Get well, patCHes (oh yeah, Habs 4, Bs 1)

I have to be honest with you. I've been lying in bed awake for three hours, dreading to write this post. When we decided at FHF headquarters eairler this week that I was writing the review of the Bs game, I was so stoked. Now, frankly, I wish I wasn't a Habs blogger.

I kid, I kid, I love this place and all of you guys. But really, I'm just dreading giving my opinion here. No matter what I say, it's going to be wrong. Everyone will disagree with it. Puck Daddy and other hockey blogs will link to this with the "FHF says that Chara hit was dirty" or "FHF believes Chara wasn't intending to injure" or "FHF says Chara is a big fat shaved gorilla". That's just way too much responsibility, and I don't want it. All I ever wanted to do was have some fun and make some jokes and ogle some half naked chicks.

So before I get this over with, let's take a step back and remember what's important here - Max patCHes is lying in the Montreal General Hospital. No matter what you thought of the hit, the aftermath was scary. You seriously could have thought he was dead. His eyes were closed and he didn't move for what seemed like an eternity. For 15 minutes there, I literally felt sick. Thank goodness the Habs organization knows how to use the Twitter machine, and we found out soon enough he was alive, conscious, and moving his limbs. This morning the reports have him suffering a concussion. Compared to death or a broken neck, that's great news. PatCHes, we're all thinking of you. Get well.

OK enough dilly-dallying, here goes. Hmmm...
*looks around*
*makes coffee*
*pours coffee*
*adds shot of Irish whiskey to coffee*
*drinks*
*drinks Irish whiskey straight from bottle*

OK, seriously, here goes. All I can tell you is what I see in the video. And believe me, I've watched it about a 396,567 times by now, on TV and YouTube, in fast speed in slow-mo, backwards and forwards and upside down. Here's what I see. Chara maybe starts hitting Max with his shoulder. However, pretty quickly that shoulder becomes a forearm to the head / neck area, and that arm extends, pushing the head / neck area away. And it's not like you can make the excuse that Chara towers over him, patCHes is 6'2", a giant among Habs forwards. Fact - Max did not have the puck. So what do I think?

Sorry sports fans still anxiously awaiting one stupid blogger's opinion, I still don't know. That may seem like a (possibly drunken) copout, but here's the problem. As HF10 wrote in an email last night:

"Ugly, reckless, stupid yeah. Malicious? Christ I hope not."

That's the thing, you can't really know what's in a player's head, can you? The reactions to this have varied from "a pretty banal hit that just happened in the wrong place" (Big fat Bob McKenzie) to "Chara knew exactly where he was and what he was doing and was getting even for Max's little shove in the back after that OT winner in the January game" (antiCHambre). Chara has denied he had any intent to injure. Do I believe that? Well, no, but I frankly have a hard time believing that even a shaved gorilla wanted to see a player killed or paralyzed. I think Arpon Basu summed up my feelings nicely: "I can't convince myself that Chara wanted that exact outcome. He wanted something, but not that."

So if you're looking for someone to lead the angry pitchfork mob, you've come to the wrong place. The problem is, this is just Day 1 of this discussion. We've all got to take a deep breath, be rational and civil, and politely disagree with each other. Until the NHL decides Bob McKenzie is right and gives Chara a token one-game suspension. Then we can go apeshit.

Oh yeah, Habs played a dynamite hockey game, using their skill and speed to cruise to a 4-0 lead before the incident. Too bad a dandy 40 minutes was forgotten in 2 seconds.