Posted by Contrary to what some folks would have you believe this hit by Niklas Kronwall on Martin Havlat midway through the first period of last night’s Game 3 between Detroit and Chicago wasn’t charging. It wasn’t interference. It’ wasn’t boarding. It wasn’t attempted murder. It was a totally clean hit by a player that was doing what he does best, and that’s put the body on the opposition. Here it is in case you missed it:
Kronwall received a 5-minute “interference” penalty and a game misconduct for what is undoubtedly the hit of the playoffs, but I’m going to go on record right here and now and state that a 2-minute minor would have been stretching it.
You can plainly see in the video that Kronwall’s feet aren’t moving, so the charging nonsense gets thrown right out the window. Interference? Havlat had the puck at his feet and had his head down in an effort to play it. What exactly was Kronwall supposed to do? Say excuse me as he gingerly stepped in to intercept the pass?
The call on Kronwall marred what was an otherwise great hockey game, one that saw Detroit claw its way back from a 3-0 deficit on the strength of three goals in 4 minutes and 23 seconds.
Said Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg about the hit on Havlat:
“I thought it was a clean hit. I was on the ice and I heard their bench was yelling, “heads up, heads up,” and Kronner stepped up and hit him.”
Even the Chicago bench knew Havlat had it coming, and at the risk of sounding redundant he should have had his head up. Hockey players are taught that from the moment they step on the ice, so what’s Havlat’s excuse?
“I didn’t see it, but I know Kronner, and if it’s anything like the way he plays — Kronner is not a guy who’s going to hit a guy with a dirty hit,” Kirk Maltby said. “If you’re on the other team and if you don’t have your head up and the puck is coming to you, or you have it — Kronner has those great open-ice hits. He never intends to hurt anybody. His being upset was because he got 5 minutes and a game, and it was a big hole to fill when it happens that early in the game, too.”
It remains to be seen what Colin Campbell will do about this, but if Kronwall gets suspended for his hit on Havlat then the league will officially be a joke. And not a funny one.
Anaheim’s Mike Brown didn’t get suspended for his blindside hit on Jiri Hudler, and that was much worse by comparison. Kronwall received a 5-minute major and was ejected from the game. Enough is enough.
Paul Benvin covers the Detroit Red Wings for The Hockey Writers. Feel free to contact him with tips, video, or general dissension.
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I watched the game last night Paul and it sucks that Havlat put himself in a precarious spot. Kronwall lined him up perfectly.
Hockey is a tough game, very tough when playing against very fast – very strong men at the peak of their abilities. Kronwall used all of his powerful abilities on this play. From a defensive perspective it was a perfect play. Legal, bone jarring, stopped any offensive progress and put the fear into an opposing player.
How a ref calls a guy on a perfect play is beyond me. More proof of the current state of officiating.
It wasn’t interference and he probably didn’t deserve five and a game, but it was a penalty.
He clearly left his feet on the hit.
Empty Netters has a good screen capture that shows that:
http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/emptynetters/archive/2009/05/22/kronwall-injures-havlat-with-dangerous-hit-5-22-09.aspx
The fact that it was Kronwall – a guy with a history of leaving his feet to hit people – probably factored into the decision as well.
His shoulder came up, and it was an attempt to hurt. When did it become acceptable to hurt rather than bodycheck to take the guy out of the play? This intention to hurt and punish should be dealt with.
He only left his feet after he made contact. That picture is silly. Both players are on their way down, so of course he’s off his feet. Watch the replay and you’ll see when he’s in the process of hitting Havlat his feet never leave the ice. Not a penalty.
And Kronwall’s previous hits on people shouldn’t make a difference. It’s a sad state of affairs if it did. Very sad. Might as well put skirts on the guys and make them play with plastic sticks if clean hits are considered penalties.
Don’t get me wrong, I think NHL officiating is terrible.
The inconsistency and bias shown every night is ridiculous.
That said, if the NHL is trying to reduce injuries and stop hits to the head, they need to call penalties.
It’s the inconsistency – and the tendency to “make up” calls if one wasn’t called earlier – that’s the problem.
Looked like a good, clean, hard hit to me… it’s even harder to digest when, as the TSN guys were saying, it appeared that neither ref was going to make a call when the play happened. It seemed only after Havlat stayed down and out did the penalties come. An overreaction to a hard, albeit clean hit.
I think this is a completely clean hit. He didn’t leave his feet until after the hit, it wasn’t a hit to the head, and definitely not interference. I could not agree more with Paul. Good article. I still wish we didn’t have sympathy calls just because a player got hurt.
Totally interference. Havlat never touched the puck. From the NHL Rulebook:
Rule 56 – Interference…
Pick: A “pick” is the action of a player or goalkeeper who checks an opponent who is not in possession of the puck and is unaware of the impending check/hit…. A player or goalkeeper delivering a “pick” is one who moves into an opponent’s path without initially having body position, thereby taking him out of the play. When this is done, an interference penalty shall be assessed.
56.4 Major Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence, to a player or goalkeeper guilty of interfering with an opponent (see 56.5).
56.5 Game Misconduct Penalty – When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury of an opponent, a game misconduct shall be imposed
Under the rulebook, this is 100% the right call.
Hi Mike – nice find in the rulebook but we need the rule for ‘possession’ added. My thinking that the hit was legal was that he was in possession. Although the puck was not on his stick it was in his sphere of influence. I don’t have a rule book handy. I guess I should put a link to one under our reference page.
So what’s the rule on possession?
ya I thought of that after I posted. another direct quote from s. 56.1:
Possession of the Puck:
The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession. The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is rendered immediately following his loss of possession.
No touch = no possession.