Nashville Predators Video: Watch Preds' Matt Halischuk Take Out Cameraman

There's a Nashville Predators video that's been making its way across the sports world today after right winger Matt Halischuk demolished a cameraman before the Preds' Game 3 clash with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. 

As has been the longstanding tradition in the hockey mecca that is Nashville, Tennessee, the home team skates out of the mouth of a giant plastic (possibly metal) saber-toothed tiger head as smoke pours out around them.

A cameraman, clearly willing to forgo common sense (maybe I shouldn't hide in the smoke to get my shot...NAH!) to get the shot he needs, stands just to the right side of the mouth, shooting footage of the team as it skates onto the ice.

The first three players onto the rink avoid the cameraman successfully, but the fourth, Matt Halischuk, slams headlong into the cameraman and sends him onto the ice, under the fog. 

Suddenly, things get much more interesting, as Shane O'Brien is forced to leap the sprawled figure hiding beneath the smoke to avoid creating even more havoc. 

There's just so much stupid going on in this video that you can't believe it.

First, why was the cameraman in a position to get trucked? I know you need to get the shot, but seriously?

Second, why doesn't Halischuk just go around him like every other player on the ice manages to do? When you see the first shot, it looks like he catches him with a shoulder, but from the camera itself, it becomes clear that he hits him head-on and demolishes him.

On the plus side, that was a clean check—one the Preds' coaching staff could use to show players how best to deliver head-on hits on the ice. At least no one was seriously hurt in all of this, and we can all laugh about it now.