It seems this is becoming more commonplace in the NHL this season: a vicious hit is laid out from one player to another and an injured player is taken off the ice on a stretcher. During last night's game between Colorado and Carolina, Darcy Tucker was the victim of a dirty hit, this time by Carolina's Tuomo Ruutu.

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Not the most vicious of hits but devastating nonetheless. Tucker had clearly released the puck and and as squared up to the boards with his numbers to Ruutu. Thanks to Yahoo's Puck Daddy, we have some good news on Tucker's status:

â†µ Adrian Dater of the Denver Post reported that Tucker was "knocked out cold on the hit. But he regained consciousness and is now fully alert." NHL Network reported after the game that Tucker went to a local hospital where X-Rays were negative but a concussion was diagnosed. â†µ

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No doubt a suspension is forthcoming, and let's hope that Tucker can recover and get back to the ice healthy. Concussions in hockey are on the rise, with players playing faster and hitting harder than ever before. As noted in our interview here on SB Nation, Mark Messier is working hard to develop new technology to protect players better from these types of injury.