Video: Willie Mitchell Delivers Crushing Hit on Jonathan Toews

The Vancouver Canucks were 3-2 winners against the Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday night thanks to Mikael Samuelsson's game-winning goal late in the third period.

Earlier in the period, Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell came out of the penalty box and found himself in a position to catch Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews with his head down, and used that opportunity to deliver a crushing (and what appears to be a clean) open-ice hit.

It might be the hit of the year so far. Video after the jump.



Yeah, that appears to be clean. Mitchell doesn't leave his feet, doesn't lead with an elbow, and the hit doesn't appear to be directed at Toews' head. Just a good, solid open-ice hit.

The problem, if you're the Canucks, is that the play was stopped (negating a two-on-none break) because the Blackhawks decided to respond with an attempt at some vigilante justice, which is a continuing (and disturbing) trend in today's NHL following clean hits. Kris Versteeg ended up taking the extra penalty for Chicago, giving Vancouver a power play, but it cost the Canucks a prime scoring opportunity.

It's obvious that Toews was shaken up following the play, and that's unfortunate. Nobody wants to see him (or any other player) injured on the ice. But hockey is a physical game, and when players play within the rules (as Mitchell did in this case) they shouldn't have to drop the gloves and defend themselves.

Clean hit. Play on.