Clean Sundin check sours Leafs captain

By AL STRACHAN -- Toronto Sun

VANCOUVER -- As soon as the collision occurred and Vancouver
Canucks' Brad May crumpled to the ice, referee Don Koharski looked at
the Maple Leafs bench and pointed to his shoulder.

Before anything untoward happened, Koharski wanted to make it clear
that May had been hit by a clean shoulder check from Leafs captain
Mats Sundin.

He was right. But that didn't make Sundin feel any better about it.

"There was a turnover," Sundin said, "and he looked like he was
trying to drag his leg and turn. I just tried to play the body. His
head kind of dipped and I just hit his chin with my shoulder.

"The way he lay there after, I felt really bad. Obviously you never
want to see anyone end up the way he did, but I thought it was a
clean hit."

Almost immediately, a stretcher was brought on to the ice and May
was taken off. The incident occured at 9:31 of the second period in a
game the Leafs won, 1-0.

"Everybody saw what happened with Brad," Canucks coach Marc Crawford
said. "He's concussed. The severity we'll know as time moves forward.
We don't know how long he's going to be out. He let go of the puck
and wasn't watching and Sundin followed through on his hit."

May was up and walking in the second intermission, even calling his
wife in Phoenix. When asked if he was hurt when his head hit the ice,
May said something like, "My head hit the ice?"

Teams are extremely careful with concussions these days and until
May can put together seven consecutive symptom-free days, he'll be
kept out of the lineup.

"I don't think there was anything unfair and I think everyone saw
that," Sundin said. "But it's never fun. Any time you see a guy
that's hurt, then it's not good, especially if you've been involved
in the situation yourself -- if you've hit a guy and he doesn't seem
to be able to get back up."

As soon as the injury occurred, players from both teams gathered
around May and expressed their concern.

After May had been transferred to the stretcher, Sundin skated over
to him.

"I gave him a little pat on the arm when he went off," Sundin
said. "I just said, 'Are you all right?' and he was smiling so I
think he was okay.

"The game goes on. You have to keep playing hockey. There's not much
you can do about it. But it was nice to see he was okay when he went
off."