raffi torres

Coyotes' Raffi Torres Suspended Indefinitely for 'Brutal' Hit

Marian Hossa was removed from the ice on a stretcher after receiving a late, illegal hit from Raffi Torres. He's home from the hospital while Torres is facing supplementary discipline.

Marian Hossa was removed from the ice on a stretcher after receiving a late, illegal hit from Raffi Torres. He's home from the hospital while Torres is facing supplementary discipline.

None, then, professed to have seen teammate Raffi Torres' first-period, shoulder-to-head, airborne hit on the Hawks' Marian Hossa that resulted in Hossa being taken off the ice on a stretcher. COX: Spiral into utter silliness Blackhawks outraged by hit

CHICAGO — the NHL suspended Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres indefinitely on Wednesday for knocking Chicago's Marian Hossa out of the game — and maybe the playoffs — with a shoulder blow to the head. Hossa won't play in Game 4 on Thursday with

Sports Beat » Raffi Torres Deserves Harsh Ban, But Supplemental Discipline Won’t Solve Problems

Raffi Torres lost any benefit of the doubt for anything he does on the ice a long time ago. A noted cheap shot artist, the NHL has Torres’ number on speed dial.

Torres was at it again on Tuesday night, this time on the game’s biggest stage, the playoffs. Torres’ devastating blow to Chicago’s Marian Hossa left the Blackhawks star laying motionless on the ice. The hit was late, high and Torres left his feet to deliver it. a triple-threat, if you will.

Hossa was taken to the hospital, and the full diagnosis and extent of the injury is unknown at this point. What is known, though, is that Torres shouldn’t touch the ice for the rest of the playoffs. and he should probably be forced to sit out some games once next year’s season starts as well.

Hopefully, Brendan Shanahan and the NHL act swiftly and punish the crime to its fullest extent. it was a dirty hit from a dirty player, and it needs to be punished. However, the NHL has shown a disturbing trend in the last week or so to get its act together when it comes to supplemental discipline.

Where Matt Carkner was suspended one game for an attack on Brian Boyle in the Senators-Rangers series, Nicklas Backstrom was given the same punishment for a far less calculated cross-check to the face of Rich Peverley in a postgame scrum. The punishments handed out to Pittsburgh’s James Neal (one game for reckless hits) and Arron Asham (four games for a high cross-check and a punch to the back of a head) both seemed relatively light.

These ugly incidents have shifted the public focus from what’s been a pretty darn exciting week of hockey to reckless on-ice behavior that endangers players and sometimes, like in Hossa’s case, leaves them with nasty injuries.

Here’s the thing, though. While the NHL disciplinary efforts leave a lot to be desired (and they have for quite some time now), Shanahan and the league are far from the only ones at fault in this situation. The sudden explosion of questionable hits and ruthless attacks after the whistles isn’t necessarily a reflection of the league’s disciplinary efforts, rather it’s an indication that the NHL community needs to step back and take a look at the way they do things.

It starts, as it always should, with the players. There’s an apparent lack of respect among some players, with Torres chief among them. The hit we saw from Torres on Tuesday night was reckless, dangerous and gutless. it was also unsurprising.

The league needs to come down on him hard because he’s clearly not getting the message. By comparison, players like Torres make the year had by Matt Cooke this year look angelic. Cooke, to his credit, behaved himself this year, something even more “impressive” considering he’s stood idly by throughout the gong show of a series that has been Penguins-Flyers.

But look back at the last week or so, and you’ll see cheap shot after cheap shot. Torres, Carnker, Asham and Weber are all guilty. As are Byron Bitz and Carl Hagelin. That’s a pretty ugly rap sheet for just the first half of the first round.

The NHL will always be popular among hardcore hockey fans. That’s not going to change any time soon. However, if players continue to take unnecessary runs at each other or come in with elbows and shoulders locked in on heads, the injuries are going to pile up, and as a result, it’s going to water down the product. That’s not something the league (and its players) can afford.

The players need to do more on the ice to control the game, but so do the officials. The on-ice officiating has been head-scratching at times in the first week of the playoffs, and there’s no better example than the Torres hit. It doesn’t take a seasoned puckhead to know that the Torres hit was at least some sort of penalty. However, it went uncalled.

In fact, the Coyotes came out of it up a man. Brandon Bollig went to the defense of his teammate and chasing down Torres. for his defense, he was given a roughing penalty and a game misconduct. to recap: Torres put one of the Blackhawks’ best players on a stretcher, and Phoenix ended up with a power play.

Also going unpunished, at least on the ice, was Shea Weber’s WWE-inspired facewash of Henrik Zetterberg into the glass. Had something like a match penalty been called, it may have solved a lot of problems. it would have come with an automatic one-game suspension, and the precedent for a suspension would have been set. there would have been far less grey area, and it wouldn’t have put the NHL in a place to try and make an arbitrary ruling.

This isn’t to say there’s no place for physical play in the game. Far from it. The game is at its best when it’s played physically. The same goes for fighting. But there is a difference between acting like a total dope (Asham, Torres, etc.) and playing a strong, physical brand of hockey.

There’s a difference between the bone-crushing hit Dustin Brown delivered on Henrik Sedin, or Sidney Crosby dropping the gloves with Claude Giroux in an attempt to jumpstart their teams in a passionate series than there is in seeing Marian Hossa wheeled off on a stretcher.

For hockey to remain clean and honest, everyone in the league must do a better job of policing the sport. The players need to be better. The officials must be better. Shanahan and the department of player safety need to be better.

Perhaps above all, it’s time for Gary Bettman to come out and try and put an end to this ugly stepchild variation of what can be a good, clean, physical sport.

Bettman has been far too quiet throughout, and perhaps it’s his voice that needs to be heard more than other. Change is needed. and until that change comes, the unsightly black eye that has come to characterize the game’s toughest players will instead serve to mask a breath-taking sport that will have fallen victim to reckless, negligent and irresponsible behavior.

For more NHL news make sure to visit NESN.com.

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Coyotes get their licks in on Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, but he feels good

“We’re trying to be physical with everybody,” Coyotes veteran Shane Doan said.

Doan got mixed up with Toews in the second period and seemingly slammed him to the ice behind the Coyotes’ goal.

“You recognize how incredibly good Jonathan Toews is,” Doan said. “He’s as good a player as there is in the league. If he doesn’t get hurt, he’s probably getting talked about for the Hart Trophy this year. he just does everything.

“Toews comes back after missing 22 games and has a goal and an assist and plays huge minutes and is a such a big part of their team. but we’re going to be physical with everyone. We have to be. We just can’t let them skate. They’ve got too much skill.”

Toews skated Friday as the Hawks held an optional skate at Jobing.com Arena. Afterward, he said he feels good despite all the physical play.

“I expected worse and that’s not too undershoot what happened [Thursday] night,” Toews said. “I’m going to be at the net. I’m going to be right there in front of the goalie every whistle and every chance they get they’re going to take shots. I expected that. It’s no big deal. I’m just happy with the way I dealt with it.

“[Thursday] night was a tough one to jump in to. I think that adrenaline and that excitement of playing in the playoffs and even just playing in your first game in a long time helps to kind of power through it. I think that way, physically, the worse is over, no more excuses. I’m looking forward to going out there and playing my game and not thinking too much and just letting things happen out there.”

The Coyotes outhit the Hawks 48-22, but that doesn’t matter too much. the Hawks still managed to get 45 shots on goalie Mike Smith. but the Coyotes did establish the physical tone to the series as Raffi Torres, Martin Hanzal and Rostislav Klesla were all involved. In the first period, Klesla shoved Toews head while he was down on the ice. “Everybody’s getting the jitters out the first game and I’m sure there’ll be a lot more guys getting hits and both teams got to keep their heads up out there,” said Torres, who knocked out defenseman Brent Seabrook last season with a hit when he was with the Vancouver Canucks.

“We were stressing in the room that everybody’s got to play bigger and play stronger and play harder and last night was a good result of that. but you’ve got to expect them to come with it too.”

Hanzal, in particular, seemed to rattle the Hawks. he also scored the game-winner in overtime.

“Marty is hands down our unsung hero,” Doan said. “He doesn’t get really any of the attention that he deserves. as an outsider, people probably wouldn’t really notice him in our lineup much, but as a guy who is in this group, he’s probably our most valuable forward.

“He kills [penalties], he’s on the power play, he’s plays against the top line. he kind of really makes that line go with [Ray Whitney] and [Radim Vrbata]. That’s a legitimate no. 1 line with those two when he’s in the middle. he creates so much for everybody and, on top of that, he’s hard to play against. He’s physical. he has other teams mad at him and yet he’s 6-5, 240 pounds and there’s not a lot you can do to him. He’s so instrumental to our team.”