22 February 2010

North Dakota Fans Curiously Silent About Recent Hit to Head

As anyone who reads college hockey blogs knows, North Dakota fans have been very adamant about WCHA leadership adopting tougher penalities for hits to the head. These fans have launched what appeared to be a league-wide campaign against hits to the head, expressing outrage over injuries to their own Chay Genoway as well as Wisconsin's Blake Geoffrion.

In an odd turn of events, UND fans seem reticent to condemn the most recent offender, Corban Knight, for his elbow to the head of Mike Connolly. According to Kevin Pates, Connolly's face was smashed into the glass, and he has a black eye and concussion as a result of the play. One can only assume these fans are regrouping for another attack on the league office after this vicious hit went unpenalized by WCHA officiating tandem CJ Beaurline and Pete Friesema, and will soon be calling for the suspension of Knight.

Here is the penalty. I expect UND fans to demand a suspension.

25 comments:

Tom Spiekermeier said...

Do you have a video of this hit?

Unknown said...

I don't want to comment on this (meaning the hit) as I didn't see the hit, and it wasn't shown on TV from what I could see. I just heard the announcers say Mike was going to the bench. Did you see it? I think Sioux fans (and yes, I am a Sioux fan) probably aren't saying much because unless they were at the game and saw it first hand, then they didn't see it. Shots to the head are a penalty no matter what and the officials should have caught it. If the league finds video of it and it is as bad as it sounds then Corban should sit the generic one-game suspension. I don't see the WCHA changing things now. They think one game is suffice. I don't agree...

Anonymous said...

"One can only assume these fans are regrouping for another attack on the league office after this vicious hit went unpenalized by WCHA officiating tandem CJ Beaurline and Pete Friesema, and will soon be calling for the suspension of Knight."

I think these fans are awaiting video footage of the hit. It would be assinine to be outraged about a hit you haven't even seen.

I would delete this post, wait a week after some video comes out, then re-post if NoDak fans are still silent.

Eric J. Burton said...

I didn't even know about it till you posted it on my blog. I would say the league would review the hit and issue the PROPER punishment. If it is as bad some have said then punish him.

DC said...

OF COURSE no one knows about it. It's a giant cover-up! Why would FSSN let that sort of footage leak out? IT'S ALL A CONSPIRACY. They also sent TJ Oshie drunk onto the broadcast so that they could deflect attention from the REAL issue!

Anonymous said...

TJ was seen at Whitey's before the game slamming beers and doing some shots.

DC said...

No longer welcome at Judy's?

WCHA Blog said...

I love on SiouxSports how everyone is so dismissive of this hit, but yet anyone from another team does something borderline, they should be kicked out of the league.

Brandon said...

ok, yeah, the hit was bad. I didn't notice it during the game, but yeah, if Knight doesn't get a suspension I will be surprised and frustrated that the league continues to let this shit happen.

There, Donna.

DC said...

I appreciate your policy of appeasement, Geist.

Unknown said...

The video is on FSSN as you can view the entire game on fightingsioux.com on demand. I watched it about 15 times and I really can't tell. I say suspend him cuz that is the only way to make things right. A hit to the head is a hit to the head. Oh and I am also a Sioux fan.

Patrick C. Miller said...

If the WCHA decides to suspend Knight for boarding, I have no problem with it. But I don't think the damage was caused by an elbow to the head or a deliberate cheap shot. The more I look at the video, the more I'm convinced that it's the force of the blow with Knight's right shoulder that causes Connolly's head to smash into the glass and possibly the dasher. If Knight had thrown his right elbow (the one we can't really see), the injury would have been on the right side of Connolly's face, not the left.

Unknown said...

RWD,

Great work on bringing this to the surface. Maybe this will tame the Sioux fans down a little. This is another one of those hits that should have been called a penalty and was not. He does appear to go high on Connoly and took a pretty good run at him. However, I am not sure if Knight had the intent of hurting him.

I don't expect UMD fans will go after Knight in the Witch Hunt style UND fans have persued Marvin at SCSU.

Anonymous said...

RWD Curiously Silent About Recent UMD Buttkicking at the Hands of UND

duluthSioux said...

I didn't see the hit during the game, but after watching it a few times(thanks for posting it btw) i do see how it looks like a bad hit.There is a zero tolerance policy on hits to the head but it seems the refs havent gotten that memo yet. I'm not gonna defend him for it, only he knows his intentions. Did you catch the hit Marvin made on Geoffrion during the WI series? That was pretty blatant contact to the face, and that wasn't called either.

Anonymous said...

First off it's down's syndrome and I don't think she has it. That being said it almost appears that the Bulldog fans and Kevin Pates are trying to invent a penalty that isn't there.

DC said...

Thomas, if you would like to rephrase your comment so that it is not derogatory towards people with mental disabilities, you are certainly welcome to. I do not moderate comments very often but I will not tolerate comments that make fun of people with mental disabilities. You can say whatever you want about me, but you can leave people with Down's Syndrome out of it.

vizoroo said...

It appears clear that Knight almost jumped UP to get his shoulder up. It was a hit to the head.

Nate Wickman said...

Everyone knows a Sioux player would never make an illegal hit "UNLESS" that person did something earlier in the game. This is obviously Connelly's own fault as he MUST have taken a cheap shot at a sioux player earlier in the weekend. If anyone is to blame it is Connelly!

Anonymous said...

Fock this hockey.The hit looked fine to me.Carry on.

ticklethetwine said...

Donna,
You are just wrong. Flat out wrong.

DC said...

Because the league said so?

The same league that UND fans have been lambasting all year for their mistakes?

Ha.

Patrick C. Miller said...

Perhaps you could make more effective use of your time by posting rants about legitimate hits to the head rather than phantom hits to the head.

Just a thought.

DC said...

Thank you for your concern, Patrick, about how I spend my time. However, considering this post was made 6 days ago (and I have made three posts in the meantime) and you felt compelled to return just now to make snide remarks, I'd say I'm not the one with the time management issue. (Comments come immediately to my inbox so I'm not just sitting around here hitting refresh and praying another neanderthal from North Dakota comes on here to thump their chest.)

Mike didn't drive his own head into the glass. Knight drove Mike's head into the glass. It amuses me to no end that UND fans suddenly think the league's judgments are the gospel truth when all you morons have done for months is deride the league's leadership for their incompetency. Their judgment on this hit is merely another example of such incompetence, and ND fans' reactions are just another example of the mass hysteria of your fanbase. ND fans are unable to move on from anything.

Patrick C. Miller said...

My post was in response to the one you made today, not your original blog.

If you want the issue to be about the league's lax enforcement against hits to the head, then make that case. Accusing Sioux fans of hypocrisy for not seeing an elbow to the head that nobody at the game saw and nobody can see in the video doesn't do that. It merely detracts from the real issue.

And for the umpteenth time, I never argued that Connolly's head didn't hit the glass as a result of Knight's check, only that it wasn't an elbow to the head as claimed. In other words, it wasn't even close to be similar to Marvin's headhunting hits on Genoway and Geoffrion.