Jackass Alert

I don’t care how young you are, how badly you want to make the cut or that you got dumped to the ice yourself mere moments ago Steve Downie’s hit on Dean McAmmond was absolutely disgusting.

I disagree with those who say fighting and hitting have no place in hockey. In my opinion, they do. At the very least, they’re a part of the game and to remove them would make that game less enjoyable for me.

But there’s a rule. An unwritten rule. And that rule says dirty hits are not allowed.

Downie left his feet to hit McAmmond. He leapt at him with the intention of hurting McAmmond and making a bit of a splash for himself in doing so. About the only thing I’ll give Downie is that he probably didn’t mean to hurt McAmmond as badly as he did and in his post game interview he seemed genuinely repentant.

Doesn’t cut it.

Actions speak louder than words. As far as I’m concerned they can turf this little Bertuzzi wanna-be out of the League for the rest of his life. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

Steve says:

Steve Downie as a Canadian Hero....remember?

Normally Chris and I agree on stuff like this, but this time I gotta say that I am not 100% on board..
Was it a dirty hit ....yes

Did he leave his feet...yes

Was it a bonehead move and should he be suspended...yes, of course

BUT

Was MacAmmond wearing a mouth guard and did he have his chinstrap done up properly which would have probably kept his helmet in the prop position to protect him from injury (CSA approved remember)...

NO!


Hockey is a tough game. There are hits on every shift of every period of every game. People are bound to get injured...it's a simple fact of numbers...


The gear is there to protect you choose to take the "cool look" over the "safety" then you are putting yourself at risk.


I agree that the hit was dirty and done with rage, but I don't believe there was intent to injure...intent to put a Senator on his ass? YES of course, but to injure...I don't buy it.


We were all cheering this guy last year when he was leveling Russians as part of Team Canada. If a Russian player had been injured, people would probably start spouting about how they cant handle the physical aspect Canadians bring or blah blah blah.

Look at both sides of the incident.
I think he should get 10 games and the Flyers should be penalized as well...Once the NHL starts holding teams accountable for thugs, you will start to see less of them. It's only because the owners don't lose out in anyway that guys like this are still around.

Chris says:

He left his feet with intent to hurt McAmmond. How much he intended to hurt McAmmond is irrelevant.

There's a check and then there's thinking you're Superman and that you can fly.