Crosscheck in the head/neck area - 5+20 automatic by IIHF rules.
Hit from behind - 2 or 5 by IIHF rules
Hit on the opponent who doesn't have the puck - 2 for interference

Murray's hit falls undser every one of those.
If he warned Russian playters before the game to "keep their heads up" then this shows premeditation - he should get more than the 1 game automatic suspension.

This hit wa the reason why the game got chippy. You don't do this to the other team's captain aqnd expect them to take it.
Kudos to Kovalchuk, although he tried to beat up the wrong Swede

I'm glad that my Russian team showed character and punished the dirty play both physically and by winning, without losing their focus.

If we play the Swedes agaoin in the 1/4, that should prove interesting

Hmmm...maybe ? I'd have to see it again...anyone got a replay link ?...This much is certain...anywhere in the universe outside of PUTIN-dumb ...scratch that...maybe on the zany Planet- IIHF too...That's NOWHERE CLOSE to a Suspendable offence...

I'm not trying to make a competition out of this:P

And as Sweden is currently the most penalised team in the tournament, I might have a hard time (fortunately we have the best penalty-killers too).

I can remember another incident that took place between Canada and the Czech republic, it's actually quite funny. The Canadians just start ganging up on this one poor Czech at some point:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=viKrhfXQOmY

Rigasprats:
"Crosscheck in the head/neck area - 5+20 automatic by IIHF rules.
Hit from behind - 2 or 5 by IIHF rules
Hit on the opponent who doesn't have the puck - 2 for interference

Murray's hit falls undser every one of those.
If he warned Russian playters before the game to "keep their heads up" then this shows premeditation - he should get more than the 1 game automatic suspension."

I couldn't disagree with you more. How is it a cross-check, he uses his shoulder! It's not from behind, Morozov may have had his head turned and was planning on turning, but it certainly wasn't from behind. The only one that Murray's hit falls under is interference. Erm, 2 minutes?

If he warned them and they played with their heads down, whose fault is that?

Sutter levels Cherepenov

heh ...."keep you head up" is typical joking whit big boys .....geez

No He didn't ...He caught Cherry cutting towards the middle, mid ice...just inside the Blue, not near the end boards or anything...and Cherry was also moving toward him, which added to the impact...really it was Cherry's own fault,

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Edit : I was talking strictly from memory, above ...hadn't seen the replay yet ( thanks for that btw ) ....It wasn't just inside the blue obviously...my memory was faulty...Cherry was cutting toward the middle ...& yeah I guess u can make a case for charging...

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Btw Rigasprat...All forwards know...or should know to keep ur head up...and if they forget that...Its a Good Dman's JOB, TO REMIND THEM...

That's NOT Premeditation..that's just friggen Hockey , my friend...

Haha that's always the way I've seen it

He tripped him, what does he expect? I'm guessing his last name is not a coincidence and that he is from the hockey-renowned Sutter family?

Yes, indeed. He's Brent's son

I remember reading somewhere that of all of the Sutter kids, the most talented one didn't end up playing pro hockey, and instead got married, had problems, got divorced etc.

How he must regret his choices...

I've noticed that you conviniently forgot about the first line of my post - the head hit- which was what Murray DID get his 5+20+game for. Whether the hit was interference or from behind or shoulder or elbow or buttend or crosscheck we may disagree, but what made this hit egregious was that it was a high hit.

If Morozov was bent over, that's his problem, and certainly not Murray's fault. And I'll say it again, although Morozov's upper body/head may have gotten rocked by Murray's shoulder, it wasn't a cross-check. And what Murray did get his 5+20+game for was for hitting from behind, which he didn't actually do, the refs just made it up so they could have an excuse to throw him out.

I didn't hear Murray pre-game comments, so I can't judge.

If Murray injured a player with a clean hit, then his pre-game trash talk is just that.
But if he hit a player in a vulnerable position in the head, which is illegal umder IIHF rules, and injured him, then his pre-game comments should be used against him.

Just like if you get in a bar argument with someone and you threaten him, your words can come back to haunt you if you really do something to him later.

Penalty 10:02 60:00 SWE 25min. 2 MURRAY D - Match Penalty

This is from the game protocol. As far as I know, the only automatic match penalty is given for head hits. Hit from behind can be given 2 or 2+2 or 5, and it would say in the protocol "hitting from behind".

And please make your mind up about what you think actually happened.

If Morozov was "bent over" and facing Murray at the same time, then he couldn't possibly have been going for the puck. The puck would then have been to his right and behind a bit. Then Murray was interfering, beside hitting high.

If, on the other hand, Morozov was going for the puck, which, again, was about 120 degrees from Murrays direction of movement, then Murray was hitting him from behind, diagonally if not straight up.

Whichever of these scenarios you agree with, the hit was illegal.

And in either case the hit was high.