Some interesting revisionist history in this thread.
When Savard was concussed by Cooke the Bruins were blasted to kingdom come by many here for not sticking up for him.
Today, the exact same charge, but the "old Bruins" - meaning the guys who were Savard's teammates - are now lauded as tough guys who stuck up for each other.
To quote the King of Siam, it is a puzzlement.
And just as an observation, from 40 years or so of hockey watching, it's appeared to me that hockey players, being human beings, react most immediately and viscerally to actions that they witness in clear/close proximity. Czarnick, like Savard, was not the main focus of the players on the ice (and IIRC was also on the boards on the same side as the benches), so their reaction would be different from those of us with the benefit of TV cameras (conversely, what we can often see is a perfectly legal hit can appear dirty at ice level, which sometimes leads to unnecessary fights).
Often we hear coaches and players say they don't know what happened at a particular moment in a game (and it's not just hockey - it's common in football too), and we scoff. How could they not know, we ask, forgetting or just not understanding that our TV screens offer us a comprehensive picture, compared to large, teeming bodies at eye level moving in the blink of an eye.
If fans want to stand in judgement of players for what they perceive as not being a good teammate, that's their prerogative. It makes for a lively discussion. But ultimately it doesn't make any difference - what matters is how the players feel about each other. I never got the impression that his teammates didn't care about Savard, but maybe that's just me.
I hope Czarnick feels better soon. It was heartening to see him skating before practice.
