Shots from the Point--It's Wednesday Already

Your Bob Tory Quote of the Day (Playoff Edition):

“Success comes to those who make it happen, not those who let it happen.”

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Ass-pat to Scotty Wazz for sending me a link this morning.  It's the home of the Victoria Ice Hawks of the Victoria Minor Hockey League.  Anything look familiar?

Also:

Crazy.

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The WHL has the Bantam Draft (going on right now I believe) in Calgary today.  The Americans don't make a selection until the 16th pick of the 2nd round.  The league website says "results" here, but there are none listed as I type this.  It's just the draft lottery, Draft is May 5th.  That makes a ton more sense.

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If you missed it, commenter Andrew left the youtube link for the Bloodoff hit in the comments last night. 

For that hit, Bloodoff gets four games. FOUR. So much for the WHL wanting to send a message that they want to eliminate such hits. Good thing players learned by the example set by Shinny sitting out four games.

I got into a bit of an argument last night with Wazz--he thinks four games is reasonable. Yes, the hit is different than Shinnimins. Rogers was facing Bloodoff and saw it coming. In the hockey world this somehow makes some difference. If you watch the clip, even if he saw Rogers coming, there's not much he could have done about it. Yes, I suppose he could have braced himself for a typical hit (not a shoulder-leading, leaving-his-skates hit) but personally, I think that's a flimsy argument.

If the league is serious about eliminating hits to the head and/or illegal checks, this would have been another time to make it known that they were serious. Four games isn't serious. Could be that the logic of the WHL (an oxymoron?) is that four playoff games carries as much weight as say 6-8 regular season games, I don't know.

Because the nature of the hit was different than Shinny's, I'd say 8 games would be reasonable. Eight was the punishment eked out for Josh Cowen earlier in the season for a charging major. Brandon Manning got 7 games for his boarding major.

There can be big hits in hockey, we all like them. But watching Bloodoff leave his feet--to me--shows a clear lack of respect and THAT'S the kind of thing that needs to be eliminated from the game.

And I know, this is something that even reasonable people will disagree about. And there isn't an easy solution or the problem would be solved already. Admittedly, as Shinnimin fans we're also a bit touchy about it. I am one who believes Shinny deserved all those 12 games. I'm also quite aware that they can't punish based on injury. There's been those who have proposed suspension should last as long as the injured party is out. While I think that would definitely send a message, I don't know that it's entirely reasonable.

Rogers was carried off the ice on a stretcher. If you watch the hit it can be assumed that if a concussion can be quantified, probably 60% of that concussion was caused when his head hit the glass not from Bloodoff. Granted, his head wouldn't have hit the glass so hard if Bloodoff hadn't slammed him against it.

I don't know, I'm tired of talking about it. Let's just hope all the teams get through the playoffs without further injury. I want my team to win, but I hate seeing any player hurt.

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TSN's Bob McKenzie gives his insight in regards to the Globe and Mail piece about the WHL having more concussion incidents than the NHL:

No one should be naive enough to think a head-checking penalty alone will eliminate concussions. The concussion epidemic at all levels of hockey is far more complex than that. But for a bunch of 16 to 20-year-old kids, most of whom will only ever see the NHL by watching it on television or buying a ticket to a game? (TSN)

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Brendan Shinnimin was named to the WHL's West All-Stars, 2nd team.  Congratulations for that Shinny!!  Also named in the awards is the Americans' Brian Sandy for WHL Marketing/Public Relations.  Awesome job.  I personally know Brian works his ass off and deserves this honor.

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That's it for today, if something else comes a long, I'll update this post.