Brian Campbell: Monster Defenseman
It's all over the web - Deadspin, for one, had a story earlier, but in case you missed the game, or haven't seen it yet, check out Buffalo Sabres Defenseman Brian Campbell laying out Philadelphia's R.J. Umberger with one of the cleanest, yet sickest hits you will ever see.
The most remarkable part of this is that according to Campbell's nhl.com bio, he checks in at 6 feet tall, and 191 pounds. Needless to say, he's just about the last person you would expect to come up with a hit like this.
The other remarkable thing? Umberger says he wants to play in Game 2, and would have gone back on the ice in Game 1 if the Flyers had allowed him to. I understand it's the playoffs and all, but are we sure that R.J. only suffered a bit of short-term memory loss? After all, this isn't your typical "upper-body injury".
posted by Alex @ 9:25 PM
5 long time listeners, first time callers
5 Comments:
Good to see that the series is matching up to my prediction. I can't wait to see Game 2. Tomorrow at 5 MST on TSN.
It's just after the hit, where he's gasping like a fish out of water, that's the most impressive. In a sickening sort of way.
He is out before he even hits the ground. He is actually lucky he turns and lands on his shoulder rather than banging his head on the ice.
That has to be one of the harshest clean hits ever. I must have watched it 20 times in slo-mo and I can't find anything for even the most knee-jerk ref to quarrel with (Campbell's skates don't leave the ice until the very moment of impact). Umberger didn't really do anything wrong, either--he just got caught in the perfect storm. Just imagine what it must have been like watching the game with the dude's family.
Great cadence by that colour guy, too: "He lined him up, he sized him up, he laid him out." Pretty much the most poetic thing I have ever heard during a hockey game.
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