Hi folks - WARNING - stream of consciousness ahead..............
Don't know how many ardent hockey fans we have here other the JJ but I just, finally, saw the video of the hit Michael Liambus of the Erie Otters put on Ben Fanelli of the Kitchener Rangers. I can only think of one word - sickening! (You can probably find it on You Tube.)
Liambus went into full flight at the blue line as Fanelli was coming around the back of the net to take the puck from his goal keeper. He was clearly hunting him. Granted Liambus stopped striding about 10ft away from Fanelli but, he hit him, shoulder to shoulder and neck, in full flight - and that would be almost 30mph at this level of hockey.
Liambus hit him so hard that Fanelli's helmet flew off and his head hit the glass - fractured his skull, crushed the orbital bone around his eye and cut his face open on the metal glass support. Wasn't breathing when they put him on the stretcher and taken by, air-rescue, to Hamilton General Hospital. He's now listed as critical but stable!!!!!!
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of a solid body check. I grew up a fan of a Toronto Maple Leaf team that spawned some of the most devastating body checkers to play the game - Bobby Baun, Tim Horton, Brian Glennie, Ian Turnbull, to name a few. BUT, they never threw one as vicious, nor mean, as Liambus' check on Fanelli. They were always open-ice hits, never into the boards. And, there's an added dynamic. Liambus is an "overage Junior". He's 21. He's, essentially, a young adult. Fanelli is a 16-year old rookie - he's a boy - playing his 7th game as a Major Junior. Liambus is older, more experienced, bigger and, heavier. Out-weighs Fanelli by 20lbs. Big difference. Maybe he was just welcoming him to Major Junior - rriigghhtt! Gordie Howe used to do that with an elbow in the corner but all you lost was your false bravado..........and, maybe a tooth or two.
As it now stands, Fanelli's season is over while he recovers from a devastating injury - with hopes he comes back unscathed. Liambus has been suspended for the season, including playoffs. Some say that's too much. I say about right! Smarten up, dude. He's a kid and didn't deserve the risk of having his very life put in danger by a bigger, well-known aggressive player.
What ever happened to the finesse part of hockey? It's high time we took the "Kill or be killed" mentality out of the sport I knew as a kid - 50 years ago!!!

JMHO
Chuck

Hi Chuck , I can't agree with you more on this issue. That was the worst thing you can do to another player on the ice....short of a Bertuzzi mugging. Hitting at full speed from behind into the boards. I cringe when i see that , because i play defenseman in an adult league and i am often the guy taking that puck around the back of the net with big guys , often of questionable skating skill , bearing down on me. ( I got hit last year by a 240 pounder who came down the boards and lost an edge ; sliding into me and taking me off my skates. I hit the ice on my hip and spent half the season dealing with the pain. I played every game though ! )

I have seen way too many boarding penalties this year in the NHL and i would assume it is much worse in Juniors. It's getting worse and worse and they need to address it at every level of the game. The coaches at all levels need to instill an ethic of fairplay into the game. The gratuitous violence is seen as ....just a guy hustling to help his team........but it is out of control sometimes. Dangerous play should be ticketed heavily when they first start to check . Often ; it is rewarded by coaches looking for that feisty checker who instills a little panic in the opposition.

Good tough hardworking hockey is fine , but stalking guys and putting them in the hospital is over the line. The game is a wonderful game without all the garbage that passes for hardnosed hockey. Let them fight (a bit) and a good solid hit is part of the game , but running guys from behind should be dealt with by extreme sanctions. This guy should sit and think about whether he wants to play the game with honor or join some moronic fight club.

Prayers go out to the Fanelli family and for a full recovery for Ben.

Thanks to Roy for the link.

Well, I dont play the game but after looking at that hit, it was IMO as everyone has stated uncalled for. Great post by all here,,, !!!


JJ,,,, take it easy this year my friend,,, !!!!

JJ -
I've got so many thoughts on this that I can't see a way to fit them into this forum but I'd like to mention a couple of things I think are important.
I mentioned hockey back in the days when guys like Baun, Horton and Glennie were playing for the Leafs - and, of course, there were other big hitters on other teams, like Leo Boivan of Boston, Doug Harvey and Larry Robinson of Montreal - all of these guys could lay you out, flat. BUT - and it's a big but - they did it with the hip, not the elbow/shoulder combination. These guys would flank the rushing forward and when he'd make his move to cross the blue line, they simply move sideways and throw their hip into him and he was sliding down the ice on his ass. It was an art. What happened to that?
Now it's some behemoth, who can't skate, (some can), and of limited mental acuity, who comes at you in full flight, from behind, when you're against the boards. There's only one word for that - cowardice!!!!! Can't face you straight up in open ice cuz you can outskate him.
My second point is about PARENTS!!!!! Can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen parents berate their own kid because he (and even she) didn't put the other kid out of the game. Dad's, who were never any good at the game, trying to live vicariously through a reasonably talented kid - and encouraging mean and violent play rather than the finesse of the game. Then again, Dad/Mom never did master the skating and finesse parts of the game so............maybe we can get "junior" into the NHL as an "enforcer" - read cement-headed thug.
Hockey used to be a skating and finesse game. Major Junior, AHL and the NHL has degraded into not much more than Roller Derby on ice, in my opinion. Used to NEVER miss a Leaf came. Can't tell you the last time I watched more than about 5 minutes of any game - Leafs or otherwise. Sad - since I used to love the sport so mcuh. Can't even remember the last time I had my skates on.............

With regret -
Chuck

Sorry! And another thought, JJ -
One of the problems is the "Instigator" penalty. Days gone by, a hit like Liambus' would have resulted in somebody like Jean Ratelle, (NY), Horton, (Tor), Ferguson, (Mtl) ripping your head off and stuffin' it down your open throat. I hate the fighting in hockey and wish it would be outlawed but that is one time when a guy like Liambus needs his clock cleaned - big time. Old days.........the other team would have caught him on the way to the team bus............he wouldn't be in any condition to play the next game!

Glad they made the suspension for the season, well justified. Get to watch a bit of the game here on CBC and now Portland's comcast is showing some delayed.

Thanks Cobra.....so far , i have stayed away from most of the rough stuff and we have won five out of five games ! I play tonight at 10:30 pm......can you say caffeine !

Chuck.........believe it or not , i recognize every name you posted . I have read every book worth reading about the game and i just finished "HOCKEY ...A Peoples History" by Michael McKinley. Wonderful book that chronicles the entire history of the sport.

I have the same feeling for the sport . I grew up on a big lake. We started skating very early and played pond hockey every winter . Sometimes we had beautiful black ice to skate on and sometimes it was bumpy snow ice , but we always got out and had a good time. Lots of shoveling and our equipment was mostly awful ( dull skates , cracked blade straight Northland sticks , no pads , chicken wire goals or none at all.) ....but we had so much fun it didn't matter much. Today....kids have indoor ice and join "programs" that cost their parents several hundreds of dollars. They have all the latest gear and they are coached from their first day. They get really good by the time they are ten or twelve and then are pegged into competitive divisions according to their skill. I hope they are having some fun , but sometimes i wonder.

I still play pond hockey during the winter here in Colorado. The ice stays pretty good at 9,000 feet above sea level , although the air can be a bit thin. The kids who show up are , mostly , the ones who only get to play during the winter outdoors. I can't tell you how much fun it can be at times. I start at 10:00 in the morning and skate until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. There is a bar/restaurant right there by the pond and i make good use of it afterward. The pond season is only a few weeks away. I can hardly wait to get up there. I'll post some pictures this year if i can figure out the tech. ( I'm not much of a computer guy)

Still much to love about the game. Hockey needs the influence of the older players on both side of the border. It's a Canadian game , but there are many devotees here in the states. The problems with violence need to be addressed in junior hockey and the Canadian Juniors should lead the way. Most of the American programs model themselves after the Canadian game.( Actually ; most of our players are PLAYING in Canadian juniors ) If the violence is to be addressed , it needs to have Canadian leadership .

I could go on and on .....don't give up on the game. It's a unique skill sport that is always evolving.

Beck

Keep that streak going JJ,,,, !!!! Thats great,,, !!!

Great post also,,,