[gmccarth]

But he never hit Gretzky.

Well played.

[mrspudhead]

Just watched the Shanahan video of the Malone hit on Campoli. Very tough call but the explanation was superb. Campoli lost the puck and lunged forward with his head. Malone was directly in front of Campoli so Campoli should have seen the hit coming. A rule every player is supposed to learn at an early age - keep your head up! As a Habs fan I have to say I agree with Shanahan but sincerely hope Campoli is alright. Spud

[greg2424]

Please watch it again. Tell me how many feet Campoli glides with his head at the level it was when contact is made and how many feet Malone advances before making the hit. The league is supposed to be eliminating the action of hitting players in vulnerable positions. Malone had ample time to avoid the hit. Campoli didn't lunge forward at the last second as Shanahan claims. Campoli was looking at the puck, Malone was looking at Campoli, who had the better view and who is the onus on to avoid a headshot?

[mrspudhead]

Please watch it again. Tell me how many feet Campoli glides with his head at the level it was when contact is made and how many feet Malone advances before making the hit. The league is supposed to be eliminating the action of hitting players in vulnerable positions. Malone had ample time to avoid the hit. Campoli didn't lunge forward at the last second as Shanahan claims. Campoli was looking at the puck, Malone was looking at Campoli, who had the better view and who is the onus on to avoid a headshot?

Campoli was indeed looking at the puck that he lost control of. Never put your head down like that! Number of feet doesn't matter - count the number of seconds in real time because human reaction time is what matters. Campoli's teammates let Malone know they didn't like the hit, and as a former player I would have done the same. Thing is, the game has already changed and this season will be like no other in the history of the game. Everyone will be watching Shanny all season long including Cherry and MacLean. Can't wait to hear their comments.

[jacobystealshome]

I give up. You are right. Run over my star player with your 4th liner and then we will wait for our turn and run over your star, and so on, and so on. The game will be so much more entertaining. ... a couple Sedins,

you dont have to run over a sedin...theyll just sit there and take it

[greg2424]

Campoli was indeed looking at the puck that he lost control of. Never put your head down like that! Number of feet doesn't matter - count the number of seconds in real time because human reaction time is what matters. Campoli's teammates let Malone know they didn't like the hit, and as a former player I would have done the same. Thing is, the game has already changed and this season will be like no other in the history of the game. Everyone will be watching Shanny all season long including Cherry and MacLean. Can't wait to hear their comments.

I took my own advice and watched it a few more times including the Shanny "explanation video". It was very "borderline" from a time perspective. I will give him the benefit of the doubt this time. I do think however on a play that close he should have erred on the side of staying consistent with the message the league is trying to send.

[mrspudhead]

I took my own advice and watched it a few more times including the Shanny "explanation video". It was very "borderline" from a time perspective. I will give him the benefit of the doubt this time. I do think however on a play that close he should have erred on the side of staying consistent with the message the league is trying to send.

I agree with you. When I get home from the library I'll calculate Malone's linear momentum, then estimate the magnitude of the lateral force needed to change his path to just miss Campoli. I'll then convert that force into something in everyday life that we can relate to. Isn't physics fun? Spud

[mrspudhead]

So I did a few quick calculations based on the official dimensions of the NHL rink markings, the time lapse from the point where both players had their heads up and were facing each other (Campoli midway between the red goal line and the back boards, and Malone in the circle but beyond it's center point) to the time of collision, and the initial straightline distance between the two players (25 ft). The time to collision was approximately 1 second and both players covered about 15 ft in this time, so their mean speeds were about 15 ft/s. Neither followed the initial straightline path between them, rather headed at an angle towards the side boards, colliding to the board-side of the center of the circle. These paths map out an isosceles triangle from which one can estimate the angle at which they collided and then various force calculations. Not necessary though (that would be over-the-top-nerd) because Malone weighs about 220 lbs and in 1 second would have to be an acrobat to deliberately miss Campoli, or be wearing figure skates with toe picks.

[mrspudhead]

Shanahan has more videos of good clean, and sometimes hard hits. Many players are getting the message, and the game is still physical! I like these videos. Spud