Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. After serving a one-game suspension just last week, Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki could be facing more discipline from the Department of Player Safety. He’ll have a hearing with the league today after his illegal check to the head of Cody Eakin last night. This time, unlike his prior incident, the on-ice officials did penalize him, as Borowiecki was given a five-minute major and was ejected from the game.
Borowiecki’s recent suspension was for an elbow to the head of Urho Vaakanainen, a connection that he claimed was incidental as he was trying to defend his goaltender’s crease. The league, even while accepting that defense, still issued a suspension and stated that it was Borowiecki’s responsibility to avoid the forceful blow to the head. Similar arguments may be made in this incident, as the Ottawa defenseman does little to target Eakin’s head but still ends up connecting with it. The league is putting the onus on the checking player to avoid contact with the head, even if it means avoiding the check altogether.
Given the recency of his last suspension, it’s very likely that the league comes down hard on Borowiecki if they deem the hit worthy of supplementary discipline. As they’ve made clear with Tom Wilson’s 20-game suspension, the DoPS does not want to investigate incidents with the same players on a regular basis and will hand out a hefty ban to try and discourage that type of play. Even commissioner Gary Bettman, in his recent ruling to uphold the Wilson suspension wrote:
One true and fundamental test of effective discipline is whether the discipline is of sufficient strength and impact that it has the effect of deterring the Player being disciplined from repeating the same or similar conduct in the future.
While the two Borowiecki incidents aren’t exactly the same, he was also suspended for boarding Tyler Toffoli in 2016 and is now under intense scrutiny. He may need to change the way he plays slightly to avoid plays like this, even if he had no intent of injuring Eakin. On big open ice hits, there is always a chance that the player’s head is a main point of contact, causing injuries the league desperately wants to reduce.
This was such a weak call. The first suspension was justified but I don’t know how anyone looks at this hit and sees a penalty, much less suspension.
So was Borowiecki aiming for Eakin’s stomach like you were claiming on his hit to Vaakanainen and just missed? Borowiecki must think every player is 6-10 if his his hitting guys in the head while supposedly aiming for the midsection. He will get a longer suspension for this hit and deserving of it too.
How on earth is that the conclusion you came to on anything I said on either hit?
Just so happens I remember your post on the article where he got suspended the last time on this sight. This is what you posted:
JDGoat5 days ago
I think he was trying to elbow him in the stomach to hold him off just like any other player in the league would. He missed though and that’s on Boro. I understand why he’s suspended and think he does deserve the one game.
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By the way, You also said Paajarvi on said hit was playing the puck and got his stick caught on Anderson or another players skate. Heck of a play to the puck considering Paajarvi’s stick was nowhere near the puck. It was Between Borowiecki and Vaakanainen on that play and stuck on nothing. Paajarvi tried to elbow Vaakaninen as well.
If Borowiecki was aiming for Vaakanainen’s stomach, he had to think Vaakanainen is 6-10 to where he was aiming with the elbow. If he were trying to hit Vaakanainen in the midsection as you claim, he would have needed to drop his shoulder to put his elbow into that player’s stomach.
So if I raise my arm when you’re half a foot from me, will it hit you in the same spot if I raised it when you’re a foot from me? It had nothing to do with size of a player, like you implied, but the timing of the elbow. And you can’t just assume Paajarvi tried to elbow him in the head. He’s not that type of player and he wasn’t even looking at the Bruin. If you pull your stick back, your elbow is obviously going to move. I don’t really understand what you’re trying to argue anyways and don’t know why you just assume the worst out of any contact.
I just researched the elbow for a fourth time today and your assertion that Paajarvi meant to elbow him is ridiculous. The aerial view clearly shows his stick going directly into Borowiecki’s skate.
And this has nothing to do with the fairly innocent hit in question anyways so what’s the point of bringing it up?
So you admit he raised his elbow high to make the hit on Vaakanainen now. My point was you said he tried to hit Vaakanaine in the stomach. If he tried to hit him in the stomach he would not have raised his elbow that high. It was not an accident. In this case with Eakin, again he did not attempt to put an elbow or shoulder into Eakins body. He aimed high. You aim high with your hits you will face the consequences with penalties and suspensions. He will get a suspension for this hit just like Wilson got for Sundqvist. He went high and made contact with the player’s head.
On Paarjarvi, I was going by your claim he was playing the puck. His stick was nowhere near the puck. If you had said what you said about Paarvarvi now in stead of what you said then, I would not have brought it up at all. What you said today is open for debate and you can make a case for Paajarvi. What you said about playing the puck was bunk.
No, I do believe he tried to get his chest/stomach. I believe it was a timing issue, not an intent issue.
@gozurman1 Don’t even bother man, jdgoatblower is a f#cktard of the highest degree. That dbag is inept in all things sports, contradicts himself constantly and feebly trolls the “rumors” websites PRETENDING he’s a Boston sports fan. The guy is purely an idiot and a hypocrite at that. Likely a canadian from montreal or toronto, lol.
TitleTownUSA doesn’t recognize this moron in any way/shape/form just for the record.
JDgoatblower with more asinine nonsense. Your troll “game” is as weak as your IQ. Go snuggle with your BF and stick to ping pong, you uneducated dbag. This senators goon is a scumbag, only someone as moronic as YOURSELF would be standing up for him. You’re an idiot.
BTW, bet you’re really butt hurt about the Boston Red Sox winning the WS, huh? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA