Max Pacioretty's reaction

by westcoasthabs on Mar 10, 2011 12:00 AM EST

With all the discussion on the hit from last night, it seems pertinent to get Max's thoughts.

Credit to Alexandre S. in the comments for the link. All quoted material comes from a TSN.ca interview with Bob MacKenzie.

Max's reaction:

"I am upset and disgusted that the league didn't think enough of (the hit) to suspend him," Pacioretty told TSN. "I'm not mad for myself, I'm mad because if other players see a hit like that and think it's okay, they won't be suspended, then other players will get hurt like I got hurt.

"It's been an emotional day. I saw the video for the first time this morning. You see the hit, I've got a fractured vertebrae, I'm in hospital and I thought the league would do something, a little something," said Pacioretty.

"I'm not talking a big number, I don't know, one game, two games, three games...whatever, but something to show that it's not right."

Mike Murphy, VP:

"after a thorough review of the video I can find no basis to impose supplemental discipline...I could not find any evidence to suggest that, beyond this being a correct call for interference, that Chara targeted the head of his opponent, left his feet or delivered the check in any other manner that could be deemed to be dangerous."

Zdeno Chara (from last night):

"It's been hard, obviously I feel bad about what happened," said Chara about the incident. "I was trying to make a strong hockey play and play hard. It's very unfortunate that [Pacioretty] got hurt and had to leave the game. It is in my mind."

Finally, Max's assessment:

"I heard (Chara) said he didn't mean to do it. I felt he did mean to do it. I would feel better if he said he made a mistake and that he was sorry for doing that, I could forgive that, but I guess he's talking about how I jumped up or something."

"I believe he was trying to guide my head into the turnbuckle. We all know where the turnbuckle is. It wasn't a head shot like a lot of head shots we see but I do feel he targeted my head into the turnbuckle."

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Comments

I’m still not going to villify Chara. It was a very, very heated rivalry game, and I can understand why he went for a hard hit.

However, at this point he could at least apologize and show some remorse. He doesn’t need the rep of being a goon, and as a person whose admired him as a player in the past, I hope he does sooner rather than later.

Finally, this is another nail in the coffin of the NHL. We’ve all hashed it over, but at the end of the day, could there not have been even a token suspension?

by westcoasthabs on Mar 10, 2011 12:03 AM EST reply actions