Jared Bednar Criticizes Jordan Eberle and DoPS Prior to Game Seven
With the Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken set to square off in game 7 of their 1st round NHL playoff series tonight, it seems things have started to get personal with the two teams. A hit from Jordan Eberle that caused the Avs Andrew Cogliano to suffer a fractured neck was called a minor penalty. It was also reviewed by the Department of Player Safety and deemed appropriate enough that a fine and/or suspension was not warranted. Jared Bednar, Colorado's head coach, was asked about the incident earlier today. He compared it to a hit Cale Makar landed on Jared McCann earlier in the series and was suspended one game for as punishment. Bednar said he completely agrees with that ruling, but can't figure out why the Eberle situation is different. He said Eberle was wrong for the hit, and the NHL's Department of Player Safety was wrong for not punishing it.
"I don't like the hit. From five years old, you're wearing stop signs on your back on every jersey. It's numbers the whole way, and he doesn't really ease off him. There's more than one type of suspension hit, right? There's the predatory hit, where the guy goes after someone from distance and hits him dirty or whatever. But there's also, in my opinion anyway, and watching and coaching this game, if we're going to protect the players, there's also bad decisions. Sometimes they're split-second, sometimes they take a little bit longer. His back's turned. He might be thinking he's going to turn, so he can hit him clean, but he doesn't turn. It's a bad decision." - Jared Bednar
Bednar also indicated he was annoyed that Cogliano's injury isn't taken into account unless the hit was deemed a suspendable offense. It wasn't.
It's not supposed to matter," Bednar said when asked about it in a very sarcastic way. "It's not about the injury."
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 30 | 751 ANSWERS Jared Bednar Criticizes Jordan Eberle and DoPS Prior to Game Seven Should Eberle have been suspended for the hit? | ||
| Yes, it was dirty | 560 | 74.6 % |
| No, it was fine | 127 | 16.9 % |
| Not sure | 64 | 8.5 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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