Jared Cowen Suspension - 3 Games for Interference

[Fateless]

Jared Cowen of the Senators has been suspended 3 games for Interference on Jokinen.

Here is the link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=754733&navid=nhl:topheads

To be completely honest, I'm astounded this got 3 games. I'm surprised it received a look by player safety at all. There referee was staring right at it and didn't assess a penalty, and then he receives 3 games for a solid albeit late hit?

You could compare this to the Rome hit, but I hardly see this as agressive or as late as that hit, plus it looks much more innocent.

Any other opinions on this?

[RUPERTKBD]

Jared Cowen of the Senators has been suspended 3 games for Interference on Jokinen.

Here is the link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=754733&navid=nhl:topheads

To be completely honest, I'm astounded this got 3 games. I'm surprised it received a look by player safety at all. There referee was staring right at it and didn't assess a penalty, and then he receives 3 games for a solid albeit late hit?

You could compare this to the Rome hit, but I hardly see this as agressive or as late as that hit, plus it looks much more innocent.

Any other opinions on this?

Looks about the same amount of time between the pass and the hit that got Aaron Rome a much longer suspension....

[-SN-]

Solid hit, a fraction of a second late. Jokinen was admiring his pass. Not worth three games, even for a 'repeat offender'.

[elvis15]

I think the explanation was pretty good. Cowan at best decides to go for the hit as Jokinen is making the pass so it's still late, and any head contact on a hit that is illegal doesn't get covered by hitting straight through the body or anything like that. Add to that he's a repeat offender right now and I'm fine with it - I'd be more fine with it if they were upping other suspensions accordingly, but still.

Bad decision by Cowan and an unnecessary hit.

Looks about the same amount of time between the pass and the hit that got Aaron Rome a much longer suspension....

At some point we'll have to let that one go. It was a different group involved in the DoPS and the rules around illegal checks to the head weren't implemented as stringently as they are now. They can't be reliably compared to say they're both being handled fairly or not.

[Fateless]

Solid hit, a fraction of a second late. Jokinen was admiring his pass. Not worth three games, even for a 'repeat offender'.

This was my stance as well.

Unfortunately, I've been finding a lot of supplementary discipline has been getting handed out in scenarios where the victim set himself up for an injury by not playing responsible and keeping their head up and in the play.

I really think there needs to be some responsibility on the player receiving the hit to be aware of their surroundings and if they get caught with their head down, they bare some of the responsibility (although not all obviously).

[Master Mind]

3 games is nothing for Cowen. This isn't the first time he's hit someone late/in the head.

He'll continue to make these types of hits unless he gets a harsher suspension. Should be at least 5 IMO.

[Dral]

saw the play and thought it was fine.... but the explanation actually changed my opinion

[jstewboy]

It sure looks a lot worse in slow-mo!

I think 95% of the judgment made on the hit should be made at a game speed replay... But I really think its more of a 50/50 split.

[poetica]

It was a late and otherwise illegal (interference) hit, so 3 games is consistent with other rulings on late, illegal hits that have resulted in head contact, including Burrows' suspension. As such, it's a good decision by the DoPS according to their previous enforcements of the rules.

Huh. I actually agree with the DoPS. So that's what that feels like....

[RUPERTKBD]

At some point we'll have to let that one go. It was a different group involved in the DoPS and the rules around illegal checks to the head weren't implemented as stringently as they are now. They can't be reliably compared to say they're both being handled fairly or not.

That's the problem. The league needs to make up it's collective mind or players are never going to be able to figure out what's legal and what's not.

The fact is, this hit is very similar to the Rome hit. The difference being Horton was seriously injured and the league just couldn't live with the optics of him doing the bacon in the Cup finals with the world watching. (by that, I mean the American audience that this league has been pandering to for quite some time)

BTW: Neither were "illegal checks to the head".

[Bill Sikes]

3 games for that is BS. Rule one of hockey, keep your head up, especially when crossing the opponents blue line. Its about time the NHL started taking into account players that have their head down (or turn their back at the last second) and put themselves in dangerous positions, this isn't NBC hockey. You rarely if ever saw Grezky, Sakic, Yzerman get leveled because they had their head up and were aware of thier surroundings.

[CanucksFan2323]

Jared Coward

[elvis15]

That's the problem. The league needs to make up it's collective mind or players are never going to be able to figure out what's legal and what's not.

The fact is, this hit is very similar to the Rome hit. The difference being Horton was seriously injured and the league just couldn't live with the optics of him doing the bacon in the Cup finals with the world watching. (by that, I mean the American audience that this league has been pandering to for quite some time)

BTW: Neither were "illegal checks to the head".

But that rule wasn't even in place at the time of the Rome hit, where it is now. And now it is illegal contact to the head since there is a determining factor for timing. That's why they mentioned the contact to the head in the suspension video, although the suspension was for interference (late hit).

Here's the rule:

It's actually easy to argue that while he attempted to hit squarely through the body (part 'i'), the second half of that part is arguable as there was contact to the head as a result of poor timing. Maybe it's not so much that it was 'picked' as they say, so they stuck with the interference call, but there's absolutely potential there for a head injury because of an illegal hit.

[SamJamIam]

Looks slightly late but how the hell can Jokinen not expect to be, at the very least, shoved back a bit by the defense? He clearly thinks he can skate straight through the centre of the ice to the goal without any sort of resistance.

Jussi needs to keep his head up and learn to play some &^@#ing hockey.

[Green Building]

Solid hit, a fraction of a second late. Jokinen was admiring his pass. Not worth three games, even for a 'repeat offender'.

Yes it is.

I don't care if Cowan wants to go in for a hit a little bit late on the play, but he absolutely crunched Jokinen in the side of the face. How anyone can say that was a solid hockey hit with all the league has been attempting to do in reducing head trauma is beyond me.

Jussi needs to keep his head up for self preservation, but if he doesn't Cowan still needs to smoke him in the body instead of the ear/jaw.

[RUPERTKBD]

But that rule wasn't even in place at the time of the Rome hit, where it is now. And now it is illegal contact to the head since there is a determining factor for timing. That's why they mentioned the contact to the head in the suspension video, although the suspension was for interference (late hit).

Here's the rule:

It's actually easy to argue that while he attempted to hit squarely through the body (part 'i'), the second half of that part is arguable as there was contact to the head as a result of poor timing. Maybe it's not so much that it was 'picked' as they say, so they stuck with the interference call, but there's absolutely potential there for a head injury because of an illegal hit.

Are you sure about that? From NHL.com:

It's Rule 48 in the NHL's official rulebook for the 2010-11 season and highlighted in yellow so as to make no mistake about its implementation and importance.

Illegal checks to the head, defined as "a lateral or blind side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principle point of contact is not permitted," will now be subject to a five-minute major penalty and automatic game misconduct, as well as possible supplemental discipline if deemed appropriate by the League.

However, it wouldn't have mattered in Rome's case since Rule 48 was not cited in the suspension:

Q. Without speculating too much, had that hit occurred quicker, a split second after he released it, would that hit have been deemed legal under Rule 48?

MIKE MURPHY: This has nothing to do with Rule 48. This is just an interference penalty, an interference hit. If it was immediate after he released the puck, it would be a legal hit. We have them all the time.

So, as far as I can see, my original point remains. This hit was easily as bad, or worse that the Rome hit. It was the injury to Horton that made the league decide to make an example of him.

Unfortunately, the "example" has been thrown out since.

[hellosinki]

I say that the hit deserved 1 game, not 3. If there is no apparent injury on the play, that hardly ever gets more than 2 games. Even with history, I don't think he deserved more than one. I could see that he changed direction while passing the puck, and that deserved an interference minor. Also, he had a check to head which he could of accidentally or on purpose done.

I think the NHL gave him 3 games because they thought that he checked to the head on purpose and he wasn't trying to get a clean hit. I still think it should have only been 1 game though.