Aaron Rome delivered a monsters hit to Nathan Horton at the Vancouver blue line last night. The hit left Horton unconscious on the ice and Rome was ejected.
The fallout is this: Horton will miss the remainder of the Finals with a severe concussion and Rome will miss the remainder of the Finals with a four-game suspension.
I think the NHL’s punishment is appropriate. Rome left his feet and hammered a guy way too late. The result was a serious injury and Rome will now pay the price.
A lot of people seem to think the four-game ban isn’t enough and i have to disagree. I don’t think this was a hit to the head, nor was it blind side. Face it people, when the players are skating AT each other there is not a blind side. Sure Horton was vulnerable but it wasn’t a blind side hit. I do agree that the hit was far too late and that by leaving his feet Rome was putting Horton in a position to be injured.
So Rome deserved a suspension and he got one. He will not play in the rest of this series and that is fair. There is a theory that playoff games count double when dealing with suspensions, so the critics can rest with the fact that Rome is suspended for eight games, technically speaking. Personally, I think that theory is a load of garbage. Four games is four games, period.
However, this was the exact length the guy deserved. There is no previous history with the guy, in fact he has been the victim twice this season. So don’t hate on he discipline system on this one. Had they only given him one or two games thee would be a case, but missing the remainder of their run is all Rome needed to be given.
Two in the Box 
I feel like this is another instance where we react because a guy got hurt. It is definitely hard to see a guy get so severely hurt and luckily he is not paralyzed but I think we are overreacting to this one too. If Horton gets up then it’s a 2 minute interference penalty and no one is talking about this right now. The recent Buster Posey incident is somewhat the same. This wasn’t legal because it was a late hate, unlike the Posey incident, but the concept is similar. I just don’t think the hit is quite as bad as so many people seem to be making it out to be. The NHL has seen far worse hits that haven’t warranted in any suspension so I’m confused yet again.
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Just another example of inconsistent discipline in the NHL. sometimes there is nothing done and sometimes the right call is made. If they were more consistent in giving out suspensions this wouldn’t be a big deal. But they handle the biting incident or the Chara/Pacioretty incident one way And things like this another way. There needs to be a uniform approach or else the second guessing will continue.
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