VIDEO: Canadiens' Jaroslav Spacek hit to Panthers' David Booth. Yep, THAT Booth
by Donny Rivette on Mar 25, 2010 9:02 PM EDT
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PrintStill in utter shock over a season rapidly turning into a cruel joke. Florida's David Booth left the ice dazed with a cut to the nose (presumably from his visor) and is out for the game (probably season). More to come in a bit...
UPDATE: On his way to the hospital, per assistant coach Jim Hulton. Nothing more yet.
UPDATE: Booth is "alert and coherent", per GR.
UPDATE: Postgame analysis and poll...
UPDATE: Booth"appears OK", undergoing tests, may be released tonight or tomorrow, per Sun-Sentinel.
UPDATE: On his way back to South Florida; concussion is confirmed.
Thanks to Fel0096 for the link.
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Didn’t the new head-shot rule take affect earlier today? This should get a look… I know (or hope) it wasn’t intentional, but the elbow went straight to the jaw… Kind of the definition of a head-shot, no?
I'm not too impressed.
The Cat’s should enforce their own no-head shot rule.
Is Tarnasky or anyone who might start something in the line-up tonight? If Spacek is still in the game and even touches the dump-in, make contact guys! He’s got to pay for that.
What did Spacek do wrong?
Watching the replays, spacek was hardly moving and seemingly threw out his arm in self defense/bump booth off the puck (he had little/almost zero momentum going against booth when contact was made, he already stopped moving pretty much) and you can see spacek was focusing on the puck, not the player.
It was a pretty clean hit...
Booth had his head down again. Spacek’s hit wasn’t dirty.
I feel for Booth but he’s gonna be a little more aware.
Lackluster effort after the first 10 minutes of this game.
Hard to imagine he’s NOT “aware” after missing 45 games. really believe there’s more to this than simply “his head was down”
by Donny Rivette on Mar 25, 2010 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions
I could be wrong, but Spacek has never seemed like the type of player to “intend” to do something like that.
by keithwozniak on Mar 25, 2010 11:36 PM EDT up reply actions
And for the record, I never believed Mike Richards was a “dirty” player either, up to and including the October Surprise.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 26, 2010 12:14 AM EDT up reply actions
Booth’s head was down, and that’s pretty much it. No other story here. He carries the puck across the blue line, and it gets away from him. Instead of keeping his head up, he runs straight into Spacek while staring at the puck. Spacek keeps his elbows down, stands up straight, and has very little forward momentum (I count 1 stride 10+ feet away from the actual hit). Booth literally runs right into him. It wasn’t a dirty hit, nor was it a headshot.
"Oh, buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too!" - Mike Lange
I think he’s aware, but his style of skating/play often has him in a vulnerable position. Spacek’s body raised up a bit, but more for balance than anything. There’s definitely no evidence in the clip that he intentionally went for a headshot. Spacek also didn’t blindside him. In the NHL, and you’ll hear it from majority of players, when you enter the offensive zone at the blue line, that is where most defensemen start to look to stand up and pressure the puck carrier. If the puck carrier skates in with their head down, they’re in trouble. Those hits, to me, are fine. The ones from behind, like Cooke’s or Richards’, those are not fine.
I just feel bad for Booth, and seeing him get hurt last night causes my anger to rise once again regarding the Richards hit, which truly was a headshot and WAS dirty as it was blindside. A hit like the one from Spacek wouldn’t be such a huge discussion point if he wasn’t already dealing with a massive concussion from earlier in the year.
Also, this blog pwns all other Panther blogs out there. Keep up the great work man.
A hit like the one from Spacek wouldn’t be such a huge discussion point if he wasn’t already dealing with a massive concussion from earlier in the year.
Nailed. There’s a built-in audience, unsurprisingly.
And thanks for the kind words, helmut.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 26, 2010 9:04 AM EDT up reply actions
Yea, it’s unfortunate. The other problem with Booth’s concussions is that if he does indeed come back healthy next season, his style of play is going to change, and for a work-horse type of player like Booth, that’s going to affect his production at this level. He’s not going to skate as low to the ice, which will affect his speed a bit, although hopefully he can work around it.
I just hope he isn’t Lindros’d. Concussions are nasty and linger for months.
It’s about time the NHL starts to protect it’s players. Interested to see how fiercely they do it.
It doesn’t appear to be illegal according to the rule because there is body contact. It’s not a pure hit to the head, though there is contact there. I guess we’ll see what the league says today, though.
Florida Panthers: Giving the league a punching bag since 2000.
Yeah, after repeated viewings it looks to me like nothing will come of it, suspension-wise. Spacek’s not a dirty player and the video clearly shows Booth’s head was down.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 26, 2010 9:02 AM EDT up reply actions
what about after?
I didn’t watch the game, so I would appreciate some input here, but the hit seem pretty clean to me. I hate to see Booth go through that again, but unlike the Richard’s hit, this was pretty clean.
I am curious as to the Panthers reaction after? Like I said, I couldn’t watch the game, did the Panthers hit/fight after this hit, or did they back down completely? This is as important as the hit itself for a team like the Panthers
No fights or overly-aggressive physical play by FLA following the hit. DeBoer’s attitude the last time around was one of “let’s win the game”, so presumably this approach was employed again.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 26, 2010 9:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Thanks
Thanks for the reply. PDB’s attitude worked as it usually does. It didnt.
I have noticed this season, when the Panthers play physical they usually win. When Tarnsarky, McArdle, Soup and whoever else don’t get it going.. well.. we have a losing record. That’s just my opinion at least and even more so after a hit (clean or not) in which your star players is laying on the ice..
That’s been the case, certainly over the past six weeks or so.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 26, 2010 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s because we have a young team and they follow examples. If the guys who are paid to be physical and aggressive aren’t playing in such a manner, the kids on the team won’t be either, and it translates into a lack of intensity. Plus, you have a guy like Booth go down, it kills the young players because he’s their leader, and they’re all naturally worried for him.
I posted this in the other post-game topic, but I read DeBoer is taking Booth on the trip with the team, in my opinion Booth should be done for the season, the Cats have no shot at the post season at this point, and you’re playing with fire by asking him to go out there after taking two shots to the head this season.
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