I downloaded the video and viewed the clip "Cabana cross-checked to head, UND
gets only 2 minutes."  Maybe something is lost in a video, but I saw the UND
player retaliate against Cabana, who checked the UND player into the boards
and swung his elbow up to the UND player's chin. The retaliatory cross-check
hit Cabana on the side of the head (Cabana had turned to face towards the
goal) and put him down on the ice.
 
Was it a nice thing to do? No. Was it legal? No. Was it vicious? It's hard to
say. Judging from what I saw on the video, I'd say it wasn't really vicious,
but rather was a sucker punch that connected and did more damage than was
really intended. And while Cabana didn't "deserve" to be hit so hard that he
spent 10 minutes lying on the ice, he perhaps should have expected some form
of retaliation for his elbow to the jaw.
 
I'm not someone who revels in hockey violence. I have a 16-year-old daughter
who has been playing hockey with boys (in bantams and high school) and who
has been targeted by a few boys who apparently think that a girl on the ice
challenges their virility.  So I think I'm more sensitive than a lot of fans
to gratutitous violence (like the elbow to the head which my daughter
received in a JV game the other night). But sometimes unfortunate things
happen, and this looked like that type of a situation.
 
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