Boston-Homer

My brief thoughts on Chara's hit.

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a huge hockey fan. I never played it, I do not understand it. I understand how exciting it can be, however, I hate that the regular season is a tune-up for the playoffs.

Hockey has grabbed my attention in the past day due to the hit that Zdeno Chara put on Canadien Max Pacioretty. This hit intensifies the rivalry between these two franchises who are on a huge collision course in the playoffs.

A year ago Marc Savard was hit by Matt Cooke. This hit has damaged Savard forever. Not just his hockey career, but his quality of life has been severely altered. Matt Cooke is a dirty player, if you watch the hit he gets on Savard it is completely against flow of the play. It was a blatant head shot.

Chara's hit had same venom to it too. Chara is not a dirty player, and from what I have heard he is actually a guy who has not played as physical as his size would indicate. If you watch the hit, Chara finishes it. He puts his hands on Pacioretty's head and leads him into that pole.

I remember back in the days of playing NHL video games one of the big goals was to check an opponent over the boards, hit him so hard the glass breaks, or time a check so he runs into the glass just like Pacioretty did. Chara wanted to make that hit, I have no doubt about it. He knew what he was doing.

Can a "clean" hockey player make a dirty hit, yes. It seems like this Chara hit was a bit dirty. He finished the check, and if you look close enough his hands are on Pacioretty's head while it is on the post.

 

Between the game last month where there were hundreds of penalty minutes and this hit, there is no way that these two teams are not destined to meet in the playoffs.


Thats about all I can muster up for hockey...here are some better links:

Canada is PISSED!
Canadians want to file charges against Chara.
Tony Mazz on the hit...