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Colorado Avalanche: Sven Andrighetto and Ryan Hartman Tango

By Nadia Archuleta

DENVER, CO - APRIL 18: Nashville Predators right wing Ryan Hartman
DENVER, CO - APRIL 18: Nashville Predators right wing Ryan Hartman /
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During the Colorado Avalanche’s Game 4 with the Nashville Predators, Sven Andrighetto and Ryan Hartman got into some shenanigans.

As I explored in a previous post, matters got physical and downright bizarre last night when the Colorado Avalanche hosted the Nashville Predators.

Well, something that was both chippy and weird was a series of events in the second period between Sven Andrighetto and Ryan Hartman. The event culminated in Hartman drawing animated attention to his jock before hauling Andrighetto down and sucker punching him.

At that point in the game, the Avalanche were down 2-0. They had a slow start to their game, while Nashville had a pep to theirs. Honestly, Colorado was lucky to be only down by two — credit to goalie Jonathan Bernier, even if he was somewhat injured by then.

It all seems to start when Andrighetto checks Hartman at the 10:43 mark of the period:

Hartman goes down like he’s mortally wounded. It’s possible Andrighetto can opens him, but it’s also clear Hartman is embellishing. Indeed, just a few seconds later he’s gotten back onto his skates because by the 10:33 mark of the period he’s started a charge that he means to end in a knee-on-knee hit on Andrighetto.

Pause the video above and scroll through the frames. At the 10:31 mark he’s got his knee angled toward Andrighetto’s in a way that would make Matt Cooke proud. No, really, if he’d connected at that pace, Andrighetto’s knee could have been shattered. Thank goodness Sven manages to evade the hit.

The real dance starts just a few seconds later, at about the 10:24 mark of the period. Colorado is on the offensive. Hartman, apparently, is tasked with stopping Andrighetto.

That’s too bad because Sven, perhaps with his heart still pumping from the near-miss on the knee-on-knee, does this:

I’m not going to deny Andrighetto gets his stick between Hartman’s legs and pulls it up. You can see clear as day that that’s what happens. However, I am going to point out two things.

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One, Hartman grabs the stick and holds it in place. It’s possible the stick never even connects. After all, Hartman doesn’t drop like he’s just been speared in the privates — from what I’ve seen, that’s the usual reaction to male genital pain.

Two, look at Hartman’s stick as he grabs Andrighetto’s. It’s between Sven’s legs and heading up. In other words, ol’ Ryan was attempting to rack Ghetto, and the Swiss was just a little faster.

That said, there’s no questioning what happens afterward. Hartman throws a tantrum about his jock and then attacks Andrighetto, who rag dolls in his best Jamie Benn impression.

To be honest, that wasn’t the best move, because that left little Alexander Kerfoot, the smallest guy on the ice, to intervene. All it takes is Mattias Eckholm to peel him away. That means that, when Ghetto gets up, Alexei Emelin can pin his arms. And then the punch happens:

All I can do is shake my head. In this sequence, Hartman whines about his wiener, takes Andrigheto down, and sucker punches Ghetto when he’s pinned by a Predator.

Let’s look at the Wiener Whine one more time:

No, really, I’ve never seen anyone get that animated about his jock. And I’m a Rammstein fan.

Next: Avs Learning About Playoff Hockey

Well, there won’t be any Hartman-Andrighetto exchanges in Game 5 because the former was suspended for hitting Carl Soderberg in the head. Nonetheless, the Colorado Avalanche-Nashville Predators series has been highly entertaining.

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