Gary Roberts gains possession and control
of the puck and is now skating a few feet from the boards through the
neutral zone. Mike Fisher is skating fast and is in hot pursuit of
Roberts. Roberts is looking for a teammate to pass to as the Ottawa
defenceman in front of him is cutting off his skating lane. As Roberts
begins to slow down Fisher is catching up quickly and is only a few feet
behind Roberts. Fisher sees that Roberts is slowing down and sees a
perfect opportunity to hit Roberts as he doesn’t see him coming.
As Fisher gets about a foot away from
Roberts, he moves his right leg out behind Roberts’ left leg. Remember
that Fisher is going at a faster speed than Roberts and when Fisher’s
right leg clips the back of Roberts’ left leg, this causes Roberts’
left leg to fly up into the air and of course his right leg flies into the
air as well because of the speed of Fisher’s leg hitting the back of
Roberts’ left leg.
Now Roberts’ legs are both up in the air
(up above his head if Fisher clipped his leg hard enough). Roberts is now
on his way to the ice but he has no way to protect himself because he is
falling backwards. The natural instinct when falling backwards is to put
your hands or elbows down behind your back in order to brace yourself from
the fall and hopefully cushion the fall.
Roberts is able to get his hands on the ice
first but this barely slows his decent. He lands on his tailbone first,
followed by his back and then his head hits the ice. Finally, his feet hit
the ice and Roberts is laying on the ice in extreme pain because he just
smashed his tailbone and he hit his head giving him a concussion. Fisher
gets the puck, but not for long as he is assessed a penalty for slew
footing.
This is one of the methods of executing the
slew foot. The player landed on his back and the back of his head allowing
the referee to see that Roberts was slew footed. Quite often the player
throwing the check will complain that it was an accident and that as he
was skating his leg was out behind the opponent’s leg. Sometimes this
happens, but for the most part, a Referee is able to determine if a player
did the slew foot on purpose or by accident.
The second method is just a minor
modification of the first method just mentioned. The only thing that
Fisher would have had to do in the above situation is incorporate his
upper body in the body check/slew foot.
Fisher would have been able to send Roberts
to the ice with even more force if he had used his arm in conjunction with
his leg. Usually a player will use his elbow to create more force on the
hit.
As Fisher’s leg is making contact with
the back of Roberts’ leg, Fisher would have reached in front of Roberts
and used for example, his elbow, to hit Roberts’ upper body backwards.
The elbow and the leg of Fisher would have been going in the opposite
direction. Leg going forward and elbow going backwards. This causes
Roberts’ legs to still go up in the air, but Roberts’ upper body will
be sent to the ice with greater force/faster. When this method of a slew
foot occurs, the player being checked (Roberts) will usually land on his
head first, followed by his back, then tailbone, then legs.
The speed that the player’s upper body
goes to the ice is increased and the player has even less chance of
protecting himself, increasing the chance of a head injury to occur. These
types of slew foots usually don’t go unpenalized because they are more
obvious than a player just clipping the back of another player’s leg. If
the Referee is in the right position to see the infraction, he will
usually see the player throwing the check, throw himself a little off
balance making it even more obvious.
On top of this type of slew foot, there
have been occasions where the player throwing the slew foot has also
thrown the player into the boards, increasing the opportunity for an
injury. When Roberts is in the air, Fisher may have now push Roberts into
the boards as Roberts is only two feet away from the boards. The
possibility of Roberts now hitting the side of his head against the board
and the back of his head on the ice, makes it even worse and usually the
player is penalized appropriately if the Referee was able to witness the
illegal check.
Slew footing is a dangerous move and a
cowardly move on top of that. It has put players out of commission for
days, weeks, and even months with concussions, bruised tailbones and
broken elbows and wrists from the player trying to brace himself as he
falls. There is no room for this type of move in the game of hockey, and
this is why if a Referee is able to see the infraction and determine that
it was not an accident, the player guilty of throwing the check is usually
penalized.
