Panthers' Booth taken off ice on stretcher after hit from Flyers' Richards

they reviewed this on Hockey Night LIVE! on MSG and said it was a clean, hard hit and there should not have been a penalty.... have to disagree, yeah he had his head down, but the dude didn't come from in front of him and hit him, he came flyin' from the side and laid Booth out. Yes, he used his shoulder, but there's this penalty called "charging" where if you take purposeful strides towards a player before making contact, you are penalized as it will likely end up in hurting the other player. Ruutu's hit on Tucker, who is known as a not so clean player himself,was far worse and more obvious in the intent to hurt department... 3 game suspension? please... he's a repeat offender, take the season away from him or at least 20 games.

Nobody cares !!

They declared it a cheap shot on ESPN News USA. I am amazed anybody who knows hockey who has seen the play could call it a legal hit.

This was a cheap hit from a juniour b player,,richards should be suspended by the league for five to ten games for this cheap,hit..

DEV STARR wrote:

This was a cheap hit from a juniour b player,,richards should be suspended by the league for five to ten games for this cheap,hit..

I agree and i am all for legal checks and hard hitting but this was just a cheap hit by a cheap team. I hope on Tuesday my Caps beat the hell out of the flyers. I'll be at the game . Hopefully Richards will be suspended by then.

triple6vamp wrote:

Nobody cares !!

I care? a lot. Have you ever been mugged before?

What a bunch of girls you all sound like. Cheap hit by a cheap team, I think not! Sean your Caps have one of the dirtiest players in the NHL, he was just called out, and it has been said that someone is gonna cut him in half very soon. Grow up and stop spouting off about things you don't have a clue about.

It was a clean hit. Richards hit Booth with his shoulder, he didn't leave his feet and Booth had his head down. The hit came less than 1/3 of a second after the pass left Booth's stick, so it was a bang-bang play.

The reason why people are calling this a cheapshot is because Booth had to be carried out, but that's not Richards fault. He plays hard, shift to shift. He never stops. The golden rule in hockey is to always keep your head up and Booth didn't do that. I do agree with Parise84, though, on the fact that it's a charge. Being a Devils fan, you should know that Scott Stevens made a living with laying players out (he walked a very fine line with using his elbow and not, though).

Red Wings25 wrote:

It was a clean hit. Richards hit Booth with his shoulder, he didn't leave his feet and Booth had his head down. The hit came less than 1/3 of a second after the pass left Booth's stick, so it was a bang-bang play.
The reason why people are calling this a cheapshot is because Booth had to be carried out, but that's not Richards fault. He plays hard, shift to shift. He never stops. The golden rule in hockey is to always keep your head up and Booth didn't do that. I do agree with Parise84, though, on the fact that it's a charge. Being a Devils fan, you should know that Scott Stevens made a living with laying players out (he walked a very fine line with using his elbow and not, though).

This was the best pro argument i have heard so far. Thanks for your insight. I was also a big Scott Stevens fan from his days with the Caps. I am at the game right now and Philly is winning 1-0.CAPS.

It was ,in my opinion a cheap hit !! In fact it was almost hitting from behind according to the video that I have seen.. It was a cheap,blind side hit from a chickenshit player.. He should have been suspended for at least three games !

DEV STARR wrote:

It was ,in my opinion a cheap hit !! In fact it was almost hitting from behind according to the video that I have seen.. It was a cheap,blind side hit from a chickenshit player.. He should have been suspended for at least three games !

Well, good thing that it's only your opinion, cause it's not a valid one. Your hate for the Flyers and Richards is blinding you. You're not looking at this from an objective point of view. But you know, why do I even try to reason with you? There's no way that you would ever respect the Flyers or give credit to them, no matter who they had on their team. The Flyers could have players similar to the Penguins (with Crosby, Malkin, etc.) and you'd still hate them and say that they have no talent. I remember one time you said that the Flyers should build their team through the draft along with selling off their assets and starting over. Even if they did that, you'd still find a way to hate them.

Red Wings25 wrote:

<quoted text>
Well, good thing that it's only your opinion, cause it's not a valid one. Your hate for the Flyers and Richards is blinding you. You're not looking at this from an objective point of view. But you know, why do I even try to reason with you? There's no way that you would ever respect the Flyers or give credit to them, no matter who they had on their team. The Flyers could have players similar to the Penguins (with Crosby, Malkin, etc.) and you'd still hate them and say that they have no talent. I remember one time you said that the Flyers should build their team through the draft along with selling off their assets and starting over. Even if they did that, you'd still find a way to hate them.

wang ,your love for the flys is blinding you.. everytime one of the flythugs pulls a stupid move ,you are the first one to say the opposite of what really happens... Always defending the guilty flys... We all expect this from you and you never disapoint...If you want to defend this dirty team ,then that is your privledge... Look at the video with an open mind and you will see that it was a typical cheap flyhit !!

DEV STARR wrote:

<quoted text>wang ,your love for the flys is blinding you.. everytime one of the flythugs pulls a stupid move ,you are the first one to say the opposite of what really happens... Always defending the guilty flys... We all expect this from you and you never disapoint...If you want to defend this dirty team ,then that is your privledge... Look at the video with an open mind and you will see that it was a typical cheap flyhit !!

If you're saying everytime a flyer pulls a stupid move, as in a cheapshot, that I defend it, then you're definitely wrong. I never defended Steve Downie or Jesse Boulerice's cheapshots in 2007-08. I never opposed Randy Jones' suspension, because he followed through with his forearm when he checked Bergeron. The only thing I said with this hit was that Bergeron put himself into a bad position because he stopped skating 4 feet from the board, which is a dangerous area. He should've kept skating and braced himself for the hit against the boards.

As for Richards' hit, no, it's still not dirty. He didn't use his elbow, he didn't leave his feet, and the hit came less than 1/3 of a second after the pass from Booth's stick was made. He used his shoulder to hit Booth. The reason why you think it's dirty is because Booth had to be carted off. It's unfortunate, but it wasn't Richards' fault. If it was a dirty hit, Richards would've been suspended at least 2-3 games...but it wasn't. I've watched the video 5 times and I still don't think it was dirty. I've talked to Penguin fans, Devils' fans, Rangers' fans, and fans from many other teams, and they all agreed that it wasn't a cheap shot.

Not so wang, It was a come around the corner,late hit as far as i am concerned..It was a dirty play and very unnessesary..This isnt the first time he has pull this,and it is sad that he was not punished for this one. As far as talking to other fans,I can counter that with I have talked to fans of opposing teams and they agree with me.....dirty hit by dirty player... Now go clean your orange glasses off and open them beadie little eyes of yours..

what the heck are the Avalanche doing? is this a fluke.?

DEV STARR wrote:

Not so wang, It was a come around the corner,late hit as far as i am concerned..It was a dirty play and very unnessesary..This isnt the first time he has pull this,and it is sad that he was not punished for this one. As far as talking to other fans,I can counter that with I have talked to fans of opposing teams and they agree with me.....dirty hit by dirty player... Now go clean your orange glasses off and open them beadie little eyes of yours..

Well, it would seem that there is a mixed reaction to the hit. The people have talked to from different fan bases feel the same as I do...that it wasn't a dirty hit. The people you've talked to feel the opposite. That's fine, everyone has their own opinion. But I'm not looking at this with orange glasses on...i always look at these kind of things objectively. I think people, including you, are just quick to say that he's a dirty player and it was a dirty hit, because he plays for the Flyers, and people (and you) hate the Flyers (well, a great deal of people do). It's that hate for the Flyers that causes people to automatically assume that it's a dirty hit...it has nothing to do with their use of objectiveness (which they don't use). You don't have to agree with me...i don't expect you to. But you're not going to convince me that it was a dirty hit, because you're explanations lack validity and you're saying it's a dirty, solely because of your hate for the Flyers (and the fact that you'd never give credit to them or respect them no matter what).

clean but nasty, booth is at falt for cutting into the middle of the ice with his head down. What did he think would happen.

Red Wings25 wrote:

<quoted text>
Well, it would seem that there is a mixed reaction to the hit. The people have talked to from different fan bases feel the same as I do...that it wasn't a dirty hit. The people you've talked to feel the opposite. That's fine, everyone has their own opinion. But I'm not looking at this with orange glasses on...i always look at these kind of things objectively. I think people, including you, are just quick to say that he's a dirty player and it was a dirty hit, because he plays for the Flyers, and people (and you) hate the Flyers (well, a great deal of people do). It's that hate for the Flyers that causes people to automatically assume that it's a dirty hit...it has nothing to do with their use of objectiveness (which they don't use). You don't have to agree with me...i don't expect you to. But you're not going to convince me that it was a dirty hit, because you're explanations lack validity and you're saying it's a dirty, solely because of your hate for the Flyers (and the fact that you'd never give credit to them or respect them no matter what).

Wang ,If anyones assessment of the hit lacks validity it would be yours.. Once again you are seeing this hit through the orange glasses that you have trouble taking off... If the same hit was on a fly player ,i am sure that your view of it would be totally opposite.. It was a dirty hit,and there is no doubt about it. I do respect a good clean hit from any player in the league,no matter what team administers it,but alas in this case ,i cannot condone this type of dirty hit..

DEV STARR wrote:

<quoted text>Wang ,If anyones assessment of the hit lacks validity it would be yours.. Once again you are seeing this hit through the orange glasses that you have trouble taking off... If the same hit was on a fly player ,i am sure that your view of it would be totally opposite.. It was a dirty hit,and there is no doubt about it. I do respect a good clean hit from any player in the league,no matter what team administers it,but alas in this case ,i cannot condone this type of dirty hit..

I would be upset, since if it happened to one of the Flyers, they'd have to be hospitalized and go through rehab...but, i wouldn't call it a dirty hit. The reasons why are as i've stated before: he used his shoulder, not his eblow, he didn't leave his feet, and the hit came almost simultaneously after the pass was made by Booth. I do agree, though, that it was a head shot...i'm not saying it wasn't. But, according to the NHL rules, Richards' hit was clean and not dirty. Had he used his elbow or left his feet, he would have gotten at least 3 games. Unless a rule is made that there can be no head shots, even if the head is hit with the shoulder, the same thing is going to happen over and over. Richards is the only player that has made hits like that.

So, no I wouldn't call a player out for making a dirty hit if it was one of the Flyers players that received the hit, and if it was the exact same hit. Remember Scott Stevens' hit on Lindros? It was a similar hit to Richards and was clean, because like Richards, he kept his elbow down and used his shoulder to lay out Lindros (who had his head down).

"Richards is the only player that has made hits like that."

correction: Richards is NOT the only player that has made hits like the one he made on Booth.