This video comes from the semifinal round of a recent Wisconsin high school hockey tournament in a game between West Salem and Lincoln. That’s a West Salem skater who gets absolutely wrecked by a massive open-ice hit from a Lincoln defenseman as soon as he enters the zone, sending him crashing hard to the ice.
Was it legal? The refs seemed to think so – there was no call despite the West Salem bench’s pleas- and it looks pretty textbook to me as well. The player in orange gets a one-on-one breakout chance and attempts to beat the defender with some sort of fancy move, one which ends terribly for the puck possessor.
The offensive player makes the mistake of putting his head down to watch the puck while he attempts his deke and the defender makes him pay by absolutely leveling him with a clean hit that sends him crashing extremely hard to the ice.
Check it out in slo-mo:
[NESN]
About Pete Blackburn