EHM The Blue Line

http://www.caneshockey.com/news/news.asp?articleid=1474

I wonder how long Orpik will be suspended...

I was watching the game when it happened and there is no place for hits such as this one in hockey.

A compression fracture in his vertebra - ouch!

I can't find a video of it but it must be pretty unpleasant as the article said it was a boarding from behind.

Cole is a big loss for the Canes as they push for the playoffs.

I thought his neck had snapped in half when it happened if that's any indication of how bad it was.

The people on the Pittsburgh forums have absolutely ZERO class.

i saved that picture so i can laugh everytime i see it. you know what the damage is done nothin you can do now so stop grieving over it, its not like hes dead.

(the picture is the one from the TSN article)

That's not even the worst thing I've read there today.

And FWIW, Pittsburgh hasn't even said a thing about the hit on their site.

I have lost all respect I had for the Penguins and their fans.

Yeah, I saw the pic on TSN. It looks horrific.

That's discraceful behaviour from the Pens fans. I imagine that's just a small section of them thinking that - I think most of the fans will be hoping Cole recovers quickly.

I think a situation like this is difficult for the Pens. They have to be careful what they say about the issue. They need to see how the NHL reacts and they need to show some support for their player (Orpik).

I've seen the replay of the hit a few times, Orpik did NOT mean to hit Cole as hard as he did. If you watch the replay, Orpik was already moving towards him when Cole turned to his left, turning his back away from the hit and turned to face the boards.

It was not intentional.

E5150_ca wrote:I've seen the replay of the hit a few times, Orpik did NOT mean to hit Cole as hard as he did. If you watch the replay, Orpik was already moving towards him when Cole turned to his left, turning his back away from the hit and turned to face the boards.

It was not intentional.

There is no doubt it he wasn't intending to injure Cole, but he had plenty of time to see his back was turned.

@archi: You would be surprised.. Throughout the whole Orpik post there is maybe 3 or 4 Penguin's fans wishing for Coles well-being and trying to talk sense to the other people.

Speaking as a Pens fan I dont think Orpik meant to injure Cole. Orpik is a very aggressive player but has not been known to take cheapshots. As for the Pens organization I agree that they are probably waiting to hear about the NHL before they release any news about the Orpik situation. For the fans you will always have idiots in every group it is best to just ignore them.

I too unfortunately have seen the live version of that one *shudder* Cole is one of my favorite players as well and coming off a huge Olympics this is a major blow. I hope he doesn't have any related issues once his neck heals, he's lucky he wasn't paralized truth be told. It seemed that his head snapped back from hitting the top ledge of the boards as he went down too... ugly.

I don't think it was intentional either though there was option for Orpik to have held up more than he did. Unfortunately clean hits can also be very dangerous hits as seems the case here. A mutual case of two guys doing their jobs became a wrong place wrong time situation really; a guy who is know as a banger meets up with a guy who will always go into the corner to dig out the puck. He should have let up more so I agree on the major but I'm not sure that he'll face a suspension though...

Unbelievable!

I just hate when people stick up for thugs.

Darius Kasparaitis
Bryan Marchment
Jarkko Ruutu
Wade Brookbank
Todd Bertuzzi

It's always "not intentional" until its the shoe is on the other foot. If Aaron Ward hit Sidney Crosby like that and he suffered the same injury 'Penguin Fan' would be ready to go to war with North Carolina.

Brooks Orpik = total loser.


As a Hurricanes fan I just hope Andrew Ladd is ready.

Another thing:

They were losing 5-0 after the 1st. Sure they scored a few goals and made a 'game' of it. Brooks Orpik had nothing to lose by taking that penalty. He will suffer no retribution from the Hurricanes until next year. I get more mad each time I think of it. What a jerk!

I just don't think it wasn't an "intent to injure" situation such as other players who have taken people high into the glass with elbows and shot for guys knees etc.

Of course it's classless that people would be happy that Cole got injured; that's a really sleazy thing to do but keep in mind the longstanding tradition of people loving to "talk big" when hiding behind a keyboard. Often they seem to only exist to get people riled up anytime they know they can push people's buttons... and sports is an easy vehicle for such asshattery.

http://prodtsn.tsn.ca/audio_video/video ... reel=24620

Theres the video of it if you want. 25 seconds in is when it starts.

And FWIW, Orpik did this same thing in the AHL playoffs last year and got a boarding major yet was quoted this morning saying, "I have never had a boarding major." And let's not even get started on the kneeing incident in 2003...

I think maybe Orpik was perhaps a little reckless but there was clearly no intention to do serious injury. They were both going towards the puck at quite some speed. The puck was going towards the boards and so they collided. No malice in my opinion.

Whether it was intentional, reckless, or just an unfortunate accident... it's still a shame. I've always like Erik Cole. I'm hoping he can still have a fruitful career after this.

This really screws my fantasy team though. I'm in a yahoo league and Cole is one of my players. Now I've lost him for the rest of the season (if not the rest, most of it). I've already lost Nagy from that team so far. I really didn't need this!

I have half of Carolina on my fantasy team.

Erik Cole won't be back for the regular season, no doubt about that. You can dump him if you want

I just hope Cole can play again.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=157449&hubname=nhl

What? Three games?

Seems fair to me considering it was an accident.

I totally agree with you, E_ca

For once, the NHL are talking some sense:

"While it is apparent that there was no deliberate intent to injure on this play, Mr. Orpik's careless hit on his opponent resulted in a serious injury," said NHL Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. "Even if a player leaves himself vulnerable, the checking player does bear some responsibility in avoiding a hit on a defenseless opponent."

I watched the video again.

Orpik hooks Cole before the hit. Is the NHL blind?

Erik Cole will play again, but it would probably be in his best interests to wait until after the offseason to come back

Well, I cant throw in my 2 cents, because I cant see the video (dont know why??? ) but I want to believe that Orpik didnt him that way intentionally...

As for the Pengs fans in that forum....I think there are good and bad people everywhere, so throw all the Pengs fans in one basket isnt good....at least thats the way I see it...

On the other hand I understand that u are upset, inSTAALed, because nobody wants to see one of your players go down for the rest of the season...

I suppose that with the 3 games of suspension will come also a money fine for the player, not??

Yeah, suspension time is unpaid so it's whatever fraction of your season's pay not getting paid to you for those games that is a fine too. Though there are flat fines as well usually wehn you hear someone say he was suspeneded for a week and around $38,000 that's why.

In general though; and this is addressed to everyone covering every forum topic not just this one: lets try to keep in mind that when you post to make sure you're not speaking for other people "he wears a visor because he's not tough" or "painting with too wide a brush" like saying "all Pens fans are black hearted silly billies". In other words speak for yourself only and state your opinion as opinion not as fact everyone else should accept because it's waht you believe.

Also known as... if you find yourself sounding like Sean Avery, take a break from the board for a few minutes and clear your head before posting

I think I read he was losing just under $10,000.

Minstrel wrote:
Also known as... if you find yourself sounding like Sean Avery, take a break from the board for a few minutes and clear your head before posting

You....you mean the point is too play hockey? I thought this was a goon competion!!