Alex Emelin is known for his hard hits and especially for his hip checks, which can sometimes end up on the borderline of being too low and illegal.
On Saturday night Emelin was again a focal point for a hard check he threw, this time on Colorado’s Joe Colborne. As the Avalanche player was bringing the puck into Montreal’s end Emelin went low for a hip check and sent Colborne flipping through the air. The legality of the check was being debated on social media afterwards (it was a clean hip check), but that’s not what really ticked off Colborne’s teammates.
The timing of the check was the most outrageous part of the act. The game was in the final minutes of a 10-1 win for the Habs, so the fact Emelin threw such a devastating hit in a blowout game irked the Avs, especially some of their more experienced players.
“At that point of the game when they’re beating us like that, it’s not really a matter of whether it’s clean or not,” Iginla said. “Just don’t think (it’s right). If I’m going up-over like that with two minutes left and down 10-1 I’d hope guys are coming in (for me). That’s the way I’ve played and I think that’s the way it should be played. They can do the hit if they want. It’s part of the game. But we’re allowed to do what we do too. That’s what penalty minutes and stuff are for.”
Gabriel Landeskog also spoke out against the big check:
“I’ve seen him throw hits like that before and hits like that sometimes they go unpenalized and sometimes they get a penalty,” he said. “I just don’t like how he doesn’t answer to it after.”
Usually when a hit like this is thrown, whether because it was illegal or just a big blow, the player who throws the hit has to follow up with a fight. And the Avalanche, especially Iginla, certainly went after Emelin and tried to force the issue.
The thing is: it’s legitimately dangerous for Emelin to fight. In 2009 while playing for Ak-Bars Kazan in Russia, he got into a fight with Alexander Svitov. Emelin crumpled to the ice and needed to be carried off — you can watch the video here.
Emelin needed facial reconstruction surgery after the fight and now has metal plates under his left eye, so he tends to try and avoid fighting. That’s why he didn’t step up here.
