Saquatch can’t help it if those little Euros keep running into his elbows.  It’s all physics you see:  Chrissy big… euros small… “not mean to hurt midgets...just reflexes”.  Okay Sasquatch.... whatever.

Posted by calquake on 10/30/08 at 08:12 PM ET

Well you see its because he is so much bigger than all the other players----Yeah right Crissy, you got away with another one.  May you get another Wing to slap one out of their zone and hit you in the chest again and you go down like the turd you are.

Posted by JR from Mich on 10/30/08 at 08:14 PM ET

I believe that’s what you call a textbook head shot.

Posted by Garth on 10/30/08 at 08:19 PM ET

Didn’t there used to be a process where Datsyuk, or Babcock, or Holland would bring this up to the league?

That seems the more appropriate avenue; I’m not sure I have much patience for internet-spurred Pronger debates any more.  If the Red Wings aren’t pursuing this, than neither shall I.

Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 10/30/08 at 08:21 PM ET

My apologies to Datsyuk fans and Pronger detractors, but that certainly isn’t a hit to the head if this isn’t.

Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 10/30/08 at 08:26 PM ET

Sissy Chris didn’t even need to be in that play as Beauchemin was already covering Datsyuk.

Sissy Chris knew exactly WTFH he was doing.

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 10/30/08 at 08:32 PM ET

Headshot:  Yes (contact was made with the head)

Elbow: No.  Contact occured about haflway between Pronger’s shoulder and elbow, the bow came up after the hit (a pretty common occurrence).

Illegal: No.  no elbow = legal hit.  Datsyuk got stuck in a s****y spot and paid for it.  Guys get caught train-tracked all the time.  Devastating hit, but nothing illegal in it.

Posted by Zach from Athens, GA on 10/30/08 at 08:46 PM ET

Clearly, Pronger was just trying to separate Datsyuk from the puck.

Oh wait, what’s that little black disk rolling along the boards at the far edge of the screen...can’t quite make it out...I’m sure it’s nothing.

Posted by Osrt on 10/30/08 at 09:01 PM ET

I love watching people try to dissect things and make excuses for Pronger’s shenanigans.  Of course it was a dirty hit.  Of course it was illegal.  Of course it was an elbow to the head.  Good God, I mean Pronger hit Datsyuk’s face with his elbow and then extends the elbow away from his body.

Duh.  Illegal.

P.S.:  I can’t tell if Bell hit Alfie with an elbow or not from that YouTube footage.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 10/30/08 at 09:05 PM ET

Why bother bringing it up with the league if, based on prior experience, you know that they aren’t going to do diddly squat about it?

Just a waste of time and energy in that case.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 10/30/08 at 09:13 PM ET

Sadly it’s not as clear an angle on the Alfie Bell hit, but angle or no angle, what black magic does a cage grant that allows a hit to blow off a helmet and whiplash a neck before the body shows any sign of being hit. The head led, and that’s the key. That hit kept Alfie out for over a week, though it was supposed to be a month-long recovery, but even in the last two games of the Pens/Sens series, he didn’t look the same.

Now imagine if, second last game of the season, and Zetterberg was knocked out of the lineup until mid-May.

Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 10/30/08 at 09:26 PM ET

Shouldn’t there at least be a better video of this that someone didn’t try to turn into the second coming of the Zapruder film?

Cripes.

Posted by HockeyJoe from Upstate New York on 10/30/08 at 09:33 PM ET

“no elbow = legal hit.”

I disagree with this logic in principle, because fists are obviously a penalty, and based on that logic, the forearms really should be, too, all things considered.  Shoulder?  Iffy.

Posted by Doogie2K from Calgary on 10/31/08 at 12:28 AM ET

More of this garbage, when the hell are these guys going to start having respect for each other. This crap pisses me off.

Posted by Children's Surgery Book from CT on 10/31/08 at 12:37 AM ET

it looks like datsyuk skated into pronger...need a better clip so that we can really see how it evolved

Posted by bsalamon on 10/31/08 at 06:31 AM ET

Do we though?  Do we really need a better clip?  Would you need a more clear image of Michael Vick shooting another dog or would you just take the prosecutor’s word for it.  Pronger has done it before, he will do it again.  He’s nothing but a cement-head who either can’t control his own body, or chooses not to.  We should paint a bulls-eye on his chest and let Lidstrom have another crack at his ticker. (I don’t really mean that, but I’m sick of him hurting players far more talented than him with cheap shots like this.)

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 10/31/08 at 06:43 AM ET

Good point brought up earlier...look where the puck is...c’mon!  This is nothing like the sutter hit where he was reaching for the puck.

Pronger should get a suspension for sure and anyone who doesnt think that is probably hoping sarah palin becomes president.

Posted by drw from detroit on 10/31/08 at 06:45 AM ET

He didn’t have the puck there. Had he just gotten rid of it? It doesn’t look like Pronger necessarily targeted the head, though he certainly hit it. Need a longer clip with more context.

Posted by false_cause from DC on 10/31/08 at 06:59 AM ET

i am just going to speak for everyone about pronger.  he’s a cheap shotter, always has been.  he sucks and everyone knows it.  his defenders are idiots like kelly hrudey and scott oak (the creepiest guy on tv)

Posted by drw from detroit on 10/31/08 at 07:20 AM ET

Pronger doesn’t do the same thing every time, each one is unique in its own way. This one in the Finals only cost him a single game (kept McAmmond out for the rest of the series though), so don’t expect much, if anything, from this hit.

Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 10/31/08 at 08:03 AM ET

Only reason this is even worth considering as a dirty play is because Chris Pronger did it. Given his history, it seems fair to ask the question. If this were “Joe Defenseman”, we wouldn’t even have noticed the play.

Posted by Nathan on 10/31/08 at 08:53 AM ET

@SENShobo:  That was bogus punishment for Pronger considering he’d already gotten suspended for a hit against Detroit the previous round.  The league, AGAIN, was asleep at the wheel with Pronger.  They want to prop him up and laud him, meanwhile he does crap like this constantly.

@Nathan:  Pronger’s done enough in his past to earn the reputation to get noticed for these hits.  If “Joe Defenseman” had a history like Pronger’s he would get noticed for it too and likely be more villified since that’s all he would be known for.

Posted by HockeyJoe from Upstate New York on 10/31/08 at 09:51 AM ET

...need a better clip so that we can really see how it evolved…

That’s a relevant point. In the longer version, you can see that Pronger was lining Pavel up a few steps before this clip begins. He intentionally put himself in that position (which, in and of itself, is obstruction) and then he made sure to hit Pavel’s head with his shoulder and upper arm. As others have said, the guy just can’t stop himself from doing this stuff. It pathological.

Pronger should get a suspension for sure and anyone who doesnt think that is probably hoping sarah palin becomes president.

And just like Chrissy, some Obama supporters just can’t stop themselves from taking pot shots at Sarah Palin...even when the “point” they’re trying to make is beyond irrelevant.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 10/31/08 at 10:56 AM ET