Nathan Horton: Why the Hit Was Clean and Didn’t Deserve 4 Game Ban

The Hit on Nathan Horton was Clean and Aaron Rome Didn’t Deserve Four Game Ban

Last Night as the Boston Bruins beat down the Vancouver Canucks 8-1 in the most lop-sided Stanley Cup finals loss since 1993, there was a bigger story brewing.

Just over five minutes into the first period of Game 3, Bruins forward Nathan Horton was entering the Vancouver defensive zone, when Canucks defender Aaron Rome laid a shoulder on Horton.

Rome never left the ice with his hit, and it was obvious when viewed from the second angle on the video that Horton turned into Rome because he wasn’t looking where he was going.

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The first lesson they teach you when playing hockey is to keep your head up, and make sure you know where you are going and who is already there.

Horton moves the pass to his teammate, and for me, I felt like Rome was a little late with how long after he passed that he laid the hit on Horton, but it wasn’t blatantly late.

It was obvious that Rome was going after a big hit, but the fact that Horton turned into Rome was the reason the hit was as devastating as it was.

With the NHL trying to crack down on head shots, a suspension was warranted. The problem is that four games is very harsh for a play that was almost completely legal.

If Horton has his head up three more inches, the hit would’ve been completely legal. I would’ve thought a two game suspension was warranted at the most, but it the NHL wants to act tough here and punish the Canucks sixth defender.

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