Lucic not suspended for hit on Miller

Word came today that Bruins Milan Lucic will not be suspended for his collision with Sabres goalie Ryan Miller due to lack of intent. If you haven't seen the hit yet, you can watch it in our last post.

Shanahan held a hearing with Lucic via conference call because he had specific questions he wanted to ask before making a determination on potential supplemental discipline.

"I had the hearing because I did make an initial assessment of the play as I do with all plays, but I did have some questions for Milan and I wanted to hear directly from him," Shanahan told NHL.com. "They were regarding his intent; at what point did he know there was going to be a collision; and whether or not he felt he had the time to avoid the collision. I was satisfied with his answers."

Shanahan said the minor penalty for charging was the proper call in this case because it follows Rule 42.1, which reads "a goalkeeper is not fair game just because he is outside the goal crease area."

"The minor penalty called on the ice was the correct call," Shanahan said. "And, while it's unfortunate that Miller was hurt I saw nothing egregious about this hit that would elevate it to supplemental discipline."
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Earlier today Lucic talked with the media before the hearing:

"(The hearing) is something I have to go through and just state my case and whatever happens, happens. It's out of my control," said Lucic. "It's exactly the same thing I said after the game. I blocked a shot and pushed the puck a little too far ahead of me and I skated after the puck as fast as I possibly could. I looked up and he was still in his net. I looked down at the puck and was continuing on and the next thing I knew, I looked up and he’s coming out full speed at me. Obviously it was a hard collision and I did everything I could just to brace myself. Like he said, I have 50 pounds on him and that’s why maybe he got the worst of it. Even if you look at the video, I was cringing after the play, too, because I was winded and because it was such a hard collision. And he got a good piece of me as well."

...

"I've looked at the hit 100 times and they said that he got a concussion. His shoulder hit my chest, so there was no hit to his head. His helmet came flying off but his head didn't hit the ice. And later in the period, someone lifted (Tyler Seguin's) stick and threw him into the net as well, so who knows what it was. It's obviously unfortunate that he got hurt on the play," said Lucic.

"Was I surprised? Yeah. Because with the new protocol and the concussion stuff, I know the last three NHLPA meetings that I've been a part of and their clarifying of concussions and head injuries, the main thing that they've talked about is there's no such thing as getting your bell rung or seeing stars anymore. That's considered a concussion and if you're in that position, you have to do whatever you can do to take yourself out of play. Obviously, Ryan plays a big in the NHLPA and I respect what he does there. That’s pretty much it."

Coach Claude Julien said he saw the play the way Lucic did and added that it's not the first time an unfortunate soul got in front of the determined, though not exactly agile, skater.

"It certainly wasn't our plan to run him over, and for what it's worth, Looch has done the same thing to one of our coaches last year," said Julien. "He buries his head when he chases a puck and when he lifts it up, somebody's there. Last year it was a coach, this year it was Miller."...
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In other Bruins news, Tyler Seguin has been named the NHL's First Star of the Week, for the week ending November 13th. In 3 games during the week, Seguin had 4 goals, 2 assists and was +4.