Dustin Brown’s hit on Justin Schultz has no place in hockey

During last nights game between the Penguins and the Kings at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Dustin Brown did something that wasn’t great at all.

I mean, seriously?

Justin Schultz had fallen to the ice and got back up before falling down again. Brown had plenty of time to see that he was on his knees with his back turned to him without needing to hit him. Not only did he hit him, but he pushed him headfirst into the boards. What an incredible product the NHL has put together.

The referees and officials did get this one right, giving Brown a 5-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. The downside of this is that the NHL is so remarkably backwards-thinking that they will probably determine that 13 minutes of penalty time is enough discipline and it will be brushed aside. It also happened in the early hours of the morning on the East Coast, so a tree in the woods, etc, etc, etc.

Good for Schultz for speaking his mind.

Really? Come on.

This situation also adds fuel to the fire for those who wish to argue and debate about Ryan Reaves role and place with the Penguins and how he is a deterrent to this kind of action simply because he is on the bench. If Brown hadn’t been thrown out of the game, sure, he may have had to answer the bell against Reaves or someone else in a dumb fight that proves nothing, but otherwise, you can’t realistically expect one player on one team to magically control the actions of another player on another team — especially one who can’t even drink out of a water bottle correctly.