Checking The Laundry: Questionable Hits—Tyler Hill Vs. Andy Echevarria

In this Head-to-Head debate between Andy E. and myself, we will weigh in on some questionable hits over the course of the last few seasons. 

This debate was sparked by Saturday night's hit by Chicago's Ben Eager on Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski. This hit got us riled up; we were both furious, being Leaf fans.

This made us think back upon other hits that were "questionable," and we discovered we had quite different opinions on some of these hits.  

The Great Debate

Tyler: That was Darcy Tucker on Sami Kapanen. It seemed very clear to me that this hit was dirty. Tucker began going after Kapanen way before the puck began to approach him.

Sure, by the time Tucker hit him it could be argued that Kapanen was in possession of the puck, but if you ask me, the puck was not in Kapanen's possession at the time of the hit.

Tucker's hit was too early and the hit was illegal.

Andy: If that hit was dirty, then my name’s Edwardo Lee. First off, Sami Kapanen was skating in a pretty stiff position. You learn this when you’re first learning to skate—it’s one of the first rules—you must always bend your knees.

Perhaps if his knees had been bent he would’ve just stumbled.

Secondly, you have to always keep your head up. You can’t skate with your head down and not expect to be taken down.

Yes, Kepanen did not have possession of the puck, but Darcy Tucker did not go for him before the puck approached him. Tucker followed the puck through, and when he began to turn towards Kapenen, the puck was ahead of him. This was a hockey hit folks.

Tyler: Tucker did not follow the puck. He clearly started turning towards Kapanen before the puck was coming to him. He was lucky the puck got there when it did or it would have been bad news for him and the Leafs.

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