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The reactions to Turtlegate just keep getting wilder.

This in from retired NHL referee Paul Stewart, his take on the Zack Kassian and Matt Tkachuk incident, first dealing with Tkachuk’s hits on Kassian that precipitated Kassian punching out Tkachuk, who refused to fight back.

“A hit that isn’t technically illegal isn’t automatically a clean hit or a good hockey play,” Stewart said on Twitter. “When a winger runs out of position to, from above the goal line, body-check an already engaged opponent below the goal line, it’s not good hockey.”

Stewart later added to this in a HockeyBuzz blog post: “In this instance, a winger (Tkachuk) deliberately took himself out of position and, from above the goal line, approached to deliver a body check to an opponent (Kassian) who was engaged below the goal line with a defender on Tkachuk’s team. It’s not a smart hockey play to make. It’s also not why body checks are designed to be a permitted part of the game. They exist to separate someone from the puck, not to separate him from his head when there’s no reasonable chance of bracing to safely receive the hit. Technically legal or not, Kassian could have been injured.”

As for whether or not Kassian should be punished as the aggressor in a fight where Tkachuk refused to respond, Stewart said: “I have a blog upcoming regarding Tkachuk and Kassian. Will say for now that situations such as these aren’t why the aggressor rule exists. It exists to protect defenseless players from an attack, not a provocateur who then turtles.”