FSN pittsburgh had an angle where you could clearly see Cooke was leading with his shoulder and as Bogosian moved out of the way Cooke pulled his leg in towards his body trying NOT to clip him. Thrashers announcers just like like idiots with their “intent to injure” bs. I’d love to hear how they know what Matt Cooke’s intentions were.

Posted by kstewy16 on 03/17/09 at 09:42 PM ET

“Trying to injure”, what a bunch of horseshit....

The FSN P-burgh feed will be posted soon I’m sure, it’s clear that Cooke did NOT have his knee/leg out, it was all shoulder…

Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/17/09 at 09:57 PM ET

Tough to tell from this angle, but it mostly looked like Bogosian failed to dodge the check. That play is just as dangerous for Cooke.

Posted by Nate A from Dark side of the moon on 03/17/09 at 09:57 PM ET

Unfortunate for Bogosian, but that wasn’t a blatant knee by Cooke, just contact while trying to dodge a shoulder check.

And I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever stuck up for Cooke.. and I’m feeling a little unclean at the moment.

Posted by JAMESinMI on 03/17/09 at 10:35 PM ET

Not a Pens here, but that hit was not intentional at all. I actually agree with those who have left comments here.

But I must say after watching the end of tonights San Jose - Phoenix game it really leaves one to wonder whether or not referees try to fix games. For those of you who didn’t see the end of that game. San Jose had just tied the game 3-3 with about 10 minutes to go in the game, both teams then start slashing and holding each other, typical in 99% of NHL tie games at this time of year. Then with something like 35 seconds left in the 3rd period right off a face off they called a penalty on the Sharks for phantom interference call. Even the Coyotte broadcasters could not believe a penalty was called. Right after the ensuing face off the Coyottees scored to win the game.

I must say as an NHL fan NHL officiating leaves a lot to be desired and really leads to the questions as to whether or not certain officials are doing what that NBA official did.

Posted by NHL OFFICIALS ALL SUCK on 03/17/09 at 11:46 PM ET

Are you all blind??

What reason does Cooke have to not hit Bogosian? Instead of leaning in further to hit him with his shoulder, he pulled away to catch him with his knee. After Ruutu kneed Kovalchuk last season, it wasn’t Jarkko that spent the rest of the season wearing a knee brace.

If it’s questionable enough to warrant a post on Kukla’s Korner, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the league look into it.

Posted by blankspace6 on 03/18/09 at 02:48 AM ET

ban him..

ban the whole team for the rest of the season

Posted by Pharazon from England on 03/18/09 at 05:16 AM ET

Here’s the FSN P-burgh feed....

Watch the replay starting at :28....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Opu27qvhFA&eurl=http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/emptynetters/default.aspx&feature=player_embedded

Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/18/09 at 06:16 AM ET

Clean hit.  See listed link from other angle.

End of story.

Posted by McFly on 03/18/09 at 08:05 AM ET

I don’t think it’s a dirty hit, but blankspace has a point… there was no good hockey reason for Cooke to make the hit.

I must say as an NHL fan NHL officiating leaves a lot to be desired and really leads to the questions as to whether or not certain officials are doing what that NBA official did.

I think hockey is one of the most difficult sports to officiate. It’s faster than baseball, football, or basketball. There’s far more physical contact allowed in hockey than basketball, so there’s a need for more subjective judgment by the ref in the heat of the game.

Overall, yeah, given the value of each game, the money that these games are worth, the careers a single game can change, etc. etc. etc., the officiating seems stuck in an older era. But given the situation, I think most NHL refs do a damn fine job. I think the league needs to look at some way of making the refs jobs easier. I wish I had an answer as to what that is, but I don’t. Fortunately, I’m not paid to figure these things out…

Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 03/18/09 at 08:07 AM ET

“I don’t think it’s a dirty hit, but blankspace has a point… there was no good hockey reason for Cooke to make the hit”

What??? Opposing player carrying puck up the middle through defensive zone.... No good reason to hit him.  Come on!!  Only reason this hit is posted is because it is Matt Cooke.

It is a clean hit from a guy that plays near the edge.  Get over it.

Posted by mcfly on 03/18/09 at 08:12 AM ET

No reason to “finish the check.” Sykora separates Bogosian from the puck, and Cooke goes in to “finish” Bogosian because he can. 

I don’t care if you switch out the players and see Bogosian going after Cooke, because I’d still call that an unnecessary hit.  It’s a hit where you know the checker is trying to smoke a guy out, and a knee, thigh, elbow, shoulder, or head’s going to get hurt somehow there.  That hit doesn’t establish a forecheck and it doesn’t change the result of a battle for a puck.  It’s a hit to make a hit, and when it’s made at breakneck speed because the checker doesn’t want to or doesn’t know how to let up, I have a problem with that.  If Brian Rafalski makes that hit, it’s still dangerous.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/18/09 at 08:34 AM ET

Pulled his leg in???? Pulled in the outside leg to get more speed for the hit, is more like it.  Look at :33 he pulls up with his left shoulder and starts to straighten out his leg to add to the impact.  Head hunter.  Doesn’t need to be reprimanded, just look out next time he’s on the ice against Bogosian.  Wowsa can’t wait to see that!  Bogo gonna smack some a$$.

Posted by rugger30 from Chicago on 03/18/09 at 09:10 AM ET

Pulled his leg in???? Pulled in the outside leg to get more speed for the hit, is more like it.

Exactly.  It’s ridiculous to suggest that he attempted to pull his leg in.  He did no such thing.

Having said that, Bogosian did try to snake his way out of the hit.  If he hadn’t moved it would have been a highlight reel clean hit.

Posted by Garth on 03/18/09 at 09:47 AM ET

Looked “clean” to me.  But its the kind of hit I’m seeing more and more of recently. Ovechkin, Richards, and Hartnell initially come to mind, but living in Philly I see almost every Flyers game so I’m sure its happening elsewhere.  Richards in particular seems to do it every game.  Its taking a run at an opposing player while they’re already engaged with someone else. Richards did it to Zherdev over the weekend.  When Girardi came to Zherdev’s defense, he not only got the 2, 5 and 10...but was called out by McGuire for retaliating for a clean hit.  I’m not suggesting that these are penalties, but they are bordering on cheap, and retaliating for a cheap shot is to me exactly what fighting in the NHL is for.
This is different entirely from the classic hockey hits like Stevens on Lindros, Campbell on Umberger, or even Richards on Dubinsky over the weekend (which he was also wrongly penalized for).  All of those were open ice, one on one, get your head up hits.

Posted by dip from philly on 03/18/09 at 09:51 AM ET

Cooke led with his shoulder to protect himself and to also ensure that Bogosian’s body was contained in a certain space so he could do the knee-on-knee.  It’s not a clean hit and anyone that’s ever played rep or better knows that.  Cooke is one of the dirtiest players in the league and does this kind of thing every game (way worse than Ruttu) and refuses to answer the bell for any kind of fight - always turtling.  We certainly don’t miss him in Vancouver.

Posted by Matt from Surrey on 03/18/09 at 12:02 PM ET