Crunch that Lowry had in his own zone? that was also intent to injure. that's the weird thing about hitting. most players do it to jar or hurt the opposition, which really makes me wonder about the hitting rule in the first place. like, i dig big hits and i dig contact in hockey. but when hits are meant to f'ing smoke a player? think we kind of need to put that in perspective and wonder why we condone the Big Hits.

 

[Whileee]

That would surprise me. The vulnerable position thing doesn't excuse Morrissey leaving his feet or hitting high.

I don't usually advocate for stiffer penalties to our players but I think Morrissey earned some supplementary discipline this time.

DOPS is a bit of a joke. I guess if we are the beneficiaries this time I will take it. But I would prefer them to get their act together and hand out consistent, appropriate penalties.

But he didn't leave his feet to hit high. If you look closely at the frame-by-frame still photos of the hit Grz was crouched down low on contact. Morrissey never elevated at all until his lower body connected with Grz, and it looks like he might have actually sort of stumbled forward off of his feet after contact.

Here is the sequence, in 1/10th second increments...

If you look at the last picture just at initial contact you can see that Morrissey is on his feet and Grz is in a low position, after quickly pivoting towards the boards (after Morrissey is committed to the hit). Morrissey didn't leave his feet to hit, nor did he hit Grz "high". Grz was below Morrissey's shoulder before contact because he pivoted and sort of lost his balance.

 

[Ducky10]

t
TSN showed an angle after the challenge was done and it looked like the puck was out.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Sure, but it's only hindsight if you question in after the fact. Which many didn't.

 

[ps241]

well stated.

the funny thing? That big Malarky Crunch that Lowry had in his own zone? that was also intent to injure. that's the weird thing about hitting. most players do it to jar or hurt the opposition, which really makes me wonder about the hitting rule in the first place. like, i dig big hits and i dig contact in hockey. but when hits are meant to f'ing smoke a player? think we kind of need to put that in perspective and wonder why we condone the Big Hits.

I don’t like seeing guys get injured but one thing I like about hitting is it forces a style of play. People with the puck need to keep their head up to avoid getting killed and that forces guys to see the ice better and in my opinion causes puck movement passing and increases the speed of the game. I watch way too much non contact hockey and although it can be great I find it encourages players to play with their heads down and carry the puck too much.

To be clear I hate head shots but I do love physicality and open ice hitting within the context of the current rules.

 

[Ducky10]

well stated.

the funny thing? That big Malarky Crunch that Lowry had in his own zone? that was also intent to injure. that's the weird thing about hitting. most players do it to jar or hurt the opposition, which really makes me wonder about the hitting rule in the first place. like, i dig big hits and i dig contact in hockey. but when hits are meant to f'ing smoke a player? think we kind of need to put that in perspective and wonder why we condone the Big Hits.

You seem to like to infer intent a lot. Players laying a hard clean bodycheck aren't intending to injure someone. Where do you come up with this?

 

[Ducky10]

Seriously if I'm Morrisey and see Jet fans saying I should be suspended and call it a dumb play ... I'm not resigning here.

Seriously? I have a hunch that will play absolutely no role in JoMo resigning.

He bears some responsibility for wrecking the guy but there's like what, 2 guys saying he should be suspended? Your take is just as extreme as theirs is.