Leafs defenseman lands a thunderous, clean hit and then is forced to fight
The Toronto Maple Leafs were up 3-1 on the Philadelphia Flyers early in the third period last night when Flyers defenceman Cam York pinched down the boards in the Leafs' zone to keep the play alive for the Flyers. Unfortunately, the puck hit the official and forced York to redirect his attention to locate it. That left him vulnerable to Simon Benoit, who saw the opportunity to finish a hard check and took it.
Benoit landed a thunderous, clean hit on York that sent him flying into the boards. The hit would cause York to leave the game and also garnered the attention of Flyers tough guy Nicolas DesLauriers, who instantly came over to fight Benoit. Benoit obliged after the two moved away from York, who was down on the ice.
Good on Benoit for obliging, but once again, and this is a league-wide issue, but having to fight after a big, clean hit is absolutely ridiculous. Instead of fighting the guy that sent your teammate into next week so you can say you stood up for him, maybe have a conversation with your teammate about not putting themselves in that position. The onus is on them just as much as it is the one throwing the hit.
I don't remember when this unwritten rule of having to fight after a clean became a reality, but it's up there with being one of the dumbest things to come out of the game the last decade.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 16 | 794 ANSWERS Leafs defenseman lands a thunderous, clean hit and then is forced to fight Is having to fight after a clean hit one of the dumbest things in hockey? | ||
| Yes | 647 | 81.5 % |
| No | 147 | 18.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
