Black- and Whitelist » Peavy to Boston, too

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Kerry, In the Canadiens/Oilers game Thursday night - third period - Lars Eller crosschecked Taylor Hall directly from behind, face first into the boards. And it was face first - Halls face was the first part of his body to make contact with the boards. He did not get his hands up in time to protect himself (and I watched it several times, frame by frame). But no major penalty? Seriously? In minor hockey that is at least a major and a game, and if you assessed a match, you would be justified. Whats the rationale? Because there was no blood or teeth lost? The non-call is particularly frustrating in comparison to the Mike Fisher hit on Cody Franson on Thursday night, which was not as bad but resulted in a major penalty and a game misconduct because Franson was bleeding all over the place - but only because his visor cut him (and if we want to get into players being driven into stanchions - Chara on Pacioretty is the standard, and there was no penalty on that one). Whats the explanation and wheres the consistency? Cole MacKay Cole: I totally concur with your assessment on this play and the resulting penalty should have been a major and game misconduct (rule 43—Checking from Behind) to Lars Eller for this dangerous hit. A check from behind is a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to protect himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body. Any player who cross-checks, pushes or charges from behind an opponent who is unable to protect or defend himself shall be assessed a major penalty and game misconduct. Note also that when a player intentionally turns his body to create contact with his back, no penalty shall be assessed. While Taylor Hall did turn slightly toward the side boards after gaining possession of the puck it would be unreasonable to suggest that Hall did so intentionally to expose his back for the purpose of creating contact as described in rule 43.1. Lars Eller on the other hand travelled from his location in front of the Montreal goal and had sufficient time to alter both his approach and method of contact (cross-check directly from behind to opponents back) once Taylor Hall faced the boards and was placed in a vulnerable position. The visual picture presented by Taylor Halls snap/arch of his back and face-plant into the boards following the cross-check by Eller clearly fall within the language and application of rule 43—Check from Behind and should have been penalized as such. I am not suggesting that there should be any further discipline to Lars Eller since we should recognize that while the hit was illegal Eller didnt utilize "excessive force" through the hit worthy of a suspension. The correct call (major and game misconduct boarding) was made last night when Mike Fisher pushed Cody Franson from behind creating some additional velocity at the last instance and causing Franson to contact the curved glass/stanchion at the end of the players bench. While Fransons visible injury most definitely had relevance to the application of a major penalty and game misconduct as prescribed in the boarding rule, the fact remains that a dangerous situation resulted from the unexpected push from behind by Fisher. Your call for "consistency" is well taken, Cole. It is imperative that the Referees differentiate between varying degrees of boarding, checks from behind and illegal checks to the head but more importantly not have any reluctance in assessing major penalties when warranted. Too many player suspensions have been imposed by the Player Safety Committee when a minor penalty or worse yet no penalty at all were assessed on the play. Brad Stuarts three-game suspension for what was ruled upon as an illegal check to the head of New York Ranger Rick Nash is the most recent example of this. That will likely change today, pending the outcome of an in-person hearing called for Patrick Kaleta of Buffalo (suspected illegal check to the head of Jack Johnson, Columbus) and a hearing for Vancouvers Alexander Edler (suspected illegal head check on Tomas Hertl, San Jose). Neither Kaleta nor Edler were penalized on the plays in question. I see one of the problems the Referees created for themselves and the game was the elimination of a major penalty (due to Refs reluctance to impose it) when an illegal check to the head is called. Rule 48 provides for a minor penalty or a match penalty. The major and game misconduct provisions were eliminated in this rule. So whenever an illegal check to the head is identified in a game at best it results in a minor penalty and the player remains in the game. Upon further review that player could ultimately be suspended for three plus games pending the outcome of a hearing. Putting consistency aside, for something as serious as the protection of a players head I think the rule and the application by many of the Refs is far too soft and short sighted. Authentic NBA Jerseys . Instead, Nonis and Kessel were sorting through the fallout of a wild melee with the Buffalo Sabres, one that saw Kessel suspended for the duration of the pre-season. Stitched NBA Jerseys . 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The White Sox rewarded their manager with a multi-year contract extension Friday, announcing the move hours before their annual fan convention opened. The terms were not disclosed. The extension comes after the White Sox dropped from second in the AL Central in Venturas first season to last with 99 losses in his second year. "You lose 99 games, there are going to be questions like that, about where this organizations headed and why they think the people in charge are the right people to get them through their end goal," general manager Rick Hahn said. "I would say we saw in 2012 and 2013 two extremes in terms of being a first-place club and being a club that was a disappointed in terms of performance. Throughout each of those extremes, Robins leadership was unwavering." Venturas contract was set to expire after this year. He turned down an extension before the 2013 season, leading to speculation that he might not want to stick around much longer, but he insisted that wasnt the case. He wanted to give Hahn -- then in his first season as GM -- a chance to work with him before making a long-term commitment. "I just felt it was important for Rick to have a full year of doing the job, us working together," Ventura said. "Then, you have the ability and freedom to decide if Im the right guy for the job. Nothing really changed in my mind of where I want to be and what I want to do. Its just more of it being his first time going through, I just wanted to make sure he had the ability and the freedom to do that. Now with the way last year went, the off-season, a lot of communication, a lot of talks of where were headed, how were going to do it -- Im excited to just keep going." Hahn, who got bumped up from assistant GM in October 2012 to replace the promoted Ken Williams, called it a selfless act by Ventura. "(It) allowed me the latitude to get comfortable," Hahn said. "It speaks to what kind of good man he is and actuallly makes a decision like this all the easier because of it.dddddddddddd" A former All-Star third baseman, Ventura had never managed at any level when he replaced Ozzie Guillen. And the results his first season were promising. The White Sox led the Central for much of 2012 before finishing second to Detroit with 85 wins, but there was a huge drop-off last year. Chicago wound up last in the division at 63-99, giving Ventura a 148-176 mark in two seasons. The White Sox hit just .249 as a team and their home run total dropped from third in the majors at 211 to 19th at 148. With little speed, there was no way to make up for the drop in power, and compounding the problem was the poor play on defence. They went from leading the majors in fielding percentage to ranking 29th, with Alexei Ramirez committing 22 errors and tying the Cubs Starlin Castro for the major league lead among shortstops. "Its imperative that we show improvement," Hahn said. "Its imperative that we show growth, especially on the position player side. We feel we have the ability to contend. But the most important thing for us is going to be allowing these young guys room to grow." Venturas steady hand, his ability to relate, came up over and over on Friday. Its why the White Sox believe he is the right manager, particularly on a team with some key young players. They signed Cuban slugger Jose Abreu to a six-year, $68 million contract, hoping he can add pop. Theyll have a full year with outfielder Avisail Garcia after acquiring him from Detroit in the midseason deal that sent Jake Peavy to Boston, too. Theyve added some youth, athleticism, to their lineup. They believe they have enough pitching to compete with Chris Sale leading the rotation, even if they didnt land Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka. And they insist Venturas the man to lead them. "He just doesnt miss on how to handle guys," longtime star Paul Konerko said. "Hes stern with them, he gets his point across. But for a team of this makeup, Robin is such a good fit. Im glad he would want to stay." ' ' '