Two Games for a Toe Pick

I normally don’t write about hockey. I work for a hockey team, the Washington Capitals but I am more tech geek than sports geek. Besides the Caps have a  some great writers and there really isn’t a need for me to embarrass myself and highlight my shortcomings in hockey knowledge. I did want to take on Alex Ovechkin’s suspension from a slightly different angle. I am not going to write about who should be suspended or who shouldn’t, who is a dirty player or which player has been perennially overlooked for the Lady Byng. I just want to look at how Brian Campbell went into the boards and the confluence of events that caused the collision between Campbell’s collar bone, ribs and the end boards of the United Center.

The Lead Up
When Ovechkin crosses Chicago’s blue line , takes a couple of strides and starts into a glide, either Campbell is warned by his defensive partner or has feeling that someone is on the forecheck and looks over his left shoulder.

Campbell looks over his shoulder to see who is entering the zone

As Ovechkin closes in and readies himself he “taps” Campbell with his stick. I don’t know if this is really common and I haven’t noticed other players do this, but I have seen Ovechkin do this on a number of occasions. Kind of like an eighteen-wheeler’s air horn being blown as the truck rolls through an intersection warning the VW Bug don’t go there.

Ovechkin "warns" Campbell

At this point Campbell reverses the puck along the half wall and Ovechkin comes in right behind Campbell.

Contact
Ovechkin puts his right hand on the upper left corner of the 5 on Campbell’s back. Campbell leans in to Ovechkin as if to counter hit or nullify Ovechkin’s momentum. As they cross the goal line together Campbell’s right skate toe sinks into the ice and his right heel lifts.

Campbell's right skate toe picks

This next bit is the turning point. Campbell naturally fights the toe pick and manages to turn his foot and comes close to getting his skate blade back down but like a runner that lands their foot awkwardly Campbell’s knee buckles.

Campbell's knee buckles

It is at this point that Campbell reaches his tipping point and collapses like a three-legged chair under the weight of a fat lady.

A few minutes later that fat lady sings for Ovechkin and the next thing he hits is the shower.

Like I said at the top of this post I don’t know if it was a bad hit, bad judgement or a bad call. I just wanted to point out that there are a lot of actual physics and an alignment of events that went in to Brian Campbell’s spill.

Along with the toe pic some of the other factors contributing to severity where Ovechkin’s weight and speed and Campbell’s leaning into Ovechkin. Going frame by frame in the replay I could see Campbell’s skates slide forward just before his right skate dug in. It was weird, like an old-fashioned train with a cow-catcher pushing Ol’ Bessy off the track.

So for now the freight train known as Alex Ovechkin  sits in the shed for another game mostly because some stuff explained by Sir Newton and his laws.