It has been ten years since the Steckel on Crosby hit.

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I was just reading about this. This hit pretty much ruined Steckel's career. Found himself bouncing around after that when he had a solid role with the Capitals. Think he would've been able to get another 5-7 solid years in the NHL had that never happened.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

This play is what paved the way for. Mcdavid,mack, matthews,drai,kaprizov,kucherov etc to play in a high octane soft as butter nhl. They should pay homage

 

[Bounces R Way]

Not going to feel too bad for Sidney. He got his 3 Stanley Cups and 2 Olympic Golds. Plenty of individual hardware. Definitely will go down as a top 10 player in the history of the sport, and while I'm not at all his biggest fan very arguably top 5. Not to mention the millions of dollars and international fame. Probably takes exclusively one wiper shits too that milk drinker.

He was and is a great player. Lots of great players never get a real chance to win for real in their career. Maybe Steckel meant to get a piece of him, maybe not. What difference does it make ultimately? It's a fast paced game and shit happens.

 

[Acallabeth]

I was just reading about this. This hit pretty much ruined Steckel's career. Found himself bouncing around after that when he had a solid role with the Capitals. Think he would've been able to get another 5-7 solid years in the NHL had that never happened.

I think the Pens fans stated that Crosby had missed so much time because of headache due to sinus infection, not a constipation. So Pittsburgh doctors basically ruined Steckel's career.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

I thought it was an accident at the time. Don't feel any different now. The game is fast. Shit happens.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

This play is what paved the way for. Mcdavid,mack, matthews,drai,kaprizov,kucherov etc to play in a high octane soft as butter nhl. They should pay homage

Yea losing the best player in the league for the better part of two years led to significant rule changes. Concussion protocol didn't even exist before this.

 

[Hank Plank]

Not going to feel too bad for Sidney. He got his 3 Stanley Cups and 2 Olympic Golds. Plenty of individual hardware. Definitely will go down as a top 10 player in the history of the sport, and while I'm not at all his biggest fan very arguably top 5. Not to mention the millions of dollars and international fame. Probably takes exclusively one wiper shits too that milk drinker.

He was and is a great player. Lots of great players never get a real chance to win for real in their career. Maybe Steckel meant to get a piece of him, maybe not. What difference does it make ultimately? It's a fast paced game and shit happens.

What in the actual F is this.

 

[DearDiary]

Steckel gave Crosby a concussion, but was Hedmans boarding the next game that gave Crosby his neck injury

 

[JoVel]

No one would've ever thought of it as intentional if it didn't happen to a star player.

 

[Crow]

Steckel gave Crosby a concussion, but was Hedmans boarding the next game

 

[Acallabeth]

No one would've ever thought of it as intentional if it didn't happen to a star player.

Not only that: don't forget that it was the prime time of Matt Cooke running around with headshots. Penguins fans watched that clown's intent to injure every game, so they were struggling to comprehend that there could be unintentional head injuries.

 

[teugen]

Steckel gave Crosby a concussion, but was Hedmans boarding the next game that gave Crosby his neck injury

I'm still waiting the part where Hedmans feet left the ice.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Steckel gave Crosby a concussion, but was Hedmans boarding the next game that gave Crosby his neck injury

This is the play that gets overlooked very often because of the mis-diagnosed neck injury. While the concussion issues certainly were present with Sid, there are still a lot of fans who don't know that it was ultimately the neck injury that caused him to miss so much time. Once they started treating that he recovered fairly quickly.

Such a shame that we lost such a massive amount of time in Crosby's prime to an overlooked diagnosis.

 

[Grifter3511]

I think the Pens fans stated that Crosby had missed so much time because of headache due to sinus infection, not a constipation. So Pittsburgh doctors basically ruined Steckel's career.

I don't care about the facts. In my world, it will always be constipation that caused Crosby to miss so much time.

 

[pi314]

I've played hockey at all levels all my life, Steckle did that accidentally on purpose. No doubt.

Oh I am just gonna put my head down and blow up the best player in the world.

If you have accidental contact you react in some way.

This.

You’re surprised if someone accidentally runs into you.

You react in some way.

When you give the accidentally on purpose, you stare straight ahead like Steckel did.

Because you’re acting.

Crosby is still one of the best to lace them up.

But he was at another level before the concussions and had to modify his game after.

 

[Midnight Judges]

I was just reading about this. This hit pretty much ruined Steckel's career. Found himself bouncing around after that when he had a solid role with the Capitals. Think he would've been able to get another 5-7 solid years in the NHL had that never happened.

I don't doubt that he would be black balled over something like this, but it's not like he was a good player who had his career ruined. He really wasn't integral to team success or anything like that. He was fringe NHL-er who was trying to hang on any way he could, including fighting - which he was very bad at IIRC.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Funny I only referenced this hit earlier in the week when Courturier caught Dach with a shoulder to the head, had to google the Crosby hit to even remember Steckel’s name. Used to have a guy in no-contact beer league make the same play on me several times a year, ‘accidental’ drive by head shot, so glad he shattered his ankle and no longer plays

 

[Midnight Judges]

The contact on that play was almost entirely Sidney Crosby's fault. He abruptly turned, face-first, with his head down, while not looking where he was going but instead puck-watching. No hockey coach at any level would ever teach a player to do that.

If this was some non-star player, there is little chance anyone is calling this dirty. David Steckel is not that type of player and his career demonstrated that for anyone who is familiar. David Steckel is not Matt Cooke - although Pens fans from that era LOVED Matt Cooke and defended him waaaaay beyond the point of reason.

From the Pens forum in 2013 - well after Cooke's dirty hits were undeniable:

The Matt Cooke Appreciation Thread

Yes, I went there... Despite the negatives that came with him at times, Cooke could flat out play and was a huge boon on the PK. All the best in Minny to a guy that not everybody liked but everyone on these boards at least realized went all out night in and night out. Farewell Cooke...

forums.hfboards.com

So I'm inclined to think this is selective emotion-driven reasoning more so than sober thinking.

 

[PaulD]

I've played hockey at all levels all my life, Steckle did that accidentally on purpose. No doubt.

Oh I am just gonna put my head down and blow up the best player in the world.

If you have accidental contact you react in some way.

This !

 

[Super Hans]

Damn, I was about to make a thread commemorating 13 years, 9 months and 30 days since the Steckel hit.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Will this be the defining moment of the Sid / Ovi generation when we look back historically?

How good would Crosby / the Pens have been without this hit?

Do you feel old?

I feel old because i was 18 when Sid joined the league, now I’m in my late 30s with a bunch of health issues including a benign brain mass limiting my physical movements and causing balance issues.

I think the pens and Crosby did okay all things considering.


Disgusting hit though. One is a plug and the other is among the greatest to play the game

 

[um]

I was just reading about this. This hit pretty much ruined Steckel's career. Found himself bouncing around after that when he had a solid role with the Capitals. Think he would've been able to get another 5-7 solid years in the NHL had that never happened.

Steckel was a below average 4C who was really good at faceoffs, and nothing else.

His career exceeded his ability. The hit did not harm him at all.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I thought it was an accident at the time. Don't feel any different now. The game is fast. Shit happens.

yeah it never even really looked like an "accidentally on purpose" to me. When you watch it at real speed Syd circles right into him and is uncharacteristically unaware of someone near him. At most you could argue Steckel felt contact coming and prepared for it but I don't see much else.

I think the Matt Cooke's and Raffi Torres's had more to do with head contact rules than this particular hit.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

The contact on that play was almost entirely Sidney Crosby's fault. He abruptly turned, face-first, with his head down, while not looking where he was going but instead puck-watching. No hockey coach at any level would ever teach a player to do that.

If this was some non-star player, there is little chance anyone is calling this dirty. David Steckel is not that type of player and his career demonstrated that for anyone who is familiar. David Steckel is not Matt Cooke - although Pens fans from that era LOVED Matt Cooke and defended him waaaaay beyond the point of reason.

From the Pens forum in 2013 - well after Cooke's dirty hits were undeniable:

The Matt Cooke Appreciation Thread

Yes, I went there... Despite the negatives that came with him at times, Cooke could flat out play and was a huge boon on the PK. All the best in Minny to a guy that not everybody liked but everyone on these boards at least realized went all out night in and night out. Farewell Cooke...

forums.hfboards.com

So I'm inclined to think this is selective emotion-driven reasoning more so than sober thinking.

Reading through the thread checking for my name.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

yeah it never even really looked like an "accidentally on purpose" to me. When you watch it at real speed Syd circles right into him and is uncharacteristically unaware of someone near him. At most you could argue Steckel felt contact coming and prepared for it but I don't see much else.

I think the Matt Cooke's and Raffi Torres's had more to do with head contact rules than this particular hit.

It was this hit. Concussion protocol was introduced in 2011 months after this. Rule changes were introduced in June 2011 redefining head shots. NHL didn't take action until their best player went down.

Not getting into whether it was a dirty hit, but rather that the NHL started taking head shots seriously after what happened to Crosby.