OHL Is A F*cking Joke

[blackngold]

I wonder how many games/seasons Randy Jones would've gotten for his hit on Bergy if Deion Branch was the NHL commish?

[canuckfan]

I guess Branch felt like his league filled with teenagers had to set a precedent. In the end, I feel badly for both players involved, as two young careers are now in jeopardy. Don't forget, we're talking about a league full of kids here, guys.

But I wonder if this will help decrease dangerous hits, head shots, and plays resulting in serious head injuries. Guys may think twice before running full tilt into someone caught in what could be a vulnerable position.

I'm not blaming anyone here - hopefully young players everywhere will take a look at what happened here from both sides of the equation, and take the time to learn a few lessons. Bottom line is, the fewer players, kids or not, I see unconscious or convulsing on the ice, the better.

[PilotsFan]

The Flames/Stars game's intermission addressed this hit and the resulting injury.

Interesting to here the announcers saying that a player is brought up to look for that hit and now because of the resulting injury he's suspended for the season.

Hate it for both kids, just a bad deal all the way around. Hope the kid recovers completely, even if he cant play again, just hope he gets his health back.

[Mike Tython]

I think the yearlong suspension is too much, but I did think he deserved a suspension. Sure Fanelli shouldn't have turned his back, but the Erie guy took about a dozen strides before nailing him. The intent was there to f-ck him up, but he didn't intend on sending him to the hospital in serious condition, I'm sure. Here's to a quick recovery for Fanelli and a second chance for Liambas.

[bigjohnson]

Originally Posted by blackngold

I wonder how many games/seasons Randy Jones would've gotten for his hit on Bergy if Deion Branch was the NHL commish?

Deion Branch was a Patriot, I think you were looking for David...

[Godly_goon]

Originally Posted by canuckfan

I guess Branch felt like his league filled with teenagers had to set a precedent. In the end, I feel badly for both players involved, as two young careers are now in jeopardy. Don't forget, we're talking about a league full of kids here, guys.

But I wonder if this will help decrease dangerous hits, head shots, and plays resulting in serious head injuries. Guys may think twice before running full tilt into someone caught in what could be a vulnerable position.

I'm not blaming anyone here - hopefully young players everywhere will take a look at what happened here from both sides of the equation, and take the time to learn a few lessons. Bottom line is, the fewer players, kids or not, I see unconscious or convulsing on the ice, the better.

i completely understand where you are coming from and it does make sence for the OHL to do this but in any league any player would have made this hit.. Liambas just did the obvious play and took the body and the other guy turned.. how should he be punnished for this.. if your on the highway and a hitchhiker comes running out onto the road and u cant stop in time and u run him over whose fault is that?

[Gunslinger]

No wonder the NHL is going all pu**y sh*t on us. Asnine suspensions like this in the minors drive tough hockey out of the young players games. They then bring this new mentality with them when the few lucky ones make it to the big show.

[Ciccarelli]

Originally Posted by Godly_goon

if your on the highway and a hitchhiker comes running out onto the road and u cant stop in time and u run him over whose fault is that?

Actually it would be your fault...at least 50%, depending on how fast you went and how clear your view was on that section of the highway.


I think a big role in this suspension is the severe injury and the following eventual law suits the case could create if the OHL does not step in and prevents that with a suspension like this.

After all the OHL is a junior league for kids and the league definitely has to bring in rules/suspensions to assure the security for the kids, more then in the NHL where players are all adults.

[Wendel_Clark_17]

Originally Posted by Ciccarelli

Actually it would be your fault...at least 50%, depending on how fast you went and how clear your view was on that section of the highway.


I think a big role in this suspension is the severe injury and the following eventual law suits the case could create if the OHL does not step in and prevents that with a suspension like this.

After all the OHL is a junior league for kids and the league definitely has to bring in rules/suspensions to assure the security for the kids, more then in the NHL where players are all adults.

18 is the age of majority in Canada. Many of the players in the OHL are 18 or older. People like David Branch are setting dangerous precedents in hockey in Canada. There's a shift in the game that's filtering down from the NHL to Juniors to Minor hockey. Wealthy elitist pansies like Branch are slowly weeding out the toughness and character that made hockey unique in Canada. There's a class element to it all. Watch a game of minor hockey in rural Canada then compare it to a game in say the Greater Toronto Area.

[fansince65]

Originally Posted by Wendel_Clark_17

18 is the age of majority in Canada. Many of the players in the OHL are 18 or older. People like David Branch are setting dangerous precedents in hockey in Canada. There's a shift in the game that's filtering down from the NHL to Juniors to Minor hockey. Wealthy elitist pansies like Branch are slowly weeding out the toughness and character that made hockey unique in Canada. There's a class element to it all. Watch a game of minor hockey in rural Canada then compare it to a game in say the Greater Toronto Area.

This is not new !! Branch has been suspending kids for hitting to hard for years , he is trying to make the OHL a no body contact league , the OHL has targeted some players for their hard hitting style of play , Zac Rinaldo (London Knights)-Della Rovere (Barrie Colts) are two of his favorite targets , their are a few more that have been told they are on the clock (watched every game) ..
Just to give you an idea of just how ridiculous this has become , at a recent Knights game every time Zac was on the ice an official was skating with him , when his shift was over said official escorted him back to the bench , he laid a beautiful open ice hit , never left his feet , never took that extra stride , just laid the other player out , was given 5 minutes for charging or hitting to hard .
That's what the OHL has become , run by a bunch of clowns with "BOZO" in the front office ...

[Sukoshi84]

Branch needs to go to the Top n' just jump..... what a Tard Nugget.

[antonio106]

Everyone's more sensitive, IMO, because it was a 16 year old. Let's say it - a kid. If an old veteran in the NHL got run into the boards and was in the hospital, it's a dozen games, 25 at most.

But rightly so. They talk on TV and the radio so much about how 18 and 19 year olds coming into the league make mistakes, need to still fine tune their skills, etc. He might be an amazing 16 year old, but he's going to make mistakes, and if one of his mistakes is not being aware/keeping your head up/being careful, we're hard pressed to say he deserves to wind up in the hospital. Keep fighting, keep hard checks, but I don't see that being mutually exclusive with stopping dirty goon shots.

[Isles4life]

This is an atrocity of a ruling. As unfortunate as it is that a kid got severely injured on the play, I don't think there is any way to justify suspending Liambas for the full season. It's a pure reaction to the severity of the injury on a hit that would have been completely legal if Fanelli hadn't turned away at the last second. Liambas did not have enough time to fully assess the situation of Fanelli's back now being toward him and couldn't pull up all the way in that split second to prevent making contact.

I'm not trying to blame Fanelli for his injury, every young player is prone to making mistakes like this that leave you in a vulnerable position. But despite the terrible aftermath of the check, doesn't a rule need to be more clearly broken in order to hand out such an unbelievably harsh sentence? There was no intent to injure there, Liambas was just looking to throw a big hit to energize his team. From a technical standpoint, the hit is 100% legal until Fanelli turns too late for Liambas to significantly alter his course of action.

Given that a 16-year old is the victim, I understand the knee-jerk response to suspend Liambas and try to set a precedent to curb checking from behind and similar hits. I could understand if they handed him out a fairly stiff suspension for what I personally believe was very close to a clean hit under the rules in place. But the full year, his last year of eligibility or otherwise, is an insane overreaction.

But truthfully, we see much more malicious and reckless hits thrown pretty regularly at both the professional level and in juniors. But the guys get up unscathed and often there's no subsequent discipline. The severity of the injury in this case is the result of a constellation of unfortunate events, but in no way does the "crime" come anywhere near fitting the incredibly excessive punishment.

[pbag]

Brutal hit, unfortunate outcome.

I can't believe he turned his back against a guy who's coming in full speed?
Was he hoping to draw a boarding penalty?
He stared at him for almost 3 seconds, i'd say it was pretty obvious that a hard hit was coming his way. Very bad decision.

[Word]

Not surprisingly, Pierre Maguire was all up in David Branch's shorts giving a tug.

On the Team 1040, Maguire defends Branch, stating he did what he had to do, what was needed in this situation, and was done to protect the integrity and the league.

According to Maguire, if Branch didn't make this move, US College teams would have used it as a recruiting tool to get Canadian talent. That way, a 16 year old would never be forced to fight a grown man.