Nate Thiel - Student's Choice 4

Don Brashear, a Washington Capitals forward enforcer, was suspended on Monday for a perfectly legal hit. He was suspended for the most important game of the first round against the New York Rangers, and an entire series after that. The referees and the league said that Brashear was ‘head hunting” the Ranger’s player that he hit, Betts. They also said that it was a very late hit. However, I used a stopwatch while watching the replay of the hit to determine the time it took for Brashear to hit Betts after Betts released the puck. It turned out to be approximately 1.5 seconds, which is entirely legal. When the league said that Brashear had aimed at Betts’ head during the hit, what they failed to realize id that Brashear’s shoulder is at the same height as Betts’ head. Therefore, Brashear should not have been suspended. On the other hand, I believe that because Brashear did not play in the game on Tuesday, and Chris Clark did, the Capitals were able to win Game 7 of the series and advance to the second round of the playoffs, versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.