Frei: Clean hit on Avs’ Jacob MacDonald was scary nonetheless

It is one of the NHL’s plagues.

That’s the 180-degree standard in reactions — certainly from fans, but also commonly from coaches, players, broadcasters, journalists and fan-alists.

Even among the allegedly objective, judgments can be affected by shadowing a team, and I’ve been caught up in it, too, over the years. There even was some element of that in the events leading up to, through and after the 2004 Steve Moore-Todd Bertuzzi scenario that remains memorable and often-cited.

Generally speaking, if “your” guy deals out a crushing hit, and often regardless of the point of contact? It’s a clean, hard hockey hit. I mean, this isn’t the “Nutcracker”! 

If “your” guy takes a crushing hit, and often regardless of the point of contact? Third-degree manslaughter! Did you see that, Department of Player Safety? (Yo, George…) Suspend the rotten miscreant!