s - fellow starter A.J. Hawk, veteran backup Jamari Lattimor

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn. Rafael Palmeiro Cubs Jersey .ca. In Sundays Blackhawks-Penguins game, Pittsburgh defenceman Brooks Orpik laid a huge hit on Chicagos Jonathan Toews. Now in my view, Orpik can be clearly seen leaving his feet while delivering a moderately high hit. Why wasnt there supplemental discipline, and should there have even been a penalty? I thought anytime you leapt or left your feet, a penalty is called! Am I missing something? Stu Alderson Stu: You and I are not the only ones missing something here as players continually elevate their posture and leave their feet at impact to deliver devastating hits. Dangerous and significant contact to the head of their opponent almost always results whenever a player leaves his feet to make a big hit. In the here and now, these hits are deemed "legal." With an eye firmly set on the end game, which I hope still remains to greatly reduce contact to the head and resulting concussions, it is irresponsible to continue down this path any longer. While each camp can passionately debate their respective position on whether to allow or eliminate high hits where significant contact to the head of an opponent results, I respectfully submit this issue should no longer be a matter of personal opinion. Instead, it should only be about "science." Through irrefutable medical evidence, we now know the short and long term effects of blows to the head. This road map can provide us with a clear picture of the end game! Brooks Orpik set up to deliver a body check as he slowed and glided toward Jonathan Toews in the corner. Toews sole intent was to advance the puck around the end wall. In doing so, Jonathan Toews lowered his body posture to place him (and particularly his head) in a vulnerable position and must share the responsibility for the location of where he was hit. The onus of "how" the contact was delivered and the "degree of force" utilized is exclusively on Brooks Orpik and taken into account by the referee to determine the legality of the check. No differently than the vast majority of current players, Brooks Orpik finished his hit on Jonathan Toews with considerable force as demonstrated by his upward launch with skates high off the ice. This intensified the velocity and violence of the hit regardless of whether Toews was in a vulnerable position or not. In many cases I would even suggest that an opponents apparent vulnerability is something a player will capitalize on to enhance the degree of force exerted through a hit. We certainly dont see many players let up! Rule 42.1 tells us that a minor or major shall be imposed on a player who "jumps into" an opponent. The "jump" element of this rule was once applied when a players skates lost contact with the ice. Charging is seldom called in the current era of the game, where players leave their feet with far more frequency in the act of delivering a body check than ever before. The most common "excuse" for not calling this infraction is that a players skates did not completely leave the ice prior to initiating body contact. This generous and liberal interpretation is extended to include times when the toe tip of one skate remains in contact with the ice at impact. Referees should be directed to impose a charging penalty in every case when a players skates leave the ice in the act of delivering a body check, period. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see the end game; just a medical scientist! Ryan Dempster Jersey .Tzavelas opened the scoring in the 11th and Pereyra added another in the 51st. Emmanuel Kone pulled one back in the 80th and Levadiakos missed several chances to level in the last 10 minutes. Dennis Eckersley Jersey .She struggled with a hacking cough, she was sick, and she twice celebrated too early, but she held her composure in a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory on Saturday.On her third match point, she let her racket go before hearing a let call to what she thought was an ace. https://www.cheapcubs.com/570t-ian-happ-jersey-cubs.html . The (35-35-10) Jets have 80 points and are also playing .500 hockey on home ice this season with a 17-17-6 record. Michael Hutchinson will start his second straight game in goal.GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers know what life is like without Clay Matthews, and theyre bracing themselves again for being without their four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker for an extended time after Matthews broke his right thumb during Sundays 22-9 victory over the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said in his usual day-after-the-game news conference Monday afternoon that Matthews was at a doctors appointment being examined and that he was unsure how long his star defensive player would be sidelined. "All the informations not in yet," McCarthy said. "I really dont have anything to announce there." Matthews, who left the Packers pre-bye loss at Cincinnati on Sept. 22 with a hamstring injury he suffered while forcing his second fumble of the game on a hit on quarterback Andy Dalton, injured his thumb on the final play of the third quarter, when he came unblocked and sacked Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford for a 12-yard loss. "I told him hes going to have to stop sacking the quarterback because the last two weeks, hes injured himself sacking the quarterback," defensive co-ordinator Dom Capers said jokingly. Matthews grabbed for Stafford with his right hand and then hit the hand on the ground and he finished the play. Afterward, Matthews could be seen looking at his hand before coming off the field, and when he came to the Packers sideline, he reached across his face to unsnap his chinstrap on the right side of this helmet with his left hand. He was then taken to the locker room for x-rays by the Packers medical staff. Assuming Matthews at least misses next Sundays game at defending Super Bowl-champion Baltimore, it would mark the fourth straight year that Matthews will have been sidelined for at least one game. After playing all 16 games as a rookie in 2009, when he missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury, Matthews misssed one game in 2010 with a hamstring injury. Ferguson Jenkins Jersey. In 2011, he was a healthy inactive for the meaningless regular-season finale against Detroit after the Packers had locked up home-field advantage for the playoffs, but he missed four games last season with a hamstring injury before returning from the layoff and recording seven sacks in the next five games (including playoffs). Without Matthews, who had five tackles and a sack in Sundays game, the Packers played Mike Neal and Nick Perry as their outside linebackers. Neal, a converted defensive end, finished with a sack and six tackles; Perry, the teams first-round pick last year whose season ended after six games because of wrist surgery, finished with two sacks and five tackles; Neal had one sack and six tackles. "The one encouraging thing to me is, I think Mike Neal has made really good strides. I think you saw him play his best game yesterday, I think you saw Nick Perry play his best game yesterday," Capers said. And thats the nature of this business. "Not knowing (Matthews) status and whats going to go on there, we need for Mike Neal and Nick Perry to be ready to play next week the way they played this week. Because they played their best football this week." Meanwhile, the Packers apparently arent overly concerned about the hamstring injury suffered by starting inside linebacker Brad Jones. After Jones left Sundays game with the injury, he was replaced by backup Robert Francois, who suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon later in the game. Francois was placed on season-ending injured reserve Monday, but rather than replacing him with another inside linebacker, the Packers instead called up cornerback James Nixon from the practice squad. That leaves them with three other inside linebackers besides Jones - fellow starter A.J. Hawk, veteran backup Jamari Lattimore and rookie seventh-round pick Sam Barrington. ' ' '