Toews furious over Torres hit on Hossa
Four blind mice.
Four officials and not one of them saw it, not even the one standing less than 10 feet away.
Four officials didn't see Marian Hossa get rid of the puck. Not one of them could see Raffi Torres take several strides and put Hossa in his sights.
Not one of them could count the time between Hossa releasing the puck and Torres reaching Hossa.
Not one saw Torres charge, leave his feet, target Hossa's head, hit him in the skull and hammer Hossa with a late hit, as Hossa fell back and hit his head on the ice.
That's NHL officiating for you.
And you thought Brendan Shanahan was a problem.
“I saw exactly what happened,” said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville. “It was right in front of me. All four (officials) missed it. The refereeing tonight was a disgrace.”
Hossa was carried off on a stretcher and head immobilized after the hit by Torres about 12 minutes into Game 3 against Phoenix at the UC Tuesday night, long before the Blackhawks lost 3-2 in overtime.
He was released from the hospital Tuesday night but is almost certainly concussed and out for several games if not the rest of the series or the playoffs.
“When a guy gets carried off on a stretcher, you think there might be something wrong with what happened?” said Captain Furious, Jonathan Toews, after the game. “I don't know how (the officials) don't see that. It's pretty frustrating.”
Incredibly, there was no call on Torres, who tried to end Brent Seabrook's career with an elbow to the head exactly one year ago Tuesday when Torres was playing for the Canucks in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Hawks.
“It wouldn't surprise me if he tried something like that again,” Toews said. “If nothing happens to him, I don't see why he won't try it.”
Laughably, after Brandon Bollig went after Torres, Bollig got two minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct, leaving the Hawks short-handed after one of their best players was carted off on a stretcher, following one of the most violent, filthy hits you will ever see in an NHL game.
This occurred within hours of the Hawks finding out Andrew Shaw had been suspended three games for making contact with Oscar-winning goaltender Mike Smith, who appeared mildly deceased after Shaw made contact with him in Game 2.
Miraculously, Smith — who will star next in Shakespeare on Ice — was just fine after Shaw had been kicked out of the game, and completely healthy when he started for Phoenix on Tuesday night in Chicago.
But if Shaw got three games for that, Torres — a gutless and repeat offender — deserves about 40 games and 40 nights of wandering in the Arizona desert.
However, in the world of NHL discipline, one plus one equals a bushel of potatoes.
“Who knows what they'll do?” Toews said of Shanahan and his crew. “I don't know what to expect anymore. I don't think anyone does.”
After Hossa's injury, the game took on a decidedly odd pace. Both teams — and the crowd — had begun the game with a lot of energy and emotion, but after the Hossa injury the crowd became quiet and the pace of play sluggish, eventually ending again in a Phoenix overtime victory.
“We want to win the series, but (stuff) like that (Torres hit) makes it hard to focus on hockey,” Toews said. “It (stinks) to see that. Are we angry? Yes, we're very angry.”
Never has Toews been more serious.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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