Billingsley catches Prince in open ice hit

Posted: March 12, 2011 in Other
Tags: #ottawa67s, 2010-11 ohl regular season, 67′s vs ice dogs, chl, headshot, in the o radio, junior hockey, niagara ice dogs, ohl, ottawa 67's, shane prince, tim billingsley

Three years ago, the OHL decided to implement a Headshot Policy. This policy banned any contact on a check to his opponent’s head. The rulebook defines a head shot as “The act of checking an opponent to the head in any manner.” Further stating that it will be assessed a minor penalty, major penalty or a match penalty based on the degree of impact. The OHL will review headshots for supplementary discipline.

Headshot Rule from OHL Rulebook

Friday night in the OHL, Ottawa’s star forward, Shane Prince was hammered by Niagara’s Tim Billingsley with a massive open ice hit. Prince stayed down on the ice for several minutes before being helped off by teammates and the trainer. Prince did not have to be sent to hospital but suffered cuts on the back of his head and over his eye which required stitches. He was revaluated today and as per 67’s trainer, Neil Hoch, Prince has a mild concussion and whiplash and has been sent home to rest.

The hit was deemed legal by the officials as there was no penalty on the play. Even though he was in sight around the play the whole time, hockey is such a fast game, it’s hard to fault the officials for not catching everything. We so often criticize the officials for calling a penalty after a player stays down on the ice, so for once – even if initially wrong – it was nice to see that a penalty was not assessed after the fact.

If the officials could review penalties during a game, the no discipline would have resulted in anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 and a game misconduct. After watching the replay more than a couple dozen times, the hit was technically illegal. Shane Prince was responsible a bit as he had his head down at the time of the hit. However, at the time, Prince did not have complete control of the puck and was reaching and looking down for the puck. Billingsley had Prince lined up before his head was down. Billingsley glided towards Prince with his elbow tucked in and skates on the ice. Billingsley’s shoulder hit Prince in the head and Billingsley’s forearm/elbow only came up on impact. It almost looks like Billingsley’s forearm catches Prince visor and causes the helmet to pop off before he hit the ice.

Frame 5 - Billngsley shoulder makes contact to Prince's head. Billingsley feet left the ice on impact, he did not jump.Frame 5b - another angle

(View a frame-by-frame review below – scroll down)

A few years ago, that would have been a clean hit. Like in the NHL, a shoulder to the head of a player is deemed legal. However, with the new rule the league implemented in the OHL – that’s no longer the case.

As OHL Vice-President Ted Baker told Yahoo.com’s Puckdaddy in an article back in November 2010,

“You can still get’em in the chest. But if the only way you’re going to get him is in the head, then you don’t take that hit.”

“In the past, that would have been a legal check: He didn’t charge, he didn’t leave his feet, he didn’t board him,” said Baker. “Now, it’s a check to the head. It’s an illegal act.”

Baker said intent is only one factor in a referee’s decision on head shots, just like the severity of the injury that follows is a factor. But the primary motivation for an OHL referee’s decision in cases of head shots is impact.

“The key part of the rule is based on the degree of impact. If there’s not much of an impact to the head but there’s still contact made to the head — he goes into the corner, battling for the puck, and comes up and gets the guy in the head — there’s no harm, then you’re looking at a two-minute minor, like for elbowing,” Baker said.

“If a player’s coming through the neutral zone, he lines him up and ‘crunch,’ he gets him in the head, then your degree of impact has increased and the penalty increases to a five.”

Complaining about the missed call in the game is irrelevant now, but it will be it will be very interesting to see how the league rules this hit. Was it dirty? Not necessarily. Was it premediated? Unlikely. Was it illegal? Not even a question. That being said, there are at least two other more dangerous plays I would be sending to league office if I were Chris Byrne… at the moment, I will not drive into them due to a lack of access to post replays.

UPDATE: For the record, I only feel he should be suspended based on what the rulebook states. Branch put it there for a reason. 1-2 games would be my ruling with a warning of more games if it happens again.

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A frame by frame review of the hit…