You are right, he absolutely chose to make that hit. And he fully knew there were hearings earlier in the day. So why would he do it?
1. The inclusion of injury in the suspension process. NHL players couldn't step on the ice if they put much thought into injuries. So while Torres wanted to clean Hossa's clock, the thought isn't how bad he'll injure him, just wanting to make him hurt and play scared. At worst, miss a couple games, big deal, everybody misses games. He's certainly not thinking he could be making Hossa the next Andre Waters.
2. Nobody has gotten a tough suspension in a long time, especially inteh playoffs. So Torres misses the next game - Hossa will be playing scared, if at all, Torres still wins.
The league needs to make it perfectly clear that any attempt at a hit like that will get 20 games, and huge fines for the team. the current weak and inconsistent punishment makes it t6oo easy to "choose" that hit.
Posted on Apr 18, 2012, 11:01 AM from IP address 208.87.234.180