Jani Hakanpaa comments on his knee-on-knee hit on Drew Doughty; coach defends him

Dallas Stars defenceman Jani Hakanpaa found himself booted out of Friday night's game against the LA Kings after injuring fellow defenceman Drew Doughty with a brutal knee-on-knee hit. It did not appear to be intentional, but the damage was done all the same, with Doughty needing help getting off the ice and likely facing some time on the sidelines as a result. Hakanpaa was assessed a five minute major and game misconduct. Check it out:

"I saw him coming down the wing, I was just trying to deny him the entry to our zone," Hakanpaa said following the game. "It was unfortunate what happened and I really hope he's going to be well, and be back playing as soon as possible. Something you never want to see happening, a guy going down like that."

"I wish he's going to be back soon. Such a great player, just for the case of his teammates and all the fans watching hockey, I'm really, really sorry about him going down like that."

Stars coach Rick Bowness was quick to defend his player.

"He's not going out there to hurt anyone," said Bowness. "It's just one of those hockey plays. The league will deal with it the best they see fit. It's unfortunate, and we hope Drew is OK. We really do, because he's a great player, he's a great asset to our league. I hope he's OK, but it's unfortunate."

"It wasn't intentional at all, it's just Jani's a big guy, he's a physical guy and sometimes that stuff's going to happen."

At six-foot-five and 200 lbs, Bowness isn't kidding about Hakanpaa being a big guy. Again,while the hit did not appear to be intentional, we're still waiting to find out whether the NHL's Department of Player Safety feels the same way.

Related: DOPS MAKES DECISION ON JANI HAKANPAA'S KNEE-ON-KNEE HIT ON DREW DOUGHTY

Source: Dallas News

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