Zach Aston-Reese comments on having to fight after his clean hit
After Leafs forward Zach Aston-Reese caught LA's Arthur Kaliyev with a massive, open-ice hit, Kaliyev's teammate Blake Lizotte challenged Aston-Reese to a fight, which did not go well for him. It was a short fight that ZAR dominated and, after a couple of quick shots from ZAR, he scored the takedown.
Personally, I think it's one of the dumbest unwritten rules in hockey, that if a teammate gets caught with a clean hit, the person throwing the hit has to fight. Hitting is still a part of the game and there's no reason someone should have to fight after throwing a clean hit. I understand the whole "stand up for your teammate" thing, but it's gotten a bit ridiculous. In this case, Kaliyev wasn't even hurt.
Post-game, ZAR was asked about the hit and the fight, to which he said, "I was ready for it. Any time there's a big hit, it's just the culture. If your buddy... gets hit hard, you're gonna stick up for him. I have no problem with it. It's part of the game. You just have to be ready to answer the bell."
Aston-Reese, like everyone else, knew he was going to fight as soon as he delivered the hit, but continued to play and after skating through three hits from Kings players almost turned it into a scoring chance. Unfortunately, the Kings intercepted his pass and went back the other way before he and Lizotte dropped the mitts.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 9 | 174 ANSWERS Zach Aston-Reese comments on having to fight after his clean hit How do you feel about players being forced to fight after a clean hit? | ||
| It's dumb | 112 | 64.4 % |
| I'm fine with it | 42 | 24.1 % |
| Don't care either way | 20 | 11.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
