Kris Russell Crosscheck on Nick Bonino (same as Byfuglien)

[snucks]

I wouldn't say it was the same. I'm not sure if it is even bad enough to warrant a one game suspension. But it is definitely worth a review from player safety.

A crosscheck to the head from behind when the victim is that close to the ice is insane. That goon is going to injure somebody if he repeatedly gets away with crap like that. Why was it ignored ? Hartleys team is not good. They are just a bunch of goons !

[CatsPajamas]

Obviously Bonino was the cause of Russell falling but to me it was also obvious that he intentionally cross checked him. I'm definitely not on the same page as people saying things like "basic human reflex to outstretch your arms and cross check the guy the back of the head therefore not suspension worthy."

I don't see a suspension happening. Top player + no injury + nothing compared to the Byfuglien cross check + the playoffs.

But with the antics of Hartley and this cross check I wouldn't mind seeing a little player safety (or whoevers decision it is) exercise a little ref style game management. Suspend Engelland one game for instigating in the last five and fine Hartley.

[apollo]

I hate the flames but the angle showing bonino sliding and taking Russell's feet out shows that he just fell and it wasn't the same as buff. Also, Russel never hit the neck directly like buff as he caught back first then rode up into the neck while buff made direct contact with the neck first. Russell was also looking at the puck at the time unlike buff.

Yes Bonino runs into him. But he clearly angles his stick into the back of Bonino's neck. Players collide all the time, they can't just try to break other guys necks when they are falling down. This must be suspended.

[Boudrias]

No one will be suspended. Bonino might have got a crosscheck but not unusual for tight play in front of the net.

My question would be why the Flame player who hit Lack did not get a penalty? Was it game management as

the Flames were already getting a penalty from behind the net?

Another disappointment was that a Canuck player did not drive Hiller after Calgary piled on Lack. Talk

about NOT sending a message back. Also thought that the Canucks could have closed the game out safer and

got Lack the SO. Yes Calgary was trying to send a message but the Canucks could have ignored them some what. A SO would have been a great + for Lack but more important been a huge kick in the gonads to the

Flames as the reviewed the game in preparation for Sunday.

[Mongrel]

The thing is though this should be suspendable on intent; falling doesn't neglect the potential damage it could've delivered.

So was it intent or an accident because of falling?

[Mongrel]

People keep defending the crosscheck by saying that the guy was falling.

Since when does something being an accident exclude them from liability?

If you hit someone in the face with a stick, no matter what your reason, you get a penalty for hi-sticking. The same method of non-fault based liability is implied in scenarios like this.

May not be suspendable because it was an accident, but it should have been a penalty for sure.

If you hit someone in the face with your stick on purpose with a tomahawk chop a player would get suspended. That's the difference.

Yes Bonino runs into him. But he clearly angles his stick into the back of Bonino's neck. Players collide all the time, they can't just try to break other guys necks when they are falling down. This must be suspended.

See guys apollo agrees with you. That's a sure sign that you're looking at this with homer goggles on. :D

[Mongrel]

Look at his arms pumping down before he's even stumbled...

When you fall do you just fall flat on your face?

If not are you trying to beat up the ground for having the audacity to hit you or are you instinctively breaking your fall.

[MadOgre]

https://twitter.com/TheStanchion/status/589260928962592768?s=04

Nice Deb

As you can clearly see from that clip loop that Bonino does not have contact with Russels legs and that Russel is not falling but rather pulling the exact same stunt as Buf.

The only reason Russel falls(actually just a raking motion), is because he is raking Bonino's neck.

[MadOgre]

Russel's skate are firmly planted on the ice. He does not fall.

[Scorvat]

Thats a very dangerous cross check. He could have broke his neck and ended his career. If Hamhuis get suspended and he dont.....

[Scorvat]

Russel's skate are firmly planted on the ice. He does not fall.

Even if he was falling he intentionally tried to injure him. You can clearly see him lunging the stick to the back of his neck with intent to do so. If it were a Canuck doing it to a Flame i would say the same thing.

[FireGillis]

Russel's skate are firmly planted on the ice. He does not fall.

I'm not sure how you can look at the other angle and not see russel fall because bonino slides run into his legs and undercuts him. Russel wasn't even looking at bonino at the time and is just taken out by a sliding bonino. There was nothing russel could have done to prevent falling after his legs were taken out.

If you can't even admit bonino took him out then you take homerism even past apollo levels since even he admits russel fell! He just doesn't agree with some what happens after the fall.

[khay]

I hate the flames but the angle showing bonino sliding and taking Russell's feet out shows that he just fell and it wasn't the same as buff. Also, Russel never hit the neck directly like buff as he caught back first then rode up into the neck while buff made direct contact with the neck first. Russell was also looking at the puck at the time unlike buff.

This angle makes it clear that it wasn't as bad as Byfuglien's. Russell just decided to sneak in a cheap shot while he is going down so the force nor the intention could've been as much as Byfuglien's.

What Russell did is kind of like a forward going to the net is waiting to be pushed towards the goalie's direction so that he can sneak in a cheapshot at the goalie, aka, what Bollig did to Lack.

[MadOgre]

No doubt about it.

I would say just very well disguised

[MadOgre]

I'm not sure how you can look at the other angle and not see russel fall because bonino slides run into his legs and undercuts him. Russel wasn't even looking at bonino at the time and is just taken out by a sliding bonino. There was nothing russel could have done to prevent falling after his legs were taken out.

If you can't even admit bonino took him out then you take homerism even past apollo levels since even he admits russel fell! He just doesn't agree with some what happens after the fall.

If you watch Debs link though you see that Russels skates are planted until after raking Boninos neck

[MadOgre]

And besides that you don't fall to the ice with your wrists straight like that unless you want wrist injuries.

He is not breaking his fall he is breaking Boninos neck

[Mongrel]

Nice Deb

As you can clearly see from that clip loop that Bonino does not have contact with Russels legs and that Russel is not falling but rather pulling the exact same stunt as Buf.

The only reason Russel falls(actually just a raking motion), is because he is raking Bonino's neck.

You can clearly see through Boninos body?

Are you superman?

[khay]

When you fall do you just fall flat on your face?

If not are you trying to beat up the ground for having the audacity to hit you or are you instinctively breaking your fall.

No, but I wouldn't stretch my arm out like that with that kind of force unless someone that I wanted to cheapshot is underneath me.

At the end of the day, if there wasn't the incidental contact, there would not have been a cross check. But it was a cheapshot because if it were his teammate that caused Russell to fall, he would not have done that. He would've made sure to avoid the contact with that kind of force.

And It's also true that it wasn't anywhere near bad of a cheapshot as Byfuglien's and not worth any suspension. Just a typical cheapshot that you see in a hockey game everyday.

[MadOgre]

Don't Ogre's have x-ray vision ?

[FireGillis]

If you watch Debs link though you see that Russels skates are planted until after raking Boninos neck

His right foot is still planted because bonino takes out his left leg first, which you can't see from the front angle, and he's in the process of falling and on the way down. You'll also notice he hits him just above the name plate first unlike buff who hit the guy directly on the neck first.

We'll never know his intent unless he admits it but to me it just looks like he's falling and bracing himself because he's not even looking at bonino and is looking directly ahead at the puck for the most part. Whereas buff was looking directly down at the player before he cross checked him. Flames are dirty and classless, but this isn't one of the cases I think.