Jakob Pelletier is perhaps most known for an awkward remark made by his then-head coach during last season. Darryl Sutter was asked about the young forward, but it didn’t seem like he had a clue on who Pelletier was. Pelletier had No. 49 last season, and when Sutter famously asked reporters ” which number he was,” it became somewhat of a meme.
Until this season, Pelletier has changed his number from 49 to 22, and yesterday, he played with the new number on his back during an exhibition game against the Seattle Flames. But it didn’t go the way he wanted to.
Late in the first period, as the Flames tried to create something in the offensive zone, Pelletier lost balance and was pushed into the boards by Kraken’s Marian Studenic.
Pelletier went headfirst into the boards and exited the ice with a trainer, clearly in pain. The Flames new head coach Ryan Huska told reporters afterward that Pelletier will be examined on Tuesday.
Studenic was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and was also ejected from the game. But fans thought it was harsh, and on social media, many were critical to how Pelletier’s teammates acted when he went down.
Flames players immediately went after Studenic, and fans didn’t like the retaliation attempts.
”Am I wrong does this not look like an accident? One person slipped and one person awkwardly ran into them. Doesn’t seem intentional at all,” one said.
”He even stopped playing and checked to see if he was okay. I get the instinctual response to defend your teammate but this was an avoidable response,” another responded.
Many also pointed out that they started a scrum right next to the injured player.
”What a dumb scrum. Pelletier did a very risky sharp turn with Studenic skating right behind him and got run into. Studenic immediately checks on him, showing this was an accident. And the Flames’ players decide to start shit on top of their injured teammate just to virtue signal,” one said.
”It looked bad on my first viewing but on repeat it’s clearly unintentional and Studenic stops to make sure Pelts is ok. I can’t blame the guys for getting into a scrum because hockey players do that, I just wish they wouldn’t do it right on top of the guy who is still down,” one fan said.
”Why must players start scrums over injured players. Want them to get sliced too?” another said.
”It’s baffling. Hey our guy is down! We should all violently pile on top of the injured one!” a third added.
What’s your thoughts on this?
READ MORE: Fans absolutely furious after cheap hit in pre-season game; Wild prospect went down bad
