Joe Pavelski knocked unconscious by HUGE body check from Mat Dumba
The Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars opened up their first round series on Monday night. The game needed double overtime with Wild forward Ryan Hartman playing hero to give the Wild a 1-0 series lead.
Midway through the second period Wild defenceman laid a massive hit on Stars center Joe Pavelski. Pavelski appeared wobbly as he was helped off the ice and didn't return to the game. Some wonder if Pavelski might have been struck by his own stick, possibly making matters worse before the Dallas forward's head banged off the ice surface.
The referees originally announced a five-minute major penalty on the play but after a lengthy review it was reduced to a two-minute minor for roughing.
Dumba reaffirmed he thought it was a clean hit after the game.
«To be honest, I thought it was a clean hit. I figured (the refs) were going to see the same. Shoulder on shoulder,»
Dumba said. «I don't even know why I got the roughing, probably because I was just in the box already.»
Stars' coach Pete DeBoer had his say after the game.
DeBoer says Pavelski is
«OK, but banged up» after «he hit his head on the ice.»
«We have the best officials in the world. They called a five, they reviewed it, which is the right thing to do. If they reviewed and decided it wasn't a bad hit then, you know, I guess it's not for me to argue with that,»
DeBoer said. «They got to look at it at multiple different angles and that was the decision they made, so we've got to live with that.»
| POLL | ||
Do you think the hit was clean? | ||
| Yes, too bad Pavelski was injured on the play | 52 | 48.6 % |
| No, should have been a major | 32 | 29.9 % |
| Refs got it right with a 2 minute penalty | 23 | 21.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
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