On January 23rd a Florida Panthers prospect laid down one of the most crushing checks we’ve seen all season.
Eddie Wittchow, defenseman from the University of Wisconsin, lined up Tommy Novak from the University of Minnesota near center ice after a poor leading pass sent Novak into dangerous territory. Wittchow read the play perfectly and delivered a monstrous hit that left Novak knocked out before he even hit the ice.
To make matters worse for Novak, his head slammed into the ice as well as he was unconscious and couldn’t break his fall in any way.
Wittchow would be ejected from the game for his hit. He received a major penalty on the play for contact to the head. This type of ejection/penalty results in an automatic one game suspension by the league. The Big Ten would later suspend him for two additional games for his hit.
The Golden Gophers were leading the Badgers 6-2 at the time of the hit. It occurred just over four minutes into the third period. Minnesota would go on to win the game 9-2.
Wittchow is a 2011 sixth round draft pick of the Florida Panthers. He is currently playing his fourth season with the Badgers, and is a huge defenseman at 6’4″ and 215 lbs.
Novak, on the other hand, is playing in his first season of Big Ten hockey. He currently has 17 points from 2 goals and 15 assists. Novak was a third round choice in 2015 by the Nashville Predators.