Horton Out With Concussion / Rome Suspended 4 Games (video)

Added on Jun 07, 2011 by J Merrill in

NHL

It was clear that there would be an aftermath to the hit Aaron Rome put on Nathan Horton in last nights Game 3 of the Stanley Cup. You could tell from the hit that Horton was hurt and the medical staff taking him off the ice to the hospital didn’t ease anyones fears that he would be injured and miss games. It turns out that he suffered a serious concussion, according to the Boston Bruins, and will miss the remainder of the Stanly Cup series.

Boston Captain Zdeno Chara told the media that the only thing you could do in situation in like that, is focus and win the game for their fallen teammate. Chara said Monday night “It’s very unfortunate to see one of your teammates going down like that. Nathan is such a great guy and obviously we all know that he’s a great player. Somehow you have to find a way to put it behind you in the game and stay focused and play the game. The best way to get revenge is to win a game. That’s what we did and now we have to wish him the best recovery and I’m sure he’s going to be OK.”

The 26 year old Horton will be missed on the Boston line up. He is tied for second in playoff scoring with 17 points, and has 8 goals himself. Each of those 8 goals came in games where the Boston won the game, and had the winning goals in both game 7s versus the Montreal Canadiens and in the conference finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

News has also broke that Aaron Rome will also be missing the rest of the series. The NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy said the NHL will suspend Rome for 4 games in a statement released Tuesday. Murphy said “Two factors were considered in reaching this decision. The hit by Rome was clearly beyond what is acceptable in terms of how late it was delivered after Horton had released the puck and it caused a significant injury.”

Reactions from either team regarding the suspensions haven’t been out yet. However last night Coach Alain Vigneault said he didn’t think the Rome hit was illegal. Obviously, he doesn’t want to see anyone carted of the ice on a stretcher, but he said a split second determined what made that hit Illegal or legal. He said “Obviously, you never want to see any player leave in that situation. I think our whole team and myself and the whole organization hopes that he’s all right. … I don’t think that’s the hit that the league is trying to take out of the game. This is a physical game, you have big guys. Fraction of a second to decide what’s happening out there. It’s very unfortunate. You never want to see that. But this is a physical game.”

If the series happens to finish with less than 4 games, Rome’s suspension will carry over to the beginning of the next season. You can see the hit below: