Guerin calls for Mottau to be suspended

Islanders captain Bill Guerin called for Devils defenseman Mike Mottau to be suspended for his high hit on Frans Neilsen 3:22 into the third period of the Devils' 5-2 victory over the Islanders tonight.

Neilson injured his right knee on the play and the Islanders are also worried that he has a head injury.

Guerin compared it to a hit that the Islanders Thomas Pock had on Ottawa's Ryan Shannon earlier this season. Pock received a five-game suspension for that one.

"Mike Mottau's not a dirty player, but that was a dirty hit," Guerin said.

Given the league's recent statement that it would like to cut back on hits to the head, it would not be surprising if Mottau received some supplementary discipline.

Mottau received a two-minute minor for elbowing on the hit. He cut across the Devils' zone and appeared to leave his feet before connecting under Neilsen's chin with his right elbow. Neilsen's right leg buckled under him.

The Islanders Trent Hunter immediately grabbed Mottau and fought him.

"I saw him cut to the middle and when I went to him him I think he may have seen me because I lunged at him a little bit," Mottau said. "I thought I got him in the shoulder, but it looks as though I hit him in the head. We'll see what happens. I was trying to hit him and my arm must have rode up."

When I asked Mottau if he was worried that he might be suspended, he replied, "I don't know. I thought it was a clean hit at first. I hope he's all right. I didn't see him return so I'll have to check with their trainer over there."

Devils coach Brent Sutter, who was critical of the Islanders' Doug Weight for knocking out his son, Brandon, with a hit to the head on Oct. 25, said he didn't watch the replay of the hit after the game and did not get a good look at it live.

“He came across and the guy was in front, so I don’t know," Sutter said. "He got the two-minute minor penalty on it. If the player didn’t get hurt, his ankle or the bottom part of his leg, that’s what it is. It’s a two-minute minor penalty. I didn’t see it after the game, so I can’t really say.”

Comments

[casey]

its a shame it was a high hit, the way he cut across the blueline was remenicent of stevens. its his first high hit, maybe two day suspension.

[Pat D'Amico]

Unfortunately it was a dirty hit and Mottau could be suspended and it would be just. I hope Neilsen is ok though.

[Jeremy]

The clowns in Toronto always seem to screw the Devils. I wouldn't be surprised if Mottau was fined $250,000 and suspended for the rest of the season.

[Robbie]

I thought it was a clean hit. I saw it happen right in front of me and i did not see an elbow

[Jim B]

I like Mottau and i dont think he intentionally tried to hurt Nielsen but it was a high hit, and if the NHL wantsa to be consistent I think they should give mottau some kind of suspension or fine, nothing major but a game or 2 and whatever the fine for a hit like that is. Again I dont think it was intentional, but it wasnt the cleanest hit Ive ever seen either. I hope Nielsen is ok

[Tim N]

Agreed. It's not that Mottau is a dirty player, but he got his arm up there and hit him in the head. By no means is it an indictment on Mottau's character but it's a hit that doesn't need to be in the game. If the roles were reversed, people would be calling for suspension.

[casey]

jeremy-
they will probably disallow every goal in our game in tb to get the point across that head shots are frowned apon.

pat-
dosn't it seem like a real bad year for injuries, hopfully neilsen just twisted his knee and needed to walk it off...

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

i was upstairs, but i just saw the replay on NHL on the fly and it looked like an elbow to the face basically the way they showed it. I dunno you never like to see these things happen, except maybe to sean avery. but in all seriousness he should be suspended for that hit. I am a Mottau fan, and i always defend him here, but there is no place in the game for that kind of hit. Someone compared it to a Stevens hit, but i disagree, Stevens always hit with the shoulder NOT the elbow. Domi hit with the elbow.

That said HUGE GAME for the team they looked good tonight all around(EVEN COLIN WHITE LOL) and the Gio Zubrus Elias line looked like it was really clicking. The one thing i did not like in their play was the 5 on 3..... yeah they scored on it, but they HAVE to keep that puck down low instead of cycling to the point to get the big blast ESPECIALLY when there are 2 players out of the 3 without a stick. you gotta keep the puck down low.

Joey MacDonald looked AWESOME! can we bring him in to play next season maybe? simply spectacular and he is a huge reason why the Isles were on a 3 game win streak heading into tonights game

[BH]

I just saw the hit, and I honestly don't think it was that bad. A penalty for sure, but I'm not sure it is worth a suspension. A game or two at most I can see, but I don't believe there was any intent there. In all honesty it looked like he was going to miss, so in an effort to not get beat completly reached out his arm. That does not make it right, just what I saw.

[casey]

pj-
i was referring to how he shot out from aross the blueline, yea stevens used his shoulder, he also usually knocked over one of his own players in the process.

[Murph]

jeremy.. are you serious with that hell probably get suspended for the year i hope that was a joke.. it wasnt that bad of a hit to get suspended for the year

[devils3]

no question it was unintentional but also no question it was a dirty hit. i think mottau was so surprised to have an opportunity for a hit like that that he wound up bringing his hands (elbow) up to protect himself...he will be suspended

[Bill D]

Is this the same Billy G that cross checked a rookie in the head during training camp when he was a Dallas Star?

[Jeremy]

Yes Murph it was a joke.

The guys in Toronto seem to always slam down on the Devils harder than the other teams.

[Brodeur30]

The whole Pisles team should be suspended by their coach for hanging Macdonald out to dry all game....They were dominated.

[Brodeur30]

btw I don't think Toronto "hates" us, but there were two instances last year in which we were screwed on a call.

1) Vs Montreal IN montreal. Shot from the point...Koivu deflects it in from the slot on what was CLEARLY a high stick, but was allowed. Everyone knew it..

2) The Mottau goal last year where he was stopping to AVOID running into the goalie and the puck defleted off a stick, off his front skate that was spraying up ice chips because he was stopping, and into the net. His skate never moved, yet one can only assume they thought it was a kicking motion. Horrible horrible call. I remember trashing Toronto for days and days after that calling for people in the war room to be drug tested at the door.

[Jennings]

Garth Snow should tell Guerin to keep his mouth shut and leave it up to the league. Guerin's opinion means squat.

From what I heard on the radio, Neilsen hurt his leg or knee by getting stuck in a rut in the ice in addition to the hit. Was he hurt that bad? Is he going to miss some games?

[Kellyn]

Am I the only one who seems to think that there was nothing about that play that warrents any further disciplinary action from the league?

Mottau caught the kid cutting across the middle (with his head down - why does this seem to be a recurring theme? Anyone? Anyone?) and went to bump him off the puck, unintentionally catching him on the chin with his forearm/elbow on what would have been a clean shoulder check had Nielsen just taken the hit shoulder-to-shoulder rather than trying to do some crazy dance move around him. Neilsen went down, Trent Hunter jumped Mottau in defense of his teammate, was punched in the face, wrestled to the ground and recieved an instigator and a game misconduct for his troubles, and Mottau served his two minute penalty as per the rules for an elbowing minor, which this clearly was. Case closed - that is, to everyone except the colour analysts for the Islanders on MSG who made some idiotic comment about how Mottau would be a marked man once he came out of the penalty box (and despite the dramatic declaration by the commentator, there was unsurprisingly no further retaliation from the Islanders bench) and every spectator too horrified by any and all violence, no matter how mild, in this politically correct age who cannot correctly distinguish between a blatant attempt to maliciously injure another player and a hockey play.

Jarkko Ruutu purposefully slamming his elbow into the face of a Canadien for no apparent reason is a dirty hit deserving of suspension. Tie Domi's cheap shot to the head of Scott Neidermayer in the '01 playoffs was most definitely a dirty hit done with the intent to harm Neidermayer and Domi was duly suspended for the remainder of that round (though in all fairness, even if Domi hadn't been suspended, there was no way the coach of the Maple Leafs could have put him back on the ice with Scott Stevens because Domi would probably have wound up dead). This incident doesn't even remotely resemble anything that can be considered a blatant hit to the head.

What happened to Neilsen is unfortunate and I hope he is not seriously injured and soon returns to the Islanders lineup, but it was an accident that was justly penalized by the on-ice officials. While suspending players like Ruutu and Domi for their actions may give others pause before they purposely go to harm someone else, suspending Mottau will not prevent what happened to Nielsen from occuring again because it was an ACCIDENT. There is absolutely nothing that can be done to eliminate those from happening save from abandoning the game altogether, though unfortunately that is perhaps the road we are headed down if these knee-jerk suspension calls continue.

[Brodie30]

Sorry Billy Guerin, I love ya, but that hit was nothing close to a suspension. The injury occurs before Mottau even makes contact as Nielsen was avoiding a hit. You could argue he was trying to duck out because he saw Motts coming in high, but I don't think so. It's an unfortunate situation and he deserved the penalty, but there's no suspension there. The crackdown on "hits to the head" doesn't include knee injuries that preclude said hits.

[aarrgghhhh]

Bill Guerin should stick to throwing furniture at Japanese citizens from a dorm window.

[aarrgghhhh]

BTW, he didn't cross-check that Stars rookie in the head. He beat the crap out of him for no good reason except to show off how badass Bill Guerin is.

[aarrgghhhh]

to balance out my anti-Bill Guerin ranting, the hit seemed dirty to me and the elbow call confirms it. I was a little surprised the Isles didn't get a 3 min major out of the situation.

rare occasion now where a Devil runs someone.

[Salvatore from Garfield]

aarrgghh- got a video of buerin throwing furniture at japanese citizens? Sounds like you made this up, but I'd like to see this... lol

Anyways, the hit ended up looking a lot worse than it did. Glad he wasn't seriously hurt... his head at least.

[Merms]

i hope mottau is suspended, not only because i hate him but because it was stupid to hit Nielsen like that. The first thing i said after the hit (i was at the game and only saw it live) was "i didnt know mottau could hit that hard" but as soon as they called a penalty i said "figures, he'll probably get fined and suspended"

[Falcone]

He'll get suspended for 2 games but that's about it.