[rippinwax]

Seriously I am not sure who is more wrong here Lucic for the gutless hit or the Sabres players who did not drop em with Lucic to show Miller they are a team? Better to get beat trying then doing the floppy top act looking like you are trying to get at him. Here it is..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TERA-GY2K1o


This is also a direct quote from Lucic after the game:

You know, we wouldn't accept anything like that," Lucic said. "We would have [taken] care of business. But we're a different team than they are."

[ty4orce]

Typical Lucic dirt!...Just am rolling over right now by the Lucic quote...........there are a lot of dirt plays and players in the league that need a little taste

[StreetSabre]

The Sabres know they messed up by not defending Miller after the hit as well.

Miller's response after the game was here (NSFW Language): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...vE82q4yKEM

Meanwhile, today...
> Ruff cancelled practice, said "f*** the media" and walked out today.
> Darcy Regier said he was disappointed in the team.
> Miller has a concussion, out indefinitely.
> Lucic supposedly has a 1pm Monday meeting with Shanahan.

The two teams rematch 11/23/11.

[bonnev659]

I know in Rochester Drew M was called up from the Americans

[mrspudhead]

This is what makes hockey such an entertaining sport! Spud

[bruinsfan08]

Typical Lucic dirt!...Just am rolling over right now by the Lucic quote...........there are a lot of dirt plays and players in the league that need a little taste

First of all, watch all the angles of the play before throwing blame around. After playing the puck, Miller reared up to throw his shoulder into Lucic too, it wasn't a one way check, he just happened to get his backside handed to him. And after he hit the ice, he took a swing at Lucic with his stick, and when he failed to connect, he laid back down on the ice, so please stop pretending that he's blameless in this one.

Second of all, every goaltender that I know is saying this week that Miller is a moron for thinking he can stand in front of a speeding power forward on a breakaway and not get hit. He should never have been that far out playing the puck in front of a speeding train, for crying out loud. The goalie is untouchable in the crease, so stay there. Had Miller been the one to get the solid hit on Lucic, and Lucic gone down, they would have cheered Miller for being able to take him down, but since it's Miller that hit the ice, it's crybaby central about protecting the goalie. Here's the simple solution, stay in your crease, bozo. The fact that they're having a hearing about this is nonsense. Ron Hextall wouldn't be crying about it, he would have tried to take Lucic's head off. Swing your stick at a guy to TRY and hit him, and then call him a P.O.S., that makes sense Miller.

The Sabres, sadly, are pretty pathetic for letting him take the hit without immediate retribution. If the Sabres were smart, when they have the rematch, they'll play hockey and keep the idea of getting back at the B's right out of their minds, as it's too little too late, the only way to make it right is with a win. Despite thinking turnabout is fair play, I still hope they lose, because it's against my team. If the situation was reversed, and someone laid out Thomas, I would be blaming HIS stupid decision to think he's above being hit outside his crease....

Rule 52b:

“A Major penalty and a Game Misconduct penalty shall be assessed any player who charges a goaltender while the goaltender is within his crease or who injures an opponent as a result of a charge.

Note: A goaltender is not “fair game” just because he is outside the goal crease area. A penalty for interference (Minor or, at the discretion of the Referee, a Major penalty and a Game Misconduct penalty) or charging (Minor or, at the discretion of the Referee, a Major penalty and a Game Misconduct penalty) shall be called where an opposing player makes unnecessary contact with a goaltender. Likewise, Referees should be alert to penalize goaltenders for tripping, slashing, or spearing in the vicinity of the goal.” (Canadian Hockey Referee’s Case Book/Rule Combination, 2001, pg. 141).

Charging penalty assessed, end of discussion. Rules are rules, and you can't go rewriting them now. And that doesn't even take into consideration the fact that Miller geared up to throw a hit as well. Watch the replays, it's a split second, but he knows what's coming, and he tries his best to lay a hit on Lucic, and then swung his stick when he got clowned. Whether you like it or not, video evidence doesn't lie. Also, speeding in on a breakaway and having the puck taken out of play seconds before a hit doesn't even constitute charging. If Lucic had sped up, fine, but he didn't. He started to stand up until he realized Miller was leaning in for a check, THEN he put his arms out. There are many quite a few clips that show the contact in slow-mo and from the reverse angle, watch 'em.

Finally, anyone that calls Lucic a dirty player in the face of a guy like Kaleta being on the ice is ridiculous. Maybe Lucic should have hit Miller with a flying headbutt, then it would have been OK, right?

[bluefrozencanuck]

Kelly Hrudy on CBC said much the same thing as bruinsfan08, and I agree goaltenders are not untouchable. If you don't want to be touched stay in your crease.

[bruinsfan08]

I know, my brother plays net, and can't believe that Miller was whining about it. He said it best, in my opinion, and I'll quote him word-for-word... "Hey, you know, if you don't want to get hit, then how about not stepping in front of a monster on a breakaway, haha! What a jerk, haha!" Bummer that he's concussed, but what can you do?

[rippinwax]

Kelly Hrudy on CBC said much the same thing as bruinsfan08, and I agree goaltenders are not untouchable. If you don't want to be touched stay in your crease.

Well isn't that interesting. I guess maybe we need Battling Billy Smith or Mr. Hextall to come back into the league and show the snot nosed morons who love to run the goalies "who are in the crease" and look so innocent that they "didn't mean" to bump into them. I guess goalies should have the mentality "If you don't want to get hacked, stay out of my crease" attitude. Unfortuneately they would have to have a 3 year debate on how to handle all those penalties and suspensions of the goalies as well. Yes, Lucic is tough, yes Miller should not have been out there, but bottom line is the Sabres did not show solidarity and the game is turning into hearings supensions and players learning every week to adjust their game. The game is a changin and so be it!

[bruinsfan08]

See, I fully agree with you on that point, the Sabres should have handled it then and there. If it were in the crease, I would have been disappointed in Lucic, believe me. The crease is sacred, and I don't even like it when a goalie gets clipped behind the net. Being that it was that far out, that close to an attempted breakaway, there's just nothing either of them could have done to avoid it fully. Neither tried, but it's not like it would have stopped the hit if they did. Hextall and Smith were right to defend themselves. I've seen Roy and Brodeur do it to an extent too, Thomas went after Avery for his nonsense, and dropped a Sedin in the playoffs, but he didn't skate 30 feet away into the path of an oncoming power forward. Bad decision on all counts, penalty assessed, and that should be the end of it.