After Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins got taken off the ice on a stretcher Sunday, after a hit from Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
There was no penalty call on the play, but there needs to be a suspension issued to Matt Cooke, this was clearly a head shot.
The NHL needs to look into this hit more closely and issue a suspension. Headshots in the NHL need to be taken out, by sending a message to the players and everyone who watches hockey, that these types of hits are unacceptable in today’s game.
This hit was a clear elbow to the head and caused forward Marc Savard to loose consciousness for a while on the ice. This isn’t the first time Matt Cooke has hit someone in the head. He is a repeat offender and the NHL should be looking into that, and suspend Cooke for a fair amount of time.
Hits like this have no business being in the NHL they need to be taken out and the only way that they can be taken out is by issuing suspensions for hits like this.
Yes Marc Savard did have his head down, and players are responsible for keeping their head up and making sure they don’t get hit like this. But he was shooting the puck and Cooke came out of nowhere and elbowed him in the head.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a head shot this year and it probably won’t be the last. We seen Mike Richards head shot on David Booth, Richards didn’t get a suspension after the hit.
If Matt Cooke has a history of headshots you have to think it was a pre-meditated hit. Although he says he didn’t know he hit him in the head and that it felt it was shoulder to shoulder. It wasn’t and Cooke needs to be held accountable for his actions, headshots are becoming a problem in the NHL and the only way to stop hits like this is to start issuing suspensions.
The NHL is looking into the hit and it is up to them if they want to hand out a suspension. If they want to get rid of headshots they would be best to give Cooke a suspension or else players will think they can get away with hits like this. Also Cooke is a repeat offender.
