Maxim Lapierre doesn’t know how long he will be suspended for, but the known agitator does know that he’s sorry for the scary hit he delivered on Tuesday night.
The Blues forward sent Dan Boyle to the hospital with a vicious hit from behind that resulted in the Sharks defenseman slamming into the boards. Lapierre was slapped with a game misconduct in addition to a five-minute major, and he now awaits his fate, facing an in-person disciplinary hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
The controversial hit had the Sharks up in arms over the collision that left their teammate unconscious and stretchered off the ice, but Lapierre is attempting some damage control, offering his apologies to Boyle.
“First of all, I would like to apologize to Dan,” Lapierre told the St. Louis-Dispatch. “You never want to see someone feel that way and, as tough as it is to look at for the fans and his teammates, I feel the same way.”
Lapierre’s reputation around the league as a dirty player isn’t doing him any favors, but he maintains that his intention wasn’t to harm Boyle, he was just trying to finish his hit.
“I never [thought] last night it was going to be a hit to the head or it would be that big a deal … I was just trying to finish my hit,” Lapierre said. “But the game goes fast. It’s not an excuse. You have to be responsible for your hits and I was the one doing the bad hit last night.”
Lapierre told the St. Louis-Dispatch that he even tried to call the defenseman to apologize, but despite Boyle not answering, he is hopeful that the two will be able to talk about the incident in the future.
“Obviously, it’s a tough day for him and his family and it’s tough for him to answer a guy who just hit him,” Lapierre said. “But I’m going to try to call him back later in the year when it’s a better point.”
