Shawinigan’s Hodge delivers predatory blindside hit on Quebec’s Carozza

Shawinigan’s Kris Hodge has more than likely earned a date with the QMJHL’s league disciplinarian Raymond Bolduc after his blindsided open-ice hit from behind on Quebec’s Massimo Carozza Friday night.

The clip above shows the damage of a downed Carozza as a result of a hit to the back and the head by Hodge, who earned a trip to the showers with a checking to the head major penalty and game misconduct at 16:23 of the first period.

Dillon Donnelly came to the aid of his downed teammate, taking on Francis Beauvillier. Beauvillier himself got into some hot water after taking a checking-to-the-head penalty earlier in the frame, and him and Donnelly earned matching roughing minors.

We’ve taken the liberty of providing several screen shots to demonstrate the hit to the right. All clips were taken from the video posted, and are between 0:04 and 0:05 of the video. Keep in mind the puck is in frame underneath Carozza in each screen shot.

In the first frame, we see Hodge getting ready to hit Carozza, who is trying to make a turn and dump the puck into the Cataractes’ zone and flipped to skate backwards into the center ice area. At this point, while Hodge is engaged to make a hit, he can see Carozza’s 23 in his sights, and should let up. By the second frame, a stride or two ahead, we see that Hodge disregarded the numbers and powered through anyway, putting his hands up over a crouched Carozza finishing his dump-in.

The third frame shows the exact point of impact, where Hodge just missed Carozza square and hit him on the back and left shoulder. The final frame on the right shows the immediate aftermath, with Hodge’s hands still elevated, and a skate off the ice as Carozza falls from the impact to his left shoulder and neck area. Carozza was in a state of vulnerability and couldn’t have braced for impact.

In the alternate angle, taken at 0:41 of the clip and cleaned up a bit, we see the point of impact from a side view. Hodge’s hands come in contact with the upper left side of his back, right where the ‘CAR’ on his name bar is.

While it is unclear whether Hodge will get supplemental discipline for the hit on Carozza, he is not known a particularly dirty player. The five minutes he was called for on the play gave him 50 minutes in penalties on the season, and while he is hard-nosed, he isn’t known to cross the line often.

Hodge is in his first full season with the Cataractes after being traded to Shawinigan during the trading period last year from Moncton to complete a deal for defender Jonathan Narbonne.