It's time for Montreal Canadiens fans to come clean.  Just admit you were ok with questionable hits (Hall Gill on John Simm, Paciorety on Mark Eaton, etc.) until it happened to one of your own. Once you admit that, and state how ridiculous it is that authorities in Quebec want to prosecute Zdeno Chara criminally, then we can all move on and try to fix the problem of head injuries in the game. If you can't do that then all you are is a cheerleader for your team, who doesn't care, even a little bit, about player safety. All you really care about is having opposing players intimidated with the threat of criminal prosecution when they play a game in the Bell Centre. This whole thing is a joke. The Montreal Canadiens and their fans should be ashamed of themselves.

Furthermore, how come all of hockey didn't rail against Matt Hunwick when he smashed Marc Savard's head against the dasher in Colorado, which ended Savard's season, and possibly his career? Because, unlike Canadiens fans in this instance, no one tried to read Hunwick's mind to judge whether he intended to hurt Savard or not. Hey, for all we know, Hunwick and Savard may have hated each other when they were teammates. Maybe Hunwick took the opportunity to crush the little pipsqueak. I have no idea. 

In reality, I think Hunwick felt terrible about what he did to Savard. But it was a hockey play. Savard was trying to get around the corner to get to the puck, (sound familiar?) and Hunwick did what he HAD to do. He finished his check and Savvy, being a bit on the short side, hit the dasher with his head. If Hunwick doesn't finish his check he most likely would have been benched and very likely sent to the minors to learn a lesson in toughness. In the aftermath of that play, we heard....not a thing. Not from Bruins fans, not from the NHL and certainly not from Montreal Canadiens fans. Why? Because, in the case of Canadiens fans, it didn't happen to one of their own, and reasonable hockey fans all over North America realized that it was a hockey play and these things happen in a hockey game, and no one tried to read Hunwick's mind and guess that he did it on purpose.

It's sad that this situation has devolved into a chance for MTL fans and sycophants to use this as just another way to express their hatred for the Bruins and their fans. It would have sounded a lot more genuine if they had gotten in front of this thing from the beginning. There have been plenty of opportunities to call out there own players like Hal Gill, and even Max Pacioretty, but they didn't, because as I said before, they are NOT interested in player safety any more than anyone else is. They are interested in gaining an advantage, even if they have to use the threat of legal action to do so. 

Shameful.