It's a guessing game?

This is how far away from the boards was Brian Campbell when Ovechkin pushed him. Unbelievable!


It was 11 feet away from the boards!



Rule 44 - Checking from Behind:

44.1 Checking from Behind – A check from behind is a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to protect or defend himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body.

How can Campbell be unaware of Ovechkin when they race for the puck from the blue line? The more I look at it, the more I agree with Ovi that it was unfortunate fall for Campbell. The push was totally legal, nothing wrong about it, Campbell was going sideways, either Campbell was not prepared for it or it was too much for him to handle because Ovi is 235 pounds and is extremely strong. In both cases Campbell was aware that Ovechkin was following him.



Below is Damian Cox post about the game, he is my favorite. He always gives extremely accurate analysis of the situation. I remember in playoffs he wrote why Boudreau should put Varlamov in the net vs. Rangers. And this is exactly what Boudreau and GMGM did. More interesting, they gave almost word to word same explanation as Cox why they did it. Who knows, maybe they read Damian Cox too.

Is it a guessing game like Cox suggests?

I can say this, if it wouldn't be Ovechkin there wouldn't be so much cry. The Porksburgh crowd compares Ovechkin push to Cooke's hit in the head of Marc Savard already. Bhahaha.

Damian Cox, The Star, March 14, 2010:

This was two of the highest paid players clashing, with Ovechkin rudely shoving Campbell from behind into the end boards after Campbell had hustled back for a loose puck and transferred it to a nearby teammate. As he rolled into the boards, Campbell's neck and right shoulder took the brunt of the impact, leaving him gasping for breath on the ice for several minutes.

Ovechkin knew immediately he'd done something wrong, and seemed to wave towards Campbell as if to apologize. After first going to the penalty box, Ovechkin absorbed some trash talk from Hawks forward Troy Brouwer en route to the Washington bench and, ultimately the dressing room.

NBC analyst Pierre Maguire suggested that a double minor would have been appropriate, unaware, apparently, that no such penalty is in the rule book for boarding. It's either a deuce or a major.

While Ovechkin was tossed and NHL officials quickly reviewed the incident, he won't be suspended. Otherwise, he might have been in even hotter water after already being suspended once this season for two games for kneeing Carolina's Tim Gleason Nov. 30.

In between, Ovechkin decked Jaromir Jagr during the Olympics with what was a shoulder to the jaw at mid-ice, leaving some to suggest it was a head shot. He wasn't penalized or suspended.

As it stands, there will be continued suggestions that Ovechkin has become increasingly reckless in his play this season. Meanwhile, the NHL in general seems in a state of amber alert over head shots and bodychecking in general, with every tough hit drawing calls for penalties, suspension or revenge.

Rather than reduce the furor, the league's plan to legislate against head shots starting next fall seems to have increased the controversy and made it even more difficult for officials to differentiate between legal hits and illegal ones.

In the Leafs-Islanders game, Dion Phaneuf was cracked from behind by Islander goon Matt Martin with a hit far more dangerous than Ovechkin's, yet received only a minor.

It's a guessing game.

By MIKE ZEISBERGER, QMI AGENCY:

It was a poor decision. It was reckless. And it was uncalled for.

At the same time, don’t expect a suspension to be handed out in this matter, according to a league source.

While Ovechkin deservedly was slapped with a boarding major and game misconduct for his brain cramp, league officials know it did not contain the same type of intent or viciousness as the incident one week earlier in which the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke blindsided Boston’s Marc Savard, leaving the Bruins forward likely out for the season with a concussion.

By not suspending Cooke for a far more malicious act, how could the NHL justify any supplemental discipline for Ovechkin in this matter?

“I didn’t hit him hard,” Ovechkin told reporters, referring to Campbell. “He fell bad. But you can see, every shift this happens - little pushes, little battles ... I didn’t think it deserved five minutes.”

That doesn’t mean Ovechkin will be off the hook. Far from it.

Ovechkin plays on the edge. More than once he has gone over it, as witnessed by his two-game suspension for kneeing during a game Nov. 30.

And now, given yet another example of his poor decision making, count on the NHL monitoring his antics even more closely, even if he is a superstar.

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