I Feel Like I'm Taking Crazy Pills With The Responses To The Dennis Wideman Hit

I first saw the vine of this hit and thought, “Holy shit! Wideman just intentionally buried an official. He may have just gotten himself kicked out of the NHL.”

Then I saw the full clip and you know what I thought? Good, I’ll tell you. I thought, “Holy shit! Wideman just intentionally buried an official. He may have just gotten himself kicked out of the NHL.”

Maybe I’ve got tunnel vision after the initial viewing, you can’t make a second first impression and all that, but how anyone sees anything but intent is simply incomprehensible to me. There are hockey tough guys saying the linesman missed the call (not his call) so it was payback. A fair point, but I’d counter by saying that, well, it doesn’t fucking matter. You can’t get payback on a linesman because he missed a call that wasn’t his to make. Being unhappy with a non-penalty doesn’t make you lord of the ice and give you free reign to hand out crosschecks from behind as you see fit. It’s important to remember that.

Other people are saying Wideman was concussed and didn’t know where he was. Another fair point, as Wideman doesn’t exactly have a Matt Cooke-like reputation. But for a guy who was unsure of what planet he was on, he sure knew the perfect time to extend those hands and follow through the back of an officials head with a strong crosscheck. Wideman went on to finish the game, so at best he had the worst concussion in history and got the Flames trainer fired for somehow missing it. At worst he was in a fit of rage, knew exactly what he was doing, and made an official pay the price. Also, he went out of his way to apologize to the linesman…

I apologize too. I apologize all the time. You know when I do it? When I lose my head, do something incredibly stupid, get caught, and realize it’s about to land me in a world of trouble. Tough to make the argument that the guy didn’t know what he was doing when moments later he had the clarity to track the official down and beg for forgiveness. Todd Bertuzzi apologized for breaking Steve Moore’s neck too. Bertuzzi didn’t mean to break his neck, it was a freak accident that came on a dangerous play when Bertuzzi sought justice from behind. Sounds rather familiar.

The NHL Rule Book states that intentionally hitting an official is a minimum 20 game suspension.

Personally, I don’t know HOW you can keep it that low. Especially when Wideman himself isn’t even claiming concussion, he said the hit hurt his neck/shoulder and burying the ref was simply unintentional.

Look I’m not gonna claim to know everything that happened. I don’t know where Wideman was looking or what he was thinking. People can look at this and see what they want. But the “unintentional” and “at the last second, I looked up and saw him” excuses don’t fly here. If you ask me, he clearly cocks back and he clearly extends his hands. By my reading, that makes him very aware of what he’s doing. Non-concussed professional hockey players are pretty skilled athletes, pretty smart ones too, and it seems to me that he should know shifting body weight and finishing a hit isn’t the best reaction to seeing an official at the last second. Especially when you’re both moving at such slow speeds. I’m no pro athlete, yet an “oh shit, saw you at the last second” slow-mo collision with me still usually ends in a quick sidestep, an abrupt stop, or a pseudo-hug to at least make sure you don’t fall. There are plenty of options to make sure it doesn’t end with anything remotely as violent as that hit. If, by some miracle, you do get a face full of boards and ice on a completely accidental play, most people will stop and help you up, immediately apologize, or at least look back. You know, because it was an accident and all that.

So you’ve got to throw the book at him here. I know Widemen doesn’t have a rep, but you’re responsible for your actions on the ice. “I didn’t see him” isn’t an excuse when you hit a player, and it sure as hell can’t be an excuse when you bundle an official, from behind, so close to the boards. He’s gotta go for the rest of the season, at the very least.