enalty to Niederreiter should come his

LONDON -- A resilient West Ham side held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday as Jose Mourinhos team lost ground to new leader Manchester City in the Premier League title race. Under a pouring rain, West Ham defended for most of the second half and managed to contain Chelseas assaults to secure an important point in its fight to remain in the top flight next season. Demba Ba hit the post from close range in added time as Chelsea piled on the pressure but staunch defending from the Hammers prevailed. Chelsea missed the chance to draw level with second-place Arsenal and now trails Manchester City by three points after Manuel Pellegrinis team won 5-1 at Tottenham. West Ham remained in the relegation zone, two points behind 17th-place Sunderland. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho accused West Ham of playing "football from the 19th century" and said he was frustrated by the result. "Its very difficult to play a football match where only one team wants to play. Its very difficult," Mourinho said. "A football match is about two teams playing and this match was only one team playing and another team not playing." But West Ham manager Sam Allardyce was delighted that his tactics worked out perfectly. "He cant take it, can he? He cant take it because weve outwitted him. He just cant cope," Allardyce said about Mourinho. "I love to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to intimidate him, Jose jumping up and down saying we play crap football. Its brilliant when you get a result against him. Hard luck, Jose." John Terry returned for Chelsea as Jose Mourinho made six changes following Sundays win over Stoke in the FA Cup. West Ham looked comfortable early on and could have been awarded a penalty in the sixth minute when striker Andy Carroll went down after a challenge from Cesar Azpilicueta, but referee Neil Swarbrick played on. West Ham keeper Adrian then made a superb save to deny Oscars curled shot that was heading for the top corner, but that was the only real dangerous occasion for the Blues in the first half hour. West Ham forwards Andy Carroll and Mohamed Diame caused many problems in the Chelsea half while Sam Allardyces team restricted the hosts to long-range shots. But after missing a shot in the 26th minute, Diame crashed into the advertising hoardings as he apparently injured his ankle and was replaced by Matt Jarvis. West Ham defence again held firm in the 40th minute when Eden Hazard tried to find his way through, with the Belgium star forced to hit the ball straight at Adrian. Chelsea went close in first-half added time but another excellent save from Adrian denied Samuel Etoo shot from Oscars missed attempt. Chelsea dominated after the interval but struggled to break through West Hams defensive lines as Mourinho started to show signs of nervousness on the touchline. Ramires had a good chance to break the deadlock but he sent his half-volley wide in the 61st minute. Mourinho then made a double substitution, bringing in Nemanja Matic and Frank Lampard for Azpilicueta and John Obi Mikel. Oscar tried his luck in the 72nd only to see Matt Taylor blocking the ball before Lampard looked set to open the scoring, but again Taylor threw himself in the way. Hazard missed two consecutive chances after Ba hit the post and Etoo had a goal disallowed. The former Barcelona forward kicked the ball into the empty net after Adrian had placed it down for a free kick, apparently unaware that the referee had whistled for a foul. Myles Garrett Jersey . When the next inning rolled around Wednesday, though, Nationals manager Matt Williams sent Strasburg to the mound to face the top of the Dodgers order in what would become a 3-2 victory for Washington, the first time this season the No. Christian Kirksey Jersey . The Raptors have been outscored 88-66 in the opening quarter over a three-game span to begin the month of February. Their most recent loss, 109-101 in Sacramento on Wednesday, was eerily similar to Saturdays defeat at the hands of the Trail Blazers. http://www.officialclevelandbrownsfootba...h-jersey-womens. Ryu (8-3) allowed a run and three hits in six innings and struck out six in his 13th start. In his first 13 starts last season -- his first in the major leagues -- the left-hander was 8-5 with a 2.85 ERA. This was the ninth time this year that Ryu has allowed fewer than three earned runs, and he is 7-0 in those games. Denzel Ward Jersey . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. Derrick Kindred Jersey . Alen, 28, hit .315 with five home runs, 59 RBI and a career-high nine stolen bases for the Goldeyes last season. He is the longest serving catcher in Goldeyes history, having already spent five seasons with the organization.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hello Kerry, After watching Nino Niederreiter clobber Alex Burrows with an open-ice hit on Wednesday, do you think he should have gotten more than the two minutes for interference. He got him in the head with his shoulder! Thanks,Gary Gary: While I do not like the contact that Nino Niederreiter delivered to the head of Alexandre Burrows one bit, a two-minute penalty was about all the refs could assess on this play under the rules. A more meaningful and deserved penalty to Niederreiter should come his way via a Player Safety Committee review of this illegal check to the head. I watched Mike Milburys take on this play during the NBC intermission of the Rangers-Flyers game last night. Mike didnt agree with the "interference" call since the puck had just left Burrows stick. Beyond that, Milburys comments relative to the Niederreiter hit included, "I dont mind it. I think its more than 2 minutes he should have got." (Which I interpret as no penalty was deserved in Mikes opinion.)I completely agree with one element of Mike Milburys assessment on this play; it was not interference! Nino Niederreiter however should be held accountable for the significant contact he delivered with his shoulder cap to the head of Alex Burrows from the side; which by the way I believe was avoidable. For ongoing player safety this hit, and all similar in nature, need to be regarded as an illegal check to the head in violation of rule 48.2—on a hit resulting in contact with an opponents head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable. That can only happen if those responsible for doling out punishment interpret the rule verbiage, "main point of contact" to mean "significant" contact to the head coupled with some/secondary contact with the body. Alexandre Burrows lowered his posture to reach for a puck through the neutraal zone.dddddddddddd After gaining puck possession Burrows straightened to an upright body position, glided a couple of feet and then released the puck. Nino Niederreiter approached from the side angle position with his skates in a glide and his posture coiled (knees bent and flexed) to deliver a body check that would appear at, least through this setup, to make contact squarely through Burrows body. Just prior to delivering the hit Niederreiter stiffened his legs, thereby elevating his posture significantly upwards towards the head of Burrows. From this strike position, Niederreiter slipped his body just off the center line of Burrows and continued to elevate his shoulder that made significant contact with the head of Alex Burrows. The contact delivered off the center body line and to the head of Burrows resulted in a helicopter freefall for the Vancouver Canuck player. I doubt very much we would even be talking about this play if Nino Niederreiter had maintained a lowered and flexed posture from the setup and approach through contact of his intended hit on Alexandre Burrows. Like most players however, Neiderrreiter made the dangerous decision to increase velocity through the hit by straightening with an upward drive of his legs and shoulder cap that had no other place to connect than the head area of his opponent. Rule 48.1 (i) (ii) (iii) provides lots of reasons to determine whether contact with an opponents head was avoidable. Practically all of these allowances place considerable onus on the recipient/victim of the hit. From (iii) Alexandre Burrows did not "materially change the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact." The material change in position came from Nino Niederreiter. If the rule verbiage doesnt qualify hits of this nature as a "head pick," at the very least it needs to be acknowledged that significant contact resulted from an illegal hit to the head in an ongoing effort to hold players accountable. 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