Zach Whitecloud caught Matthew Knies with an opportunistic open ice hit. Did he leave is feet or not? Did he extend his arm on follow through or not? Did he hit the head or the body? None of these questions would even be asked if he’d timed this properly.
@Vegas Golden Knights
18 Comments
The angle and timing by Whitecloud was absolutely perfect here, the problem here is that if you watch, when Knies recognizes he's about to get hit, he decides to play the puck forward rather than take a more defensive positioning to protect himself. He felt he was invincible therefore he could make that extra play rather than prepare for the hit.
Look at all the gay rainbow advertisements on the boards. Holy shit. When will they stop?
Feet left ice after initial contact and Whitecloud used his shoulder as the main point of contact. Knies is hunched over in every angle.
….. Nothing has changed since your first vid….. Whitecloud lifted up with primary contact with head…. Knies trying to make the red line – his head not significantly different elevation at contact. Whitecloud lifted up…. He should have to fight all of the Leaf players and half the concession staff.
Whitecloud did this perfectly. Knies flinched too late, its unfortunate but not intention to injure
i don’t always agree with your suspensions and lengths, but I really do like your deep analysis. much better than those nhl suspension recap videos
I think a good old fashion hip check was the better play here
good analysis here, the freeze frames of whiteclouds body say everything tho..
the extra movement he makes towards knies that you mentioned is going forwards and upwards is exactly what's dirty, the conscious choice to elevate his upper body to hit stick him.
if he stays hunched over and makes the normal clean hit he doesnt blow knies up the way he does and its probably more of a 50/50 body slam they both go flying.
its clear based one everyone's reaction who has and hasn't worn skates and tried to knock someone else over.. ever
Legal
These kids gotta keep there heads up. Same with Barron in MTL this ain't practice
Beautiful hit 😂
Shoulda hip checked him.
Excellent video essay. Great breakdown.
headshot, lunged upwards and through the head…point of contact…the ear. @ 1:55 Whitecloud is in a crouch position prepping for the lung upwards @1:58 he's already lunging upwards prior to the contact…he didn't leave his feet due to the contact, he lunged upward towards the head prior…and the principal point of contact was the head @1:59. 5, a match…and 5 games. Easy call
I just can't get over how high Whitecloud extends. Completely unnecessary. If you need to extend that high because you were not good enough with your positioning, you shouldn't make the hit or you should accept you are going to make a less ideal hit. People saying Knies should've defended himself instead of making a play, since when is it your responsibility to make sure someone else doesn't hit your head? Where is that excuse for Reaves's hit on Nurse?
It's like Cedric Pare's knee-on-knee on Laine, Pare was not in a good enough position to defend the blue line. He stretched out his leg to make up for his mistake, and Laine paid the price. Exact same thing as Whitecloud here.
No call and nothing from the DOPS is ridiculous, in my opinion. Whitecloud was watching Knies the whole time, he knew what he was doing.
That was a dirty hit to the head period….the NHL is turning a blind eye because it's the Leafs….wake up George you just showed you hate the Leafs still…just my humble opinion 😊
Was a beauty of a hit 👌
If you pay close attention as he lays the hit his feet are still planted in the ground so the idea of people saying he was charging is absurd the jump happened after the hit occurred
So how was Reaves hit on Nurse not a “timing issue” Nurse stopped up which put him off Reaves line and ended up clipping his head as he tried to turn in to get his body. I would argue this is less about timing than that one.