Kitchener player seriously injured after getting hit

[cs6687]

I hope everything turns out for the best. I hope I don't sound rude by writing this, but the player did the worst possible thing there by turning his back. Players are taught to go with the momentum of the hit. It was a clean hit. No penalty should have been called there (and I'm not sure if there was one called for the hit). Hopefully everything turns out okay.

[Zach6668]

It could have pretty easily been charging. He wound up the whole way down the ice, and was getting quick strides in just before he hit him. Otherwise it was ok, I think.

edit - They showed a much longer clip on HNIC's afternoon game today. You can't see the charging in this clip.

[Pitt87]

It could have pretty easily been charging. He wound up the whole way down the ice, and was getting quick strides in just before he hit him. Otherwise it was ok, I think.

edit - They showed a much longer clip on HNIC's afternoon game today. You can't see the charging in this clip.

Whats with all the shots at the head? No head shot is ever clean... ever...

[K2]

Hope he's okay. I haven't seen the full clip, but Liambas is a notoriously dirty player.

[DelPen]

Bad result on a completely innocent play.

[tfrizz]

Hope he's okay. I haven't seen the full clip, but Liambas is a notoriously dirty player.

Liambis is messed up over the hit. Hasn't slept, went to the hospital to see Fanelli last night.

http://twitter.com/JeffMarek/status/5320033337

[littlemoonboot]

I hope the poor guy comes out of it ok. I heard that his parents were at the game and his mom passed out. I hope he gets well soon.

[NJ5934]

I really hope this kid is okay but rumor has is Colin Campbell is recommending two games for the near fatal hit to the hit.

Seriously folks, when is this BS going to end.

If a hit to the head was an automatic 30 game suspension, would they happen anymore?

[tfrizz]

I really hope this kid is okay but rumor has is Colin Campbell is recommending two games for the near fatal hit to the hit.

Seriously folks, when is this BS going to end.

If a hit to the head was an automatic 30 game suspension, would they happen anymore?

There's another angle on YouTube, and you can see the hit was to Fanelli's shoulder, nothing dirty about it other than the speed he came in with. Fanelli turned his back into Liambis, and would've been alright if his helmet didn't come off.

For the OP, Liambis was given a match penalty for the hit and ejected from the game.

http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=296735

[brwi]

I really hope this kid is okay but rumor has is Colin Campbell is recommending two games for the near fatal hit to the hit.

Seriously folks, when is this BS going to end.

If a hit to the head was an automatic 30 game suspension, would they happen anymore?

Maybe first starting with it being an actual penalty and then seeing what happens would be the prudent way to go. Nothing will change until the rulebook is changed.

You would still see some hits to the head, though those would be more of the accidental variety if the punishment was harsh, unless you're AO and then it would be a $2500 fine.

[mac5155]

heres a longer clip



he was coming in with a lot of speed. tough call, but i think it was clean. these kids (and NHL hockey players) need to learn to tighten their chinstraps.

[cs6687]

It's the Kitchener player's fault he got hit. If he just takes the hit or goes with it, he probably doesn't get hurt, or at least hurt as badly as he was.

[Caputi19]

I know mike and hes not a dirty player. He goes 110% every shift and finishes his checks. The kitchener player had no idea that liambas was coming and got hit on the shoulder and ended up in a very vulnerable position. You can say its borderline but its just an extremely physical play.

[Idoit40fans]

Clean hit, bad result

[K2]

I know mike and hes not a dirty player. He goes 110% every shift and finishes his checks. The kitchener player had no idea that liambas was coming and got hit on the shoulder and ended up in a very vulnerable position. You can say its borderline but its just an extremely physical play.

Dirty was the wrong word...I'll recant that to say he's a bit hotheaded and temperamental at times. Before seeing the extended version of the clip I had worried that the hit was a result of him "crossing the line" but after seeing the hit better it's clear that wasn't the case. It's unfortunate, and it could have been avoided if Fanelli hadn't put himself in a vulnerable position.

[cs6687]

OHL goes overboard, suspends Liambas for rest of season and playoffs.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=297187

[Digitalgypsy66]

OHL goes overboard, suspends Liambas for rest of season and playoffs.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=297187

It's a hockey play with unfortunate results.

[SolidSnake]

Yea that is a little harsh it is a physical contact game.

[ffemtreed]

wow, I and I thought the NHL was unreasonable with there discipline.

[Digitalgypsy66]

I don't know if any of you have Sirius or XM with the best of Sirius, but the commissioner of the OHL will be on HNIC radio at 5:45 tonight. Jeff Marek, the host, is very much against this suspension. It should be interesting.

[steelhammer]

guess he should have thought about that before he took strides from 50 ft away to line up that guy for a hit. you wouldn't know it from watching most games, but 'charging' is an enforceable rule and was created to keep these kinds of hits from occuring.

[penscup]

I know mike and hes not a dirty player. He goes 110% every shift and finishes his checks. The kitchener player had no idea that liambas was coming and got hit on the shoulder and ended up in a very vulnerable position. You can say its borderline but its just an extremely physical play.

This is a tough call. At first glance it seems like a clean hit, but the more I watch the replay the dirtier it seems to get. I disagree that Fanelli had no idea he was going to be hit. The replay shows him looking up two separate times to survey the ice around him before playing the puck so I'm pretty sure he saw Liambus flying in toward him and was expecting a hit. It is questionable whether he put himself in a vulnerable position just before the hit, but the speed that Liambus was coming left him little time to do much of anything so to fault the victim for turning the wrong way here is somewhat unfair IMO.

I also think Liambus got his elbow up a little too high and made the hit much worse. Proof of this is directly after the hit his stick is way up in the air with two hands still on it after finishing the check. You don't need two hands on the stick to throw a legitimate shoulder check which leads me more to believe there was intent to injure here. If he drops one hand off the stick or keeps his stick down more toward the ice where it belongs, the emphasis of the hit stays more toward the lower body and not up towards the head as what occurred.

Overall, it seemed like a reckless play by Liambus even if he usually is not a dirty player. I'm not sure whether he deserves an entire season suspension, but certainly 5-10 games at least to discourage this type of borderline hit on a defenseless defenseman.

[Stoosh]

guess he should have thought about that before he took strides from 50 ft away to line up that guy for a hit. you wouldn't know it from watching most games, but 'charging' is an enforceable rule and was created to keep these kinds of hits from occuring.

Playing Devil's Advocate here, there's also a gray area here between what he was doing prior to the hit and run of the mill forechecking. Look at what guys like Kunitz, Kennedy, Talbot, etc. do in the Pens system and it's really not all that much different. You have systems in place that are designed to generate pressure off a forecheck - sometimes very deep in the zone. Those systems are most effective by putting pressure on and sometimes initiating contact with an opposing puck carrier.

To some degree, Liambas was doing his job....at least preceding the hit.

[Free Candy]

That is a huge overreaction by the OHL. Liambas's career could be ruined for a spur of the moment hockey play.

[Draftnik]

Liambas doesn't have a career. He is a 20 year old overage loser that would be in the AHL (ECHL, IHL, pro CHL, etc) if he had a scintilla of talent. He is only in JR CHL/OHL to run around and cheap shot other players. He's had other questionable hits in his so called career.

I've always thought there was no place in JR hockey for these type of no talent hacks. Branch is on the leading edge of eradicating head shots from hockey. I applaud the move and the next rule change should be the abolishment of overage players from JR leagues. Even though the difference between a 20 year old like Liambas and a 16 year old like Fanelli is only 4 calendar years (actually 49 months), it is much different than a 4 year age difference for NHL players. 20 year old players that aren't good enough to turn pro and make the AHL are too physically developed and deficient in actual hockey talent to be playing with 16 year old boys.

20 year olds (guys like Liambas that turn 21 during the JR season, in Liambas' case FEB 2010) are too physically developed to be playing with 16 year olds boys, plus 16 year old kids aren't prepared for the physicality, tempo, etc that the overage players have due to their near adult physical maturity. Fanelli only played a handful of JR games so he wasn't ready for the tempo of this kind of elbow to the head from a loser that could never be classified a prospect.