Patrice Bergeron (Bruins-Center) taken off immobilzed on stretcher

[tercet]

In minor league hockey in Ontario, if you hit from behind its a game ejection plus a game suspension. This hit just seems like a standard hit from behind, seemed clean but just in general hits from behind are cheap.

[Hurrrr]

(bruin's fan view) this was obviously a somewhat dirty hit, but shouldn't get more than 5 games. Things like this are going to happen in hockey and it sucks that it happened to a Bruin's player, but its not as bad as some of the other, more penalized plays this year.

[sublime]

i don't think its a huge deal (the hit) the first time i saw it i was like 'ugh dirty'...the more i watch it though i just think it was flukey the way PB was positioned that made it a dangerous thing.

[NhlNut]

After watching the youtube link a couple times, Bergeron put himself in a bad position. That said, Jones really took advantage of vulnerable player. Jones showed a total lack of respect for another player's safety. He knowingly hit Bergeron from behind into the dasher. I would hope for a 10-20 game suspension and a good beating in a future game.

[Triumph36]

If Jones gets suspended anything more than 5 games, it will once again be the results-oriented hockey league. That sort of play happens all the time - it was simply a fluke injury.

[mosdef]

[ QUOTE ]
This is why I don't understand hockey. People get hit all the time and I can't tell the difference between a "clean" hit and a "dirty" one that this supposedly is. Looked completely freak to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Kyro - the distinction between a clean and dirty hit in hockey comes down to one of two things:

- Excessive violence: These are the ones where it's not just a "normal" hit, for example elbows to the head or leaving your feet.
- Context: These are the tricky ones because it takes a good deal of experience watching hockey (or playing) to understand. Here, it takes a "feel" for whether or not the player who is about to get hit was defenseless or not. Here are some examples:

Forward crossing the ice parallel to the blue line, looking up ice for the puck - This player will often get absolutely crushed because he's coasting along the center of the ice not looking where he's going. This is a clean hit (unless you elbow him or knee him or leave your feet) because he isn't defenseless, he's just not paying attention.

Forward skating hard towards the end boards (like Bergeron on the dump or a player trying to catch a touch icing): These players are at the mercy of the defenders, and it's not due to their own inattention, it's a natural consequence of playing the game. But if the defender hooks him or rides him down into the boards he can hammer the forwards head into the glass or boards. There is a "right" way for the defender to do this, which is to check low and ride the forward up into the glass so his head isn't the first thing to hit the boards.

That's why sometimes you see a devastating hit where everyone says "whatever, that guy should have kept his head up" and why sometimes you'll see a defender hook a guy down into the boards on the dump and the forward jumps up and freaks out because he knows he could have just made the news for being stretchered off the ice.