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Georges Laraque Suspended Five Games After Kneeing Incident

Nov 23, 2009 – 7:45 PM
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Bruce Ciskie

Bruce Ciskie %BloggerTitle%

While the NHL still tries to figure out a way to handle hits to the head, they are also trying to curb other dangerous hits plaguing the game.

Saturday night, we saw this kind of hit in Montreal. Georges Laraque took out the knee of Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall. Despite pleading innocence and claiming it was an accident, Laraque was suspended five games on Monday.

Here's a look at the video.



If that's an accident, Wayne Gretzky was a goon. Laraque stuck his leg out and deliberately hit Kronwall's knee.

Despite all the (justified) talk about hits to the head, these types of hits are just as dangerous. They're also equally disrespectful, and they have no place in the sport.

If you can't hit a guy clean, don't hit him. There is no need to try to take someone's knee out because you're either unable or unwilling to line him up and hit him properly.

Kronwall has an MCL injury and is expected to miss at least a month.
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