Should Zdeno Chara Have Been Suspended?
- Wednesday, March 9, 2011 7:56 PM
- Written By: Josh Marks
The result of Zdeno Chara's hit on Max Pacioretty was horrific. The Montreal Canadiens winger slammed his head against the stanchion between the bench and plexiglass. The 22-year-old was carried off in a stretcher and suffered a severe concussion and a fractured vertebra that will keep him off the ice indefinitely. His parents were among the 20,000 stunned fans at the Bell Centre who were all hoping and praying that the young player would be all right as the result of the check by Chara.
After this gruesome incident, there is no doubt that when the NHL Board of Governors meets next time they will vote to require every arena to install new padding on their stanchions to protect players from this type of event.
The debate right now is not about whether there should be more padding on the stanchions, but whether Chara should have been suspended. The NHL decided not to suspend Chara and predictably Montreal fans are in an uproar about the decision. Air Canada has even threatened to pull its sponsorship unless the league takes action to punish Chara, saying this in a statement:
"We are contacting you (Wednesday) to voice our concern over (Tuesday night's) incident involving Max Pacioretty and Zdeno Chara at the Bell Centre in Montreal. This is following several other incidents involving career-threatening and life-threatening headshots in the NHL recently."
"From a corporate social responsibility standpoint, it is becoming increasingly difficult to associate our brand with sports events which could lead to serious and irresponsible accidents; action must be taken by the NHL before we are encountered with a fatality."
"Unless the NHL takes immediate action with serious suspension to the players in question to curtail these life-threatening injuries, Air Canada will withdraw its sponsorship of hockey."
"While we support countless sports, arts and community events, we are having difficulty rationalizing our sponsorship of hockey unless the NHL takes responsibily to protect both the players and the integrity of the game."
Additionally, the AP is reporting that the Montreal police are opening up a criminal investigation into the hit at the request of Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions, Louis Dionne.
Here is the video of the incident.
What do you think? Was this hit intentional by Chara? Was it just a tragic accident after a clean hit? Even if it wasn't intentional, should Chara have been more aware of the stanchion when he delivered the check?
