Dirty Hit on Aaron Johnson?
The hit on Aaron Johnson by Mike Grier in tonight’s Hawks/Sharks game is all the talk of the hockey blogosphere. People have been debating was it a dirty hit, and if not, then what constitutes a dirty hit? My thinking goes more along the lines of, why is the officiating in the NHL so subjective?
Seemed to me the refs had been missing calls all night on some pretty dirty play by the Sharks. So, if the refs had to make an example of Grier, it was probably only because 1) Johnson was badly hurt, and 2) Johnson was badly hurt as a result of unchecked and escalating dirty tactics by the Sharks.
What do you think? Is hockey officiating too broad and subjective; some refs calling some things while others do not? Do you consider it cheating when a team resorts to ‘goon’ hockey?