mmajeski06 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) Haven't seen one this hard since Stevens retired: Edited March 14, 2012 by mmajeski06 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zubie#8 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) The player who hit him better of not been penalized for that hit. Although its a head it, it looks clean to me, Yakupov bent over at the last second, what is the defense man suppose to do? Let him go? Edited March 13, 2012 by Zubie#8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilsfan118 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Cuts to the middle with his head down? It's best he learns not do that before he gets to the NHL, or he'll serious have his head taken off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazer Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 i think the guy who hit him is with the isles somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamtheprodigy Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 It's Yakupov guys, not "Yahupov". And yeah pretty strong hit. Kid needs to keep his head up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Dan 56 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Someone show that kid some Lindros clips. He's got a lot of talent, I'd hate to see his career cut short with stuff like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayday Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 nowadays huge, clean hit = "well, i have to fight they guy" clean. but of course your going to have the people who always argue otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msweet Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 clean and I hate when they fight after that kind of hit... it dishonors the game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devils731 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I believe in the OHL all head contact during a check is illegal, so I believe this is illegal. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Would-a-ban-on-hits-to-the-head-actually-work-in?urn=nhl-122220 "As it states in our rulebook, the act of checking an opponent to the head, in any manner, is defined as a head check, and it will be penalized as either as a minor, a major or a match penalty based on the degree of impact," said Baker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilsfan26 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 It's Yakupov guys, not "Yahupov". And yeah pretty strong hit. Kid needs to keep his head up. He was reaching for the puck, how is he supposed to do that while keeping his head up? I'm not necessarily criticizing the hit, but this isn't a case of someone skating across the blue line with their head down and getting drilled by a defenseman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamtheprodigy Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 He was reaching for the puck, how is he supposed to do that while keeping his head up? I'm not necessarily criticizing the hit, but this isn't a case of someone skating across the blue line with their head down and getting drilled by a defenseman. He cut to the slot (an aggressive move towards a dangerous area), briefly lost control of the puck, looked down and reached for it, and totally didn't pay attention to the man standing in his way, who hit him straight-on and, so far as I can tell, didn't go out of his way to target the head or raise an elbow or anything nasty like that. I don't know the OHL rules on checking, so 731 might be right about its illegality according to league rules, but in my book (whatever it's worth), it looked like a pretty clean hockey play. Yakupov is very skilled, but he needs to pick his spots. Whether you want to call it putting his head down or just putting himself in a vulnerable position, you can't make a move like that right into the slot and not expect to meet some opposition, especially in the NHL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilsfan26 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 He cut to the slot (an aggressive move towards a dangerous area), briefly lost control of the puck, looked down and reached for it, and totally didn't pay attention to the man standing in his way, who hit him straight-on and, so far as I can tell, didn't go out of his way to target the head or raise an elbow or anything nasty like that. I don't know the OHL rules on checking, so 731 might be right about its illegality according to league rules, but in my book (whatever it's worth), it looked like a pretty clean hockey play. Yakupov is very skilled, but he needs to pick his spots. Whether you want to call it putting his head down or just putting himself in a vulnerable position, you can't make a move like that right into the slot and not expect to meet some opposition, especially in the NHL. He was in a vulnerable position because he lost control of the puck. At that point the only way his head doesn't lower is if he just gives up on the play. This isn't a typical "kid needs to keep his head up" play. Every time there is a big hit some fan always says he needs to keep his head up. People said the same thing about the big hit Brandon Sutter took in his rookie year where he leaned forward to try to poke the puck by a defender and he got crushed. If he and Yakupov didn't lean in for the puck, they would just be handing the puck over to the other team. You can't play hockey like that. Obviously you keep your head up when you have control of the puck but if you don't have control of the puck you can't be out there trying to avoid contact. You never give up on the puck, but sometimes you get leveled as a result, that's how the game goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamtheprodigy Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 He was in a vulnerable position because he lost control of the puck. At that point the only way his head doesn't lower is if he just gives up on the play. This isn't a typical "kid needs to keep his head up" play. Every time there is a big hit some fan always says he needs to keep his head up. People said the same thing about the big hit Brandon Sutter took in his rookie year where he leaned forward to try to poke the puck by a defender and he got crushed. If he and Yakupov didn't lean in for the puck, they would just be handing the puck over to the other team. You can't play hockey like that. Obviously you keep your head up when you have control of the puck but if you don't have control of the puck you can't be out there trying to avoid contact. You never give up on the puck, but sometimes you get leveled as a result, that's how the game goes. I agree with this. And I am also bothered when people use the hockey cliche at inappropriate times to unfairly dismiss a helpless offensive player who was the victim of an illegal or dirty hit. But in my opinion, that's not what happened here. I disagree that it was not Yakupov's fault that he was in a vulnerable position in this particular play. You say that there was nothing else he could do except hand the puck over to the other team at that point, and that's exactly what he should have done. If you make a flashy, aggressive offensive play like that and cut to the middle and lose the puck, then too bad. You either pull up and avoid the hit while turning the puck over, or put yourself in a position to take the hit hard and try and get the puck back, which is what Yakupov chose to do. It's not as if the hit came out of nowhere or the guy was hunting Yakupov down. Nail skated basically right into the guy in the high slot and, perhaps naively, did not anticipate such a hard hit was coming. If Yakupov wanted to play it safe, he could have pushed around the defender to the outside and brought it below the goal line, or chipped it around the boards, or any number of the many other possible "safer" options. He chose the flashy play cutting to the slot and by doing that, risked losing the puck and getting hit. So perhaps you're right that simply saying "he should have kept his head up" is not being fair to Yakupov. Instead, I could have said that "he should exercise more caution when making flashy offensive maneuvers on the rush, because momentarily losing the puck and putting yourself in a vulnerable position can leave your open to a strong body check." Either way, in a hit like this, I think the onus is on the attacking player not to put himself into such a vulnerable position in an area of the ice where contact regularly occurs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilsfan26 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 So perhaps you're right that simply saying "he should have kept his head up" is not being fair to Yakupov. Instead, I could have said that "he should exercise more caution when making flashy offensive maneuvers on the rush, because momentarily losing the puck and putting yourself in a vulnerable position can leave your open to a strong body check." Either way, in a hit like this, I think the onus is on the attacking player not to put himself into such a vulnerable position in an area of the ice where contact regularly occurs. Fair enough I suppose. In general I think the onus (usage of this word must have at least quadrupled in recent years thanks to the NHL) should be on the defending player to avoid the other guy's head, but a lot of times that is easier said than done because you don't know what the other guy is going to do and things happen very fast out there, and this is one of those cases. It's definitely a hit to the head but I don't think he deserves anything more than the penalty the rulebook prescribes, nor do I really fault Yakupov for keeping with the play. Sometimes these things just happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott O Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 clean and I hate when they fight after that kind of hit... it dishonors the game I totally agree. I think answering back with a good, clean hit of your own sends a stronger message anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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