Penn State's Sturtz suspended for one game
February 1st, 2016 at 5:30 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 1st, 2016 at 5:36 PM ^
What a joke, B1G hockey has been a complete disaster. I wish we still had the CCHA.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:26 PM ^
Well, from what I've seen, PSU athletics is very good about accepting penalties that are handed down from governing bodies, learning from them, and moving on. So I'm sure this will help the B1G in the long term.
February 1st, 2016 at 5:35 PM ^
To anybody who says the hit looks like Sturtz tried to avoid collision (as JUB did on Twitter): No. If you played hockey (yes I'm pulling this one out, but not for the usual reason of "yer not tough enough to understand"), you can see that if Sturtz wanted to avoid the hit, he would have skated to the right, toward the boards, and missed Motte (or just, you know, stopped... a D1 college hockey player can stop on a dime).
Motte was clearly coming into the corner, turning toward Sturtz's left. Sturtz has the opportunity to either stop or simply veer right, avoiding collision. Instead, he jumps in the air and extends an elbow straight up through Motte's head. If he didn't intend it to be as brutal, he still intended the hit.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:12 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 1st, 2016 at 6:27 PM ^
The point should be moot.
It doesn't matter if he tried to avoid the hit, he still chicken winged Tyler Motte right in the mouth.
February 1st, 2016 at 5:36 PM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 6:19 PM ^
An eye for an eye sends a message.
February 1st, 2016 at 5:38 PM ^
Should have been the rest of the year.
February 1st, 2016 at 5:38 PM ^
Yep, watched it live. Definitely a dirty play that deserves more than 1 game.
Fuck Penn State.
February 1st, 2016 at 8:38 PM ^
Maybe PSU has naked pictures of BiG officials' children.
I know, I know... fuck it, fuck psu, fuck BiG and fuck Sturtz
February 1st, 2016 at 5:47 PM ^
And Big Ten officials STILL don't know what targeting is. Sport apparently doesn't matter.
February 2nd, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^
It looked like he tried to avoid the collision but he did leave his feet and elbowed him.
February 1st, 2016 at 5:49 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 1st, 2016 at 5:59 PM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 6:00 PM ^
Watch the replay and check his feet. He lined them up to try to cut inside (perhaps unwisely) and tucked his legs as if he was going to try to leap and side-step Motte. Not sure why he then threw his elbow out but it does look initially like he's trying to avoid contact
February 1st, 2016 at 6:06 PM ^
No reason to jump if he's trying to avoid.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:18 PM ^
The first few times I watched it did look like he was trying to cut inside, but having watched it a few more times I can't help but notice how he stages his elbow and plants it right on Motte's face and he's looking Motte through the whole way but then again he doesn't put his elbow out at a 90 and doesn't seem to follow it through. Probably should be several games
I do think that if this was Downing who made the hit he'd be out for 3+
February 1st, 2016 at 7:09 PM ^
The dude jumped elbow first into Motte's face. Even if God came down and told you Sturtz didn't mean it, you gotta pull out the hammer for punishmentl Otherwise, what's to stop the next twelve guys from saying, "Gee, I didn't mean it."
February 1st, 2016 at 6:23 PM ^
before should clearly recognize that as intentional contact. Maybe he didn't initially plan on lining up a hit (I think he was originally going to skate inside but Motte turned in his path), but when he saw there would be contact he tucks his elbow down and then drives through with his shoulder/elbow in order to level Motte. If Sturtz wanted to avoid a big hit he could have leaned out of the way/slid by more and rub past him instead, without driving through the contact.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:21 PM ^
Talk about seeing what you want to see. Good gravy
February 1st, 2016 at 6:01 PM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 6:02 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 1st, 2016 at 6:06 PM ^
This is the exact type of hit that not only college, but the NHL is trying to get taken out the game. Left his feet, elbow out, head is inital point of contact. One game suspensions arent enough. Its an extremely dangerous hit as you can see by the result.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:08 PM ^
This hit literally checks every box in the dirty checklist (lines him up, strides into him, leaves feet, leads with elbow, contacts head). One-game suspension is a joke.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:09 PM ^
but Sturtz goes to Penn State and hasn't had a dirty hit in over 24 hours, so the NCAA reduced it to one game.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:18 PM ^
That was a very blatent foul - with intent to harm.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:18 PM ^
Both this and the Cutler Martin suspension were too weak by a factor of 4.
February 1st, 2016 at 6:24 PM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 6:27 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 1st, 2016 at 6:45 PM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 7:27 PM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 7:38 PM ^
FUCKING OUTRAGEOUS!
Jim Hackett needs to go to WAR over this bullshit! If launching and pile driving an elbow in a guy's face = a 1 game penalty what is chopping their fuckin head off with a stick? 2?
February 2nd, 2016 at 9:50 AM ^
Decapitation is 2 games, but if they don't fully sever the neck it's 3 as that's considered inhumane.
February 1st, 2016 at 8:12 PM ^
One game is way too lenient.
Oh, it's Penn State? They should reduce it to one period and apologize for besmirching Success with Honor.
February 1st, 2016 at 8:14 PM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 8:38 PM ^
it's hockey, unavoidable collisions will happen.
Still, the PSU player HAS to keep the elbows down.
Was it dirty? I don't know. Maybe some will call me a homer, but I lean toward "no". But, no doubt, it was reckless. That's extremely scary to watch and a suspension of some sort is necessary simply because reckless play like that isn't good at all for the sport as a whole.
February 2nd, 2016 at 7:56 AM ^
February 1st, 2016 at 8:22 PM ^
Penn State plays Minnesota next, our main competition. Suspending him only makes it harder for the team below us in the standings to beat the team above us in the standings. Small consolation, I admit, but some....
February 1st, 2016 at 8:29 PM ^
I think it's fair. Intent or not, it's an illegal hit and absolutely deserves a suspension, for which the standard is usually one game.
I don't think I've ever seen a guy get more than one game unless they were repeat offenders (looking at you Downing) or did something Conboy/Tropp level. You an argue whether that is enough or not, but it is definitely consistent with what I've seen the past couple years when I've noticed suspensions.
I thought the Martin/Dancs suspensions were appropriate too. Dancs got the one he should have gotten in the first place and Martin got one that comes standard with a DQ and one extra for striking through an official. (Despite the outrage over the punch itself, I am thinking it likely the extra game was given for continuing after the official tried to separate them. That OSU guy had retribution coming for what he had done just prior to that whether it was then and there or later this year and I think the punch itself was probably recognized as coming with the DQ he got anyway)
Note, of course, that I am not counting the extra game they got that was applies for the U18 game. Really doubt those extra games happen if our next game hadn't been an exhibition and I think that was really more of an opportunity to make the punishment look more severe to try and prevent it from happening again between them later.
February 1st, 2016 at 10:56 PM ^
in its severity and intensity. next time we would play a guy like that he'd have to keep his head on a swivel or risk losing it. vicious retaliation.
February 2nd, 2016 at 8:07 AM ^
This was one of the worst hits I've seen, much worse than any of the countless hits Downing has been suspended for. It should have been two games minimum, and maybe more. However, Penn St. is playing Minnesota this weekend and any Minnesota losses are very helpful to Michigan in the standings. I can live with the one game suspension because of that.
February 2nd, 2016 at 8:18 AM ^
The incident was a joke from start to finish. First, the on ice officials gave Sturtz 2 minutes for roughing and 5 minutes for interference. The more accurate penalty would have been 2 minutes for interence and 5 minutes for elbowing contact to the head. Sturtz's hit had all the indicia for intent to injure - direct contact to the head, left his feet, and strode into the hit. Should also have received a game DQ. Suspension should have been 3 games. It's really hard to understand logically what the B1G did here, except to conclude it has different standards for players on different teams.