The Kostopoulos Hit...

Sorry this is on the older side - (November 9th)

For those of you who saw the Toronto-Montreal game tonight, you must have seen the Kostopoulos hit on Van Ryn.

I’m all for stricter punishments on hits from behind, but I think his punishment was a little severe. Tom is not a player who does things like that on purpose. I think he’s one of the more respectable grinders in the game. I don’t think he should have gotten a game misconduct, but I guess since he took Van Ryn out of the game (poor guy, has a broken finger, nose and a concussion the last I heard…), it’s only fair that he was out as well… but I stick by my point that he did not intend to hurt Van Ryn.

He was actually interviewed after the game, and he looked visibly distraught over what had happened, almost in tears it seemed… he said he felt bad about it, and he wouldn’t have done it had he known this would be the result. He also said he was going to try and call Van Ryn to make sure he was okay.

I’d think that almost anyone in his position would say those things, but this isn’t the case… how many times have we seen dirty hits that are on purpose, and the hitter doesn’t seem to comprehend the gravity of the situation…
Kostopoulos at least understood this.

Hopefully Van Ryn will be okay, and heal quickly… and I really hope that Kostopoulos won’t get a suspension… he doesn’t deserve it, I’m hoping the league will see that.