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Notes -
re the hockey incident that was discussed here a few weeks ago, the player involved has been arrested for manslaughter. they haven't released his name yet, but there's no one else it could realistically be. just yesterday he was getting a standing ovation; life comes at you fast sometimes.
from a legal perspective, it looks like they'll argue for gross negligence, since your skates should never be that high intentionally, and he wasn't violently blind-side hip checked. it's unfortunate that the races of the players involved is turning online discussion about it into a shitshow.
It really seemed like an intentional kick to me. I never got into hockey (just a few months as a kid) but I spent years skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, some recreational ice skating, surfing. You get a good intuition on how the body corrects its balance. He is pushing with his center of mass forward in a way that appears purposeful to me. The leg going that high simply would never occur with that forward level of mass. He had previously used his kick technique here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1gFX1sxUv1Q , and was one of the most penalized players of the league.
I wonder how many people opining on the video spent long years as a child playing a balance-based sport. Because I would put my intuition at 90% or higher. But I could see how I wouldn’t be so sure if I lacked that experience, like how some people don’t know how to fall without damaging themselves — when you play certain sports you learn to fall well.
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