March 7, 2010 -- Boston Bruins center Marc Savard was taken off the ice Sunday after a hit from Pittsburgh Penguins winger Matt Cooke. Savard had released a shot when Cooke raised his shoulder and hit Savard from the blind side, snapping the Bruins player's head to the side. Cooke was not penalized.
It's pretty obvious that was definitely a dirty hit," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "That's probably the classic blind-side hit to the head ... I'm usually reserved in making comments, but definitely the league will take care of it."
Savard, one of Boston's top players with 10 goals and 23 assists, remained behind at the team hotel Sunday night, along with a member of the team's medical staff. The Bruins were unaware after the game of any medical problem other than the concussion, although they said Savard was unconscious briefly.
No penalty was called, which especially angered the Bruins.
"A guy like that has to be suspended," Julien said. "That's the way I see it because it's an elbow to the head from the blind side, and that's exactly the example they show, what we've got to get out of this game. We got a guy who's got a concussion, our best player, and he's going to be out for a while. He was out on the ice for a bit and that's unacceptable."
Cooke, a player with the reputation of taking borderline hits, insisted he was only finishing his check. TV replays appeared to show Cooke had enough time to pull up and not slam into Savard, and that he raised his arm before the hit.
"I felt like it was shoulder to shoulder," said Cooke, who is uncertain whether he will be suspended by the NHL. "I know he's shooting the puck but I just finished my check. I got hit the same way my shift before at center ice by their defenseman, except I (ducked) at the last second."
Several Bruins players said they liked how the team didn't spend the rest of the game trying to retaliate, but focused instead on trying to get the tying goal.
"It's always hard to see one of your teammates go down," defenseman Zdeno Chara said.
Currently, shoulder to head hits are not banned by the NHL. However, league general managers voted in December to investigate the problem before they meet again this week. They are considering rules that would prohibit contact to the head, even with a shoulder.
Hits to the head are banned in international hockey. The penalty was called a few times at the Olympics, resulting in ejections.
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