First, the captain is okay. “He got hurt a little bit, came back out,” Coach Boudreau said. “When he scored the goal I said ‘That’s it for you, let’s rest it here.’ That’s why he went back in to get it iced. He’s sore. He’s going to be OK but he’s sore.”
If you saw the stick Matt Beleskey took to the eye, oh man, I worried he lost his eye. Turns out, “It’s another black eye for the season, I guess,” Beleskey joked after the game. “It’s all good, just some stitches. I got lucky it didn’t hit my actual eyeball. How it wasn’t a penalty, I guess they missed that one too. It’s part of the game.”
I wasn’t too worried about Getz’ injury because he didn’t twist the knee but rather went back on it a bit. That usually causes more sprain and strain with swelling symptoms. It’s painful as all get out but recovery is measured in days.
It’s when you twist the joint while putting the pressure of your own weight on it is when you suffer the pops that are diagnosed as torn ligaments. So yeah, credit an excellent athletic feat by Ryan Getzlaf and his incredible strength to maintain while all of his momentum was forcing the weight of his body to go against the natural movement of his knee-joint.
I suppose we should all call Getz out for stepping on the stick in the first place, (((DOH))) One second klutz the next he’s Michelle Kwan.
We dodged a couple of bullets tonight.
BackCheck's Blog 
Glad BB pulled Getz at the 7 min mark…as for Beleskey and other players not playing with a visor/face mask: Why? Not wearing a visor/face mask is a risk not worth taking. It can be done…it just takes a little getting used to. I would make it part of their contract…i.e Crosby out with a broken jaw.
Not sure a visor would have protected Crosby’s jaw U. I came up before helmets were mandatory. I never wore shoulder pads after Bantam. Hated shoulder pads. Then again I played goal for a year without a cup but had a very good blocker 🙂 Mandatory visors? Jeez that’s tough for me because Chiasson was extremely sloppy with his stick. I appreciate the contact was inadvertent. But man you just don’t carry your stick that way. Among the very first things I was taught was stick handling. We were expected to know everything that was going on around us within a stick length. that included if a player was behind you. The learned skill was you didn’t raise your stick above your knee if a player was within a stick length from you. As soon as we got helmets guys started using their sticks like spears, clubs and tomahawks. IMHO a lot of injuries would be avoided if players had what we called a good stick. In other words that player could manage and use his stick effectively. Make visors mandatory and guys will get hit by high sticks more often.
Totally agree about player responsibility…you must be aware of where your stick goes at all times. However, Cogs has lost teeth, Beleskey had almost lost his eye, etc…I full face mask is the way to go. I have always found it interesting that a team would invest millions into a player and fail to include stipulations to protect the investment. The insurance policy must read like an encyclopedia, LOL!
Exactly, with proper skill development and training the need for hiding and inhibiting the player under equipment is unnecessary 🙂
I’m still rolling eyes that 8 NHL trained and approved officials missed the calls on Bollig’s high stick on Cogs and Chiasson’s facial reconstruction on Beleskey. Really, the league ought to be embarrassed and taken to task by some governmental or judicial oversight.
I would encourage DA’s to file criminal charges for excessive violence occurring during sporting events. If the NHL can’t regulate itself, The People will step in and do it for them eventually.
Wasn’t Teemu wearing a visor when his jaw got broken. I think that was caused by a puck which a visor wouldn’t have stopped. I don’t recall if Getz was wearing a visor when he got hit in the face a couple of years ago. If my memory is correct a visor might have prevent or minimized the injury.
I noticed when Belesky came back from the locker room he was wearing a visor…
Yes, Teemu was wearing a visor when his jaw was broken by a puck that took an odd bounce up off the ice to his face, and no, Getzlaf was not wearing one when he was injured, although he did wear a visor for a time when he returned from that injury.
As Ed Morrow might say, that’s “As it Happened.” Thanks Bilverado. When I read bb’s post I’m thinkin’ do I trust my memory 😉