SB Nation - David Booth

GIF: Drew Doughty Deftly Evades Double-Hit

Brian Floyd — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:07:43 -0000

What does one do when two opponents are closing in, ready to deliver a punishing blow? It's a potentially painfully situation -- two fast-moving hockey players collide with one stopped hockey player, knocking him into the boards. But Drew Doughty had a plan, and it worked to perfection.

Doughty hit the air breaks, a la Top Gun, and watched his two opponents fly by. All three hit the boards at the same time, but Doughty wasn't sent flying into them by a vicious hit. Instead, David Booth and Maxim Lapierre ended up with egg on their faces.

"We got him, we got him, we got him, we're gonna hurt him ... aw hamburgers."

It's Safe To Say David Booth Isn't In Florida Anymore

Travis Hughes — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:27:14 -0000

David Booth met with the Vancouver media on Monday for the first time since being traded from the Florida Panthers. He said that he's "excited to play in a market where hockey is number one."

Yep, it's safe to say he's not exactly in South Florida anymore.

Via the Canucks on Twitter, this might be the largest media scrum the 26 year old has ever seen:

For more on the Canucks, check our blog Nucks Misconduct.

While Hits To Head Are Scrutinized, Hitting From Behind Is Often Overlooked

Zachary Zielonka — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:16:08 -0000

One of the new rules implemented in the NHL was an outlaw of blindside hits to the head to protect players from hits like the ones that David Booth from the Florida Panthers and Marc Savard from the Boston Bruins suffered last year. The one thing that always seems to be overlooked though are hits from behind. One such incident occurred during a WHL game between the Tri-City Americans and the Saskatoon Blades:

Saskatoon Blades' Josh Nichols received a bruised back and a concussion from the hit and Tri-City's Brendan Shinnimin received a boarding major and game misconduct for the hit. It reopens this debate on hits from behind because they are so dangerous. Our Puck Worlds editor Bruce Peter was at that game and had this initial reaction about the hit:

Hitting from behind at any level of hockey, particularly when dealing with teenagers, seems like an issue non-grata. What Shinnimin did was absolutely atrocious, but it was merely the escalation that comes at the end of games where the outcome is not in doubt.

Quite simply put... a 2 minute minor for checking from behind is not protecting anyone's head.

While hits like this will happen in the NHL this season, the debate over how severe they should be punished will still continue.