Injury at Narch Pro

[MDE3]

I heard JD Davidson from the Tour Mudcats got clocked with a high elbow breaking his nose and orbital bone at Narch Winternationals in the Pro division, requiring him to be hospitalized for two days.

First of all if this is true I wish JD a complete and rapid recovery and extend our sympathies.

The way it was described, the hit was a deliberate attempt to injure, by a player who is also involved in professional extreme fighting for cable television.

Am not claiming these events are factual, as we only heard of this through the grapevine. So before jumping in with both feet, can someone who was there confirm or deny these rumours?

If true does anyone know if any significant action is being taken to prevent this kind of deliberate attempt to injure in the future?

[yokes]

Yes JD was hurt and to a bad extent. That much I know is true.

Beware of a goalie that carries three sticks!

[rt12]

It's hockey.

[tourmudcat6]

Attempting to injure someone at an amateur inline tournament is not hockey. Taking a run at someone when they are not looking is not taught in any rink I know.

No one here is making 100,000 to play. No one here will get disability checks. No one will get fined 50,000. Are you in the NHL rt12?

Maybe it is a part of hockey for people that can't keep up with others. Or maybe its a part of hockey for all the CLOWNS that think they are going right to the show after their thursday night league game.

Things like that should not happen at this level. I don't know about anyone else on this message board, but I need to work the next day. Incidental injury is one thing, but crap like that is un-called for.

Matt Denton
Tour Mudcat


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by tourmudcat6 on 01/18/04 09:07 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

[TeamBreakaway]

Well said Matt. Hope JD is ok. It's stuff like this that makes what pro's used to be like years ago not worth playing nowadays. There was a certain form of respect. The players played the game with a consious. No one was out to hurt anyone. Everyone could skate and were out to prove that. Nowadays you have the slower not so skilled players who feel it's easier to take out a good player then have him show you up. Part of the blame goes to how the game was officiated as well because too much is being let go. It will be until someone runs one of the ref's inadvertidly for them to open their eye's to what they are presumed to incidental contact or malicious contact. They get paid to be there and the players are paying to be there. The people running the roller tournaments should realize that. Without the paying players there's no need for ref's IO no need for tournaments as well. I say it will take one big lawsuit before they open their eye's. But it will have to be something that is caught on tape so that the view of intent and the view of neglect on the ref's point before tournament people realize this.

[Hockeyplus]

Well said Matt it is a shame to see anyone get badly hurt, no one derserves to be. But that being said The Mudcats play a very physical game and are not shy about using their size to advantage. Some of your defensemen are stick happy and your goalie is not shy about using his stick to hook or slash any opposing forwards and your team does get away with a lot.

[Db55UD02]

I am sorry here, but can you really justify hurting someone playing roller hockey? Everyone has lives outside of the hockey world ( even cj). The stickwork from the mudcats are not justified, but neither is taking a person out either. JD may not be a nice player to play against, but I would have an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach if I injured someone to the extent everyone is talking about. Am I the only one with a conscience here?

[TeamBreakaway]

You are definitely not the only one with a conscience. Being around a lot of the Pro NHL players I see the extent of broken orbitals and cheek bones. See the scars from reconstructive surgery and also have talked to the players after the injuries. It's not a fun thing and not easy to overcome. Having metal plates put in to hold your eye socket is not a fun thing or even having pin's and screw in the face is not a nice thing either. Hopefully JD is ok and the damage is not that extensive. I will try to find out tomorrow how much damage there is and give an update. But when will Tournament people get a clue? When will Ref's realize that it's just a game and not let the nonsense go? JD didn't make a dime during that game. Non of the players did. It cost them money to play.
It's just totally RIDICULOUS!

[89jettawolfs]

I think any attempt to injure someone at any level whether pro or just in a for fun league is wrong. I don't know any of these pro players but i get pissed off when ignorant people deliberatlly do stuff like that. It just gives the game a bad name and makes people not wanna play.I hope they take action if it was a deliberate act to injure someone.

[Hockeyplus]

Intent to injure anyone is just wrong. But I feel the refs are in part responsible because they let so much stick work take place. The slashes and hacking that take place are not called until someone has enough and they retaliate and then you get a call. I don't know because I didn't see it but maybe JD or one of his teamates had done something against the other team that was considered out of bounds.
You would have find an unbaised person who saw the whole thing. There was no call by the refs and they are supposed to see everything. Does anyone know?

[MDE3]

I do not know that any one team can be accused of "using their sticks to advantage" more than another in inline hockey, as it seems that the flagrant abuse of players with the stick has become an accepted practice in inline hockey to the point where I see even two handers to the forearm let go on a regular basis by officials.

Maybe because the game is "non contact" officially (although even that could be up for dispute in recent history as I have seen more contact in TORHS tournaments than in some MLRH games) that the practice of "stick checking" an opponent has become more accepted, and a much broader allowance has been made. Interstingly I see less of that stick work in MLRH than in the "non contact versions played.

The above being said, there is NO excuse for a forearm shiver to the face at any "level" of hockey, where this is done deliberately.....if indeed this is what happened to JD. Making a play that can permanently injure a player and create a life threatening issue, or permanent handicap has no place in the sport, which remains just that....a sport. The question of whether a player is "paid" or not is not even the issue..... If this behaviour takes place outside the rink, it is very likely that assault charges, and prison time would be involved, not to mention serious civil litigation. Should this be excused because it took place on a rink?

Where ego and not real pride in one's self dominates the justification for playing, there is no doubt you will have abuses, verbally as well as physically. Sportsmanship has no place in the vocabulary of ego.

In further response to comments about the Mudcat Team, I look back to the Pro finals of the Winternationals Torhs tournament between the Mudcats and PAMA, where on more than one occasion I saw a player from the Mudcats grab an opponent who would have fallen badly at the end of a hard play, preventing a possible and uneccesary injury. I actually noted those occasions because I found it surprising in today's game and remarked to myself that is was nice to see some respect shown between players, even in such a close and toughly disputed game.

At a Winternationals a few years ago, I have watched CJ being submarined from behind and pummelled unmercifully along the boards with punches to the ribs..til where at the end of 4 or 5 games he could no longer be as effective. No doubt opposing coaches felt this was "good strategy. There were almost no calls made for these transgressions. Maybe the Mudcats have earned a few "non calls" over the years.

Yes hockey is a "tough sport", but it is tough enough within the rules. Maybe actions like this if taken deliberately by one player against another should be dealt with by the rules which govern behaviour outside the sport.

PS I have no affiliation with the Mudcats, other than watching them play on more than a few occasions, and while the comportment of some of their players in Major League might raise some questions, in general their play I have seen as "The Mudcats" has shown more sportsmanship on balance, than many other teams I have observed.

[33]

quote by hockeyplus --
I don't know because I didn't see it but maybe JD or one of his teamates had done something against the other team that was considered out of bounds.

yeah, they were beating them! what you said is a complete joke. you can't justify what happened so why try!

[33]

the mudcats play a physical game??? maybe 1 or 2 of them do but they are by far the least physical of the pro teams.

[SpeedDemon]

You cannot blame a ref for what a player does on the rink. A ref can only call penalties based on what occurs. A ref cannot play superman and fly between a player about to exact violent revenge on another player.

Sure, a referee influences how a game is played. However, it is solely up to a player to control himself according to the rules of the game. Anyone who thinks different has a skewed perspective on competitive sports.

[yokes]

Im sure that his "stickwork" didnt equal the attack the other player felt he needed to inflict.

Beware of a goalie that carries three sticks!