Zdeno Chara, captain of the Boston Bruins has avoided an expected suspension for his hit Tuesday night on Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty. He managed to avoid the suspension thanks to the NHL ruling that there was no intent to injure Max Pacioretty.
Pacioretty was knocked unconscious after striking his head on the steel partition that supports the glass. He also suffered a fracture of his fourth cervical vertebra and will be out indefinitely.
Following the game, Chara had this to say about the incident, “I know we were somewhere close to the bench. Obviously that wasn’t my intention to push him to the post. It’s very unfortunate,” he said. “That’s not my style to hurt somebody. I always play hard, play physical. I never try to hurt anybody. I’m hoping he’s OK.”
Pacioretty on the other hand feels very differently about the hit and had this to say to TSN, “I heard (Chara) said he didn’t mean to do it. I felt he did mean to do it. I would feel better if he said he made a mistake and that he was sorry for doing that, I could forgive that, but I guess he’s talking about how I jumped up or something.” He continued to state, “I believe he was trying to guide my head into the turnbuckle. We all know where the turnbuckle is. It wasn’t a head shot like a lot of head shots we see but I do feel he targeted my head into the turnbuckle.”
Check out the clip below; let me know what you think of the hit, did you think it was it clean or dirty? Tell me on my twitter @EliteGirlJen