A Latvian hockey player took an opposing for a ride with a hipcheck that spanned at least ten feet before knocking the opposing Austrian into the corner boards.
A European league hockey game beheld one of the farthest-reaching hip checks we’ve ever seen. Defenseman Kristaps Zile threw an Austrian forward from the faceoff dot to the corner boards with one swinging hip that took the forward for a long ride before taking an abrupt end, as seen below.
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The posting Reddit user detailed the actions after posting the gif. “No, the Austrian guy didn’t die. He got up afterwards and continued to play.”
Also from the post:
"What actually happened there was as follows:The offenseman tries to elbow the defenseman in the face to “gain a tactical advantage”, as the Austrian team was losing 0:3 at that point.The defenseman responds to the blow by catching the attacker and throwing him into the boards. While this seems very inappropriate out of context and with only one camera angle available, the Austrian team had been trying to start fights for some time already, as the game kept becoming more and more desperate for them."
While the name of the Austrian forward was unknown, Zile certainly deserves kudos for delivering one of the biggest, wildest hits of this young hockey season. It seems almost accidental in the way the forward clings to Zile’s back like a child on a swing, trying not fall. After that hit ended, he probably wishes he’d fallen sooner.
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