Video: Dirty Play or Good Clean Hockey? Brooks Orpik Crushes Jeff Skinner
The sensitivity level in the NHL is at an all-time high. It’s so bad that every hit, check or collision is micro-analyzed from every possible angle. So it was only natural that when Pittsburgh Penguins bruiser Brooks Orpik delivered a devastating open-ice hit to Carolina Hurricane’s forward Jeff Skinner, people were going to question the necessity of the hit.
Skinner was playing in his first game after missing 16 games with a concussion. The 19 year-old was hurt on Dec. 7 when Edmonton Oilers defenseman Andy Sutton leveled him with a similar hit. Before that hit, he had not missed an NHL game. After the collision with Orpik he lay on the ice to gather his bearings. Fortunately he was able to return to the game. However, people will still question what Orpik’s true intentions were.
The focus and attention to head shots and head injuries has greatly impacted the way hockey’s physicality is viewed. What had once been viewed as a routine check in hockey is not coming under scrutiny on a nightly basis. Granted the level of “dirty” plays or ‘cheap shots” is on the rise it should not take away one of the key elements of the sport–hitting.
It’s obvious from the video that Orpik had no intention of hurting Skinner and was simply making a good hockey play. It’s just too bad that every time a player is checked hard we have to ask our selves if the play was legal or not. I guess that’s the reality of today’s post-concussion NHL.
What do you think? Let us know.
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This is a clean hit? He didn’t even reach for the puck. His only intent was to hammer the player going after it. How in hell is that not dirty?
Its not dirty because skinner played the puck, if you read the book, a defensive player is allowed to step up on any player why is playing the puck. If skinner was smart he wouldn’t have played the puck, and then it would have been a interference call on orpik. know the rules before you call players dirty!