Ryan Reaves violent hit on Darnell Nurse. 5 min major + ejected

PanniniClaus

Registered User
Oct 12, 2006
10,981
4,804
I think Reaves was shocked he actually made contact with an opposing player. He's a battleship going after speedboats so Nurse was somehow unaware. No intent but a game or two will suffice.
 

ReHabs

Registered User
Sponsor
Jan 18, 2022
8,128
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To preface: I hate dirty hits and think they ruin the game.

Players are told to forecheck and punish defenders. Reaves took speed and went to blow up the defender. Nurse was completely unaware of the SCUD missile coming his way.

Out of respect for the game and its players: Reaves should've eased up. There is not much more upside in pulverising a d-man (to the point of injury) versus blowing him up and making him hurt. The tangible difference is the targeted player might be pulled out of the game due to injury... but then so could you (the hitter), and so could other players on your team who get targeted in kind. That's why it's disrespectful. You're trying not to hurt the player but to make the player get hurt... that's beyond the bounds of a sport.

Reaves should've let up a bit when he knew he had Nurse. A split-second decision would've changed a devastating "dirty" hit into highlight reel hit anyone could be proud to have as their own.

With that said, is it a filthy hit that aimed for the head? No. It wasn't a drive-by, a slewfoot, a raised shoulder, a flying elbow, etc. Reaves drove into Nurse with maximum force while Nurse was bent over, in the danger zone by the boards, and completely unaware of his impending doom. Terrible lack of awareness from Nurse and a terrible decision to hurt another player from Reaves.

tl;dr Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Have some respect for the fellow players and don't try to destroy them.
 

AnInjuredJasonZucker

Registered User
Feb 21, 2014
5,828
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Anyone who was on the ice at the time should have immediately dropped the gloves to fight Reaves.

They didn’t have to beat up Reaves, just fight him to send the message that it’s unacceptable to hit one of your star players. Even if they had to eat a few punches it would have been worth it.

If you’ve never played hockey before, imagine if another guy came up and groped your girlfriend. Even if you’re smaller would you not get in his face and throw a few punches?

You absolutely CANNOT just stand there and do nothing.
Yeah, I bet having to punch McDavid in the face a bunch of times would make Reaves think twice about throwing a dirty hit. He'd probably say to himself, "What I did was unacceptable, and I should feel shame."

And then a now also concussed McDavid would say, "I have avenged my teammate by bruising a 4th liners knuckles. Today I became a captain."
 

sbhnur

Registered User
Dec 26, 2020
198
157
He is still in the league?

Good chance to put nurse to IR until the playoffs and use the money on some worth players?
 

vandymeer13

Registered User
Feb 8, 2017
827
470
Iowa
It's always ironic that players are expected to fight after clean hits.

Yet when Reaves makes an arguably dirty hit and knocks your player out, no one looks twice at him.
The oilers don't have anyone. The only guy in the system is josh brown and they sent him down which was dumb. Might need to look for a tough forward.
 

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