Sunday afternoon in my adopted hometown of Chicago, I learned what it feels like to be traded.
To be clear I said “traded;” not “bailing on my current team to sign a one year contract with an arch rival that supposedly gives me the best chance to win the Stanley Cup.” Hypothetically of course.
I attended the Blackhawks game last Wednesday versus Minnesota and was 100% behind the Indian Head. Five days later I’m in the same building, dressed to the nines in Penguin attire and screaming my guts out for Marc-Andre Fleury and the Wilkes Barre Seven. The Hawks players I rooted for five nights earlier were now the faces of the enemy.
Appearing at the U.C. in visiting colors, 100% vested in the visiting team, even sitting on the opposite side of the building; well let’s just say I now understand how Jaromir Jagr felt the first time he played at the Igloo in a Crapitals sweater.
In all seriousness, the United Center looked different on Sunday. The Hawks looked different. For one night, I saw my adopted hometown through the eyes of a stranger. It’s the tenuous and dangerous existence I walk trying to root for two hockey teams. Adding another layer of conflict, my wife walks the same line but with inverse team priorities. Yikes.
With that brief introduction, my latest “SportsGuy” style recap of Sunday’s out of body experience at the United Center. All times central standard and heavily estimated as always…
1:30 PM – I make one last series of futile attempts to convince Emily to wear Penguin gear to the United Center. She politely declines. Emily is wearing her red Hawks t-shirt, I’m wearing my black Fleury jersey. The battle lines have been drawn and there is no more denying the truth we’ve tip toed around for two years. We are a mixed hockey couple…and for one day we’re on opposite sides of the fence.
2:00 – I spend the warm-up scanning the ice for Penguin players I actually recognize. I carefully watch our goaltenders to try and guess who is starting. I’m praying for Marc-Andre Fleury so I can see at least one Penguins’ star for my $87.50 investment. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t tell Brent Johnson I said that…I fear pain.
2:15 – Reality sets in…no Sid, no Geno. Things have gotten so bad for the Pens that I’m actually lamenting the loss of Chris Kunitz. Seriously.
2:35 – National anthem at the United Center…still the best live moment in professional sports.
2:45 – Fleury robs Patrick Sharp with a BEAUTIFUL breakaway save. This pretty much sums up the opening period, MAF is single handedly keeping the Pens in the game. How he does not even flinch when Sharpie launches a slap shot from 15 feet at his “mid section” is beyond me. Goalies are scary people…even the ones that are not Brent Johnson.
2:50 – Sharp scores on a beautiful set-up by Hawks captain Jonathan Toes. Chelsea Dagger blares from the loud speaker as per usual. In spite of weeks of preparation for this very moment, Emily is clearly conflicted as to how to proceed. In the words of Steve Miller I tell her to “dance, dance, dance…” She does.
2:51 – The heavy set gentlemen in front of me stands up to “adjust himself” during play for about the 4th time in the opening period. This is irksome enough at face value but coming right after the Pens give up a goal, it’s too much to bare. In a strikingly out of character moment, I scream at him to SIT DOWN. Five minutes later the beer man also feels my wrath. I guess being traded really shakes a guy up. By the way, the Hawks fan next to me is in complete agreement with my position though decorum prevents me from repeating his exact comments. Good to see fans of different teams can find common ground though.
2:55 – An entire line of Wilkes Barre guys hits the ice. Somewhere in Canada, Jock Callender and Mike Needham are smiling.
3:00 – More than half way through the first period and I have zero tangible proof that Marion Hossa is taking part in this afternoon’s contest..
3:15 – The single most disturbing moment of a difficult day. Hawks’ mascot Tommy Hawk perches himself on Emily’s lap for nearly five minutes. He stares right at me (and my jersey) before he does it, clearly mocking the superior fowl. Apparently it’s not enough that for 24 hours I’m an outcast in my home town. Now some dude dressed like a giant bird is hitting on my wife. For a moment I ponder going Brent Johnson on him and throwing a right cross to the beak. I mean what’s my worst case scenario for premeditated avian assault? Five for fighting and a four day suspension?
3:20 – Mike Milbury is taping the between periods show no more than 20 feet from our seats. Once again I’m pondering whether felonious assault by a fan is acceptable, if it takes place within the context of the game. If Mike’s a man of his word, he will accept his beat down as “part of the code.”
3:35 – Pierre McGuire leaps over the boards at the commercial break to interview Dan Bylsma. As I bask in the glory of seeing but not hearing the all knowing hockey savant, I quietly wonder if he has to ask Edzo for permission to go to the bathroom a la Red in Shawshank redemption.
3:45 – Alex Goligoski turns the puck over in the neutral zone. In other news, the Pens miss Crosby and Malkin, Chicago weather sucks in the winter, and Emily likes cookies. And who knew then I was watching GoGo’s last turnover in a Penguin uniform.
4:00 – What has gotten in to Patrick Sharp today? On the heals of being named one of Chicago’s 50 most beautiful people, the Hawks leading scorer takes out Brooks Orpik with a high stick and cracks Paul Martin with a Cooke-like shot from behind. The hit on Martin draws no penalty. Not that it matters because Penguin power players these days are nothing more than suicide wind sprints for Kris Letang. All we need is Herb Brooks with a whistle screaming…”AGAIN!” and “WHO DO YOU PLAY FOR !”
4:00 (and 30 seconds) – The first of at least seven angry text messages from Christopher bemoaning the inequity of officiating in today’s game.
4:02 – As the Hawks go on the power play, I mumble something about how a short handed goal would be great right here (or any goal truthfully). Right on cue, the Superstar Max Talbot sets up Cooke with a Lemieux like saucer pass that Cooke buries behind Corey Crawford. Much to the chagrin of my wife and most of section 314, I let out a scream that could wake the dead. We’re all even.
4:20– Emily’s friend Katie is kind enough to switch seats with us so we move from the upper deck to four rows off the ice for the 3rd period. Finally I feel like one of those fans who wins the “seat upgrade” contest.
4:30 – Unbelievable. I never thought I’d say this but I’m having Justin Abdelkader flashbacks. Fleury has single handedly carried the Pens to this point and then suddenly regresses to his October form. A pillow soft goal over the glove hand and sends the United Center in to a frenzy…with one notable exception. My beautiful wife, knowing how much I abhor bad goaltending, is too thoughtful and considerate to dance after that goal. Not that this was ever in doubt but my wife is a much better person than I. Read on…you’ll see.
4:15 – I observe former Chicago Wolves minor league star Brett Sterling standing next to some Hawks winger that used to play for Detroit (aka, the invisible man). Ever wonder why a 50+ goal scorer in the minors barely gets a sniff of the NHL? Let’s just say he looks like Dorf on Golf standing next to Hossa. Seriously, I think the guy is 4 feet 9 or something. On the plus side, I’ve finally noticed Hossa in the game.
4:30 – Jordan Staal drives the net, pushes a Tyler Kennedy rebound to the side and…you guessed it…Sterling drives it past Crawford to tie the game. I let lose another wake the dead scream. Emily is reconsidering her earlier gesture of kindness. Even in this moment of joy I’m still in shock that this constitutes our first line.
4:45 – A clean and sober Patrick Kane dances around Kris Letang and nearly ends the game before overtime. Letang is forced to take a penalty. All I can think is…why can’t it ever be easy?
4:46 – No worries. Hossa returns the favor and takes down Cooke. At least now he’s in the box score. Seriously, at what point did Hossa morph in to Vinny Lecavalier north? And just in case I’ve been too subtle to this point; no, I have not quite forgiven him for running out on the Pens. A few more games like this however and I just might.
4:48 – Jordan Staal takes a slap shot square in the jaw on an overtime power play. Staal’s life is turning in to slapstick comedy. It’s nothing short of divine intervention that he was not seriously injured in the bus crash last week. Heck he was probably driving.
4:50 – Fleury giveth, Fleury taketh away. MAF makes two of the sickest saves you’ll ever see. Yes he gave up a softie but the Pens got a point day solely on his shoulders.
4:52 – Penguins shoot out line-up…Pascal Dupuis, Kris Letang, and Tyler Kennedy. No I’m not making that up. Hawks line-up…Jonathan Toes, Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane. I’m not by nature a betting man but…
…4:55 – Hawks win…Kane beats Fleury with a sick move moments after Dupuis cranks iron.
4:57 – While I respond to Christopher’s 7th angry text message, Emily appears smiling in her Hawks glory on the United Center scoreboard. Somehow, in spite of being in the next seat, her Penguin attired husband does not make the cut. Either way, those three seconds represent the only time I can look at the scoreboard today and smile.
5:00 - We leave relatively happy considering both the latest specter of hockey doom and the $25 Million of talent the Pens have on injured reserved. This one is behind us. Now let the James Neal era begin!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
My Post Mortem on the Long Island Brawl
I’ve spent the last week trying, and for the most part failing, to get over my anger about what happened on Long Island a week ago Friday.
The entire spectacle was an embarrassment to the National Hockey League, not that the league is intelligent enough to understand that. My position on this incident has not changed over eight days, it’s just been clarified. What happened was a 60 minute premeditated and cowardly assault with intent to injure. It was based not on some noble if misplaced desire to protect the Islanders’ top players; rather on some flimsy vendetta that the Islanders conjured out of mid air. It was, to paraphrase Mario Lemieux, a travesty of sport. A travesty made worse by the NHL’s impotent reaction 24 hours later.
If you think I’m overreacting to all this ask yourself two questions. What would have been the reaction if Matt Martin had landed his cowardly sucker punch from behind and fractured Max Talbot’s jaw or even broken his neck as Todd Bertuzzi did to Steve Moore. And how will you feel if Eric Tangradi is unable to play for a year or more because of his second concussion.
The NHL is doing what it always does, punish the result rather than the action. That would be bad enough if the punishments were proportionate to the crime which they rarely are. It’s a sad truth that if Talbot suffered a career ending injury, Martin likely would have received a 25 to 40 game ban. That would have been woefully inadequate given Martin’s action but certainly more than he got.
Instead the NHL’s lack of action will simply encourage and enable more of this behavior. Consider that the Pens/Islanders game was the third brawl filled game in ten days and little action was taken on the first two. Consider some unknown Colorado hack took a cheap run at Olli Jokinen the next night after he put up four points on the fading Avalanche. It’s a systematic and endemic problem that the NHL does not acknowledge, let alone attempt to fix.
For too long the league has relied on its archaic code of justice to mediate justice. Besides the obvious flaw in having the inmates run the asylum, the simple fact is its not working anymore. Players seem to be losing respect for the so called “code”. What the Islanders did Friday night was a three hour case study in this. As former Penguin Rick Tocchet said last week, players seem more willing to hurt each other today. And Tocchet knows a thing or two about hockey fights.
I might excuse the Islander’s conduct on some level if any member of their organization, player or coach had acknowledged in the slightest that things got out of hand. They steadfastly refused to do so. Instead, they bragged about protecting their players, sending a message and in the most asinine comment I’ve heard this season showing restraint. I guess my memory is foggy. I’m sure I remember Garth Snow wearing a mask when he played goal for the Pens yet he seems like he took one too many slap shots to the cranium.
The NHL should have come out and sent a strong message that this behavior will not be tolerated. When you use the term “DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO INJURE” in doling out punishment, you are saying that the player committed a crime against the game. They should have suspended both Martin and Trevor Gillies for the remainder of the season for their assaults on Talbot and Tangradi. They should have suspended Jack Capuano five games for complete failure to control his players. They should have suspended Matt Hailey for spending the entire night starting brawls. And yes, Dan Bylsma should have been suspended as required by rule for Eric Godard leaving the bench.
Instead they suspended only three players. Two of the suspensions, for Gillies and Martin, were frighteningly inadequate to the crime. And the Godard suspension, which I agree with, was only by rule and would not have been necessary if the officials had put a stop to the insanity in the second period. None of the other brawlers were suspended.
The obvious message here…fighting is acceptable no matter how badly it gets out of hand. And if you go as far over the line as Gillies and Martin did, the league will talk tough and then give them a slap on the wrist suspension. Compare that to the NBA, hardly a bastion of purity or responsibility which suspended players involved in the Indiana/Detroit brawl for the remainder of the season, about 60 games and the playoffs.
The NBA’s message to its players, that kind of brawling will not be tolerated. The NHL’s message, as long as you don’t cheap shot a guy in the head, you’ll be back the next night. And even if you do, you’ll only sit a few days. Somehow I don’t see that as quite the detriment that the all knowing former goon Colin Campbell does.
Those who continue to profess that the players police themselves will call this an isolated incident. I say that this incident proved how ineffective and counter productive that idea is. The NHL claims that fighting protects the game. I take the opposite view point, I think fighting enables the kind of ugly incident we saw last Friday night. As I said last week, if you believe fighting is necessary to police the game I ask you this…did it work last Friday? Keep in mind that before he tried to end Tangradi’s career for no apparent reason, Gillies fought Eric Godard.
I personally would not mind if they eliminated fighting from the game. Unfortunately, the only way that’s going to happen is if somebody dies on the ice during a fight. I truly believe that. And as much as I would prefer hockey to be fight free, I’m not willing to pay the price of a human life to get there. So I would suggest that the league add a mandatory ten minute misconduct on top of every fight. If fighting is that necessary to police the game then a player should be wiling to pay a 15 minute price. And for those who believe it necessary, I remind you that it all but disappears when the playoffs start.
What is worse is what has happened since. Mario Lemieux, arguably the greatest player in NHL history rightfully called out what happened as a travesty of sport. He criticized both the events itself and the NHL’s pathetic response. His message was right on point and had to be delivered. As a fan, I would want my owner to do exactly that.
Not only was his message ignored, it was summarily dismissed by the NHL and Lemieux was ripped for it by fans and media alike. I found it fascinating that in all the talk of Lemieux being a hypocrite because of the sinful act of employing Matt Cooke, not one person actually contradicted his point. To me that is even more convincing evidence that he was 100% correct.
That said, the universal effort to shoot the messenger was telling. It tells me that there are too many people in the NHL that are more concerned with protecting its archaic code of brutal violence than doing what’s best for the sport. Even as the game’s best player and poster child sits on the sideline with a concussion induced by an unpunished cheap shot to the head, the NHL continues to ignore an obvious problem.
Lemieux has been ripped for not calling out Cooke for his shots on Marc Savard and Fedor Tyutin. The implication is that Lemieux supports Cooke’s actions. Beyond the fact that Lemieux and the Pens never once complained about Cooke’s suspension this argument is blatantly stupid. Ask Andrew Ference what happens when you call out a teammate. Do you think free agents would be lining up to come to Pittsburgh if Mario was calling out his own players?
And for the record, I think the NHL should have suspended Cooke for the hit on Savard and more for the hit on Tyutin. It’s all part of an overall trend of the league not taking these issues seriously enough. And each time that happens, the repercussions are worse. Sadly the NHL just does not get this.
Instead they let a career goon like Campbell dole out obviously inadequate punishments. They continue to rally around small minding thinking and an archaic and useless code. They continue to cheapen their product through unnecessary fights that lead to brawls and worse. They continue to make their stars take a back seat to fourth line goons.
As a lifetime hockey fan, I am grudgingly able to look beyond this. Far too many are not. Hockey is one of the greatest games on earth. Sadly, the NHL is hell bent on making sure many people never find out. We learned that the hard way last weekend.
The entire spectacle was an embarrassment to the National Hockey League, not that the league is intelligent enough to understand that. My position on this incident has not changed over eight days, it’s just been clarified. What happened was a 60 minute premeditated and cowardly assault with intent to injure. It was based not on some noble if misplaced desire to protect the Islanders’ top players; rather on some flimsy vendetta that the Islanders conjured out of mid air. It was, to paraphrase Mario Lemieux, a travesty of sport. A travesty made worse by the NHL’s impotent reaction 24 hours later.
If you think I’m overreacting to all this ask yourself two questions. What would have been the reaction if Matt Martin had landed his cowardly sucker punch from behind and fractured Max Talbot’s jaw or even broken his neck as Todd Bertuzzi did to Steve Moore. And how will you feel if Eric Tangradi is unable to play for a year or more because of his second concussion.
The NHL is doing what it always does, punish the result rather than the action. That would be bad enough if the punishments were proportionate to the crime which they rarely are. It’s a sad truth that if Talbot suffered a career ending injury, Martin likely would have received a 25 to 40 game ban. That would have been woefully inadequate given Martin’s action but certainly more than he got.
Instead the NHL’s lack of action will simply encourage and enable more of this behavior. Consider that the Pens/Islanders game was the third brawl filled game in ten days and little action was taken on the first two. Consider some unknown Colorado hack took a cheap run at Olli Jokinen the next night after he put up four points on the fading Avalanche. It’s a systematic and endemic problem that the NHL does not acknowledge, let alone attempt to fix.
For too long the league has relied on its archaic code of justice to mediate justice. Besides the obvious flaw in having the inmates run the asylum, the simple fact is its not working anymore. Players seem to be losing respect for the so called “code”. What the Islanders did Friday night was a three hour case study in this. As former Penguin Rick Tocchet said last week, players seem more willing to hurt each other today. And Tocchet knows a thing or two about hockey fights.
I might excuse the Islander’s conduct on some level if any member of their organization, player or coach had acknowledged in the slightest that things got out of hand. They steadfastly refused to do so. Instead, they bragged about protecting their players, sending a message and in the most asinine comment I’ve heard this season showing restraint. I guess my memory is foggy. I’m sure I remember Garth Snow wearing a mask when he played goal for the Pens yet he seems like he took one too many slap shots to the cranium.
The NHL should have come out and sent a strong message that this behavior will not be tolerated. When you use the term “DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO INJURE” in doling out punishment, you are saying that the player committed a crime against the game. They should have suspended both Martin and Trevor Gillies for the remainder of the season for their assaults on Talbot and Tangradi. They should have suspended Jack Capuano five games for complete failure to control his players. They should have suspended Matt Hailey for spending the entire night starting brawls. And yes, Dan Bylsma should have been suspended as required by rule for Eric Godard leaving the bench.
Instead they suspended only three players. Two of the suspensions, for Gillies and Martin, were frighteningly inadequate to the crime. And the Godard suspension, which I agree with, was only by rule and would not have been necessary if the officials had put a stop to the insanity in the second period. None of the other brawlers were suspended.
The obvious message here…fighting is acceptable no matter how badly it gets out of hand. And if you go as far over the line as Gillies and Martin did, the league will talk tough and then give them a slap on the wrist suspension. Compare that to the NBA, hardly a bastion of purity or responsibility which suspended players involved in the Indiana/Detroit brawl for the remainder of the season, about 60 games and the playoffs.
The NBA’s message to its players, that kind of brawling will not be tolerated. The NHL’s message, as long as you don’t cheap shot a guy in the head, you’ll be back the next night. And even if you do, you’ll only sit a few days. Somehow I don’t see that as quite the detriment that the all knowing former goon Colin Campbell does.
Those who continue to profess that the players police themselves will call this an isolated incident. I say that this incident proved how ineffective and counter productive that idea is. The NHL claims that fighting protects the game. I take the opposite view point, I think fighting enables the kind of ugly incident we saw last Friday night. As I said last week, if you believe fighting is necessary to police the game I ask you this…did it work last Friday? Keep in mind that before he tried to end Tangradi’s career for no apparent reason, Gillies fought Eric Godard.
I personally would not mind if they eliminated fighting from the game. Unfortunately, the only way that’s going to happen is if somebody dies on the ice during a fight. I truly believe that. And as much as I would prefer hockey to be fight free, I’m not willing to pay the price of a human life to get there. So I would suggest that the league add a mandatory ten minute misconduct on top of every fight. If fighting is that necessary to police the game then a player should be wiling to pay a 15 minute price. And for those who believe it necessary, I remind you that it all but disappears when the playoffs start.
What is worse is what has happened since. Mario Lemieux, arguably the greatest player in NHL history rightfully called out what happened as a travesty of sport. He criticized both the events itself and the NHL’s pathetic response. His message was right on point and had to be delivered. As a fan, I would want my owner to do exactly that.
Not only was his message ignored, it was summarily dismissed by the NHL and Lemieux was ripped for it by fans and media alike. I found it fascinating that in all the talk of Lemieux being a hypocrite because of the sinful act of employing Matt Cooke, not one person actually contradicted his point. To me that is even more convincing evidence that he was 100% correct.
That said, the universal effort to shoot the messenger was telling. It tells me that there are too many people in the NHL that are more concerned with protecting its archaic code of brutal violence than doing what’s best for the sport. Even as the game’s best player and poster child sits on the sideline with a concussion induced by an unpunished cheap shot to the head, the NHL continues to ignore an obvious problem.
Lemieux has been ripped for not calling out Cooke for his shots on Marc Savard and Fedor Tyutin. The implication is that Lemieux supports Cooke’s actions. Beyond the fact that Lemieux and the Pens never once complained about Cooke’s suspension this argument is blatantly stupid. Ask Andrew Ference what happens when you call out a teammate. Do you think free agents would be lining up to come to Pittsburgh if Mario was calling out his own players?
And for the record, I think the NHL should have suspended Cooke for the hit on Savard and more for the hit on Tyutin. It’s all part of an overall trend of the league not taking these issues seriously enough. And each time that happens, the repercussions are worse. Sadly the NHL just does not get this.
Instead they let a career goon like Campbell dole out obviously inadequate punishments. They continue to rally around small minding thinking and an archaic and useless code. They continue to cheapen their product through unnecessary fights that lead to brawls and worse. They continue to make their stars take a back seat to fourth line goons.
As a lifetime hockey fan, I am grudgingly able to look beyond this. Far too many are not. Hockey is one of the greatest games on earth. Sadly, the NHL is hell bent on making sure many people never find out. We learned that the hard way last weekend.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
A Sickening Display of “Sport”
I love hockey. So please understand how serious I take what I'm about to write.
My love for the sports parallels the Penguins’ rise to prominence, lead by a quiet (usually) French Canadian simply known as “Le Magnifique.” And yet, I clearly remember watching Michelle Dion and the Pens nearly pull one of the greatest playoff upsets in sports history against the Islander dynasty in 1982.
Those Islander teams were amongst the greatest of all time. They were blessed with a roster full of hall of fame players. They were not saints, but for the most part played the game the right way. Three decades later, their successors put on one of the most shameful displays in NHL history.
I’m not sure what was worse; the beer league goonism and thugery the Islanders perpetrated under the guise of “settling a score,” or the pathetic see no evil response from their coach and general manager. To hear Jack Capuano and Garth Snow tell it, their team of choir boys was simply defending themselves from the likes of the evil Eric Tangradi.
I guess that explains why the legendary Matt Martin felt the need to give Max Talbot the Todd Bertuzzi treatment. I guess that’s why Trevor Gillies skated half the rink to drive his elbow through Tangradi’s cranium, punch him while he was clearly injured and then taunt him while he was laying face first on the ice. So much for getting tough on head injuries.
Let me be as clear as possible on this so there is no misunderstanding where I stand on this. Gillies' actions in that sequence were possibly the most sickening display I’ve seen in over 30 years of watching sports. It was the single most disgraceful act of a game that was a complete disgrace to the sport.
Seriously, what does it say for the Islanders that Martin tried to end Talbot’s season with a cheap sucker punch from behind and it was only the second worst display of the night? And there was an ample supply of other candidates.
All of this occurred because the Islanders apparently felt the need to avenge a questionable hit by Talbot in the last meeting and Brent Johnson’s one punch TKO of Rick DiPietro. Frankly I would think the Islanders would pin a metal on Johnson for taking DiPietro out of the line-up but that’s an argument for a different day. I guess I’m struggling to understand how fighting is an accepted part of the game unless your guy loses. Then its justification to run Johnson and his teammates all night long.
The NHL was apparently incensed in word though not in deed. They admonished both players for “deliberate attempt to injure” and then gave them slap on the wrist suspensions. I’m sorry but when you acknowledge that somebody “deliberately attempted to injure an opponent,” that player’s season should be over. It goes against every principle of organized team sports to purposefully injure an opponent. Even James Harrison acknowledged that. When there are multiple acts as such over 60 minutes, the offending organization and coach should be severely punished.
Apparently the fact that Talbot was lucky enough to duck and avoid a fractured jaw makes the act less egregious, at least in the eyes of the all knowing and all powerful Colin Campbell.
I recognize that the NHL fined the Islanders $100,000 and in doing so sent a bit of a message. That said, whether the Islanders are cheap or not, that’s chump change for a professional sports franchise. What absolutely should have happened is additional fines and a suspension for Islanders coach Jack Capuano who at best turned a blind eye to his team’s obvious intentions, at worse encouraged it.
I commented after the game were that anything less than 20 game suspensions for both Martin and Gilles would leave me outraged. Well guess what…I’m outraged. If I thought my voice carried any weight, I would publicly admonish the league for this tragic miscarriage of sports justice. Thankfully, Mario Lemieux took care of it for me.
Let’s take a step back though. Any non Pittsburgh fan who reads this is going to interpret it as a one sided rant by an angry Penguin fan. I do not deny my anger; my impression is that the Islanders caused most of this; but there is a bigger issue here. In short, what happened Friday night was inevitable.
I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m not a fan of fighting in the NHL. I believe it’s unnecessary and that it cheapens and demeans what is otherwise a great sport. It’s amazing to me that something deemed so necessary all but disappears in the playoffs. It’s even more amazing that people feel that two 4th line goons fighting has more effect on the game than Brooks Orpik crushing a guy with a clean, legal check. The only thing I hate worse than fighting is the pathetic attempts to justify it as a necessary act of “policing the game.”
Did the Islanders look like they were “policing the game” on Friday night?
That said, I have reluctantly accepted fighting for years as part of the game’s culture. I grudgingly gave the league credit for eliminating bench clearing brawls and for gradually siphoning fighting from the game. If fighting was limited to the occasional Eric Godard versus Colton Orr scrap to fire up the crowd, I could live with it. If it was occasionally used to avenge say Adam Grave’s criminal slash on Lemieux in 1992 or Matt Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard last year, I could deal with it.
After seeing three brawl filled games this week, and the NHL’s meager response I fear that’s no longer the case. It’s even worse that the league tries to depict its response as aggressive. The impotent punishments from the league in response to Friday night’s horrific actions are nothing less than a tacit endorsement of what went on. For all of Campbell’s tough talk, only three players left the arena with anything more than additional PIMs.
If the NHL wants to protect fighting’s limited role in the game, I guess that’s their right. If the players truly believe that a limited amount of fighting is necessary, I can continue to accept it in extreme moderation. That said, the travesty of sport that occurred Friday night on Long Island can not be allowed under any circumstances. It is indefensible on any level for a civilized sport. It’s the latest example of a league that continually sabotages any chance for mainstream acceptance.
The movie Slapshot was supposed to be a parody of a bygone era or minor league hockey. It was not supposed to be replayed in earnest by “supposed” NHL players.
The Penguins are not innocent bystanders in this. It does not help their cause that they lead the league in fighting majors. Nor does it help them that Matt Cooke is forcefully growing his reputation as one of the dirtiest players in the game. That does not excuse what went on Friday night in Long Island but it’s clear that the Pens are earning an ugly reputation around the NHL.
A year ago I praised the Pens for becoming a genuinely tough and physical team to play against. This year they seem to be morphing in to their neighbors to the east.
That said, this is bigger than the Penguins and bigger than what happened on Friday night. The simple act of allowing fighting in the sport opens up the doors to that kind of breakdown. The refusal of the league to take truly aggressive action against such an embarrassing display emboldens every other franchise. What’s to stop any other team from bringing up a few minor league hacks to rough up any player who dares throw a body check? I realize the Islanders are not a playoff team (or an NHL team in my opinion) but do you really think losing Matt Martin for four games is going to affect them?
Again, I love hockey and I was thoroughly disgusted by what happened Friday night. The game had the same effect on me that it had on Lemieux; it made me question whether I want to continue to be a part of the sport I love. The NHL remains a niche sport in the United States. When it starts offending its most die hard fans, it’s in serious trouble. The league can not continue to let a minority of backward minded Canadians determine its destiny. It must stop catering to the barbaric Don Cherry and Mike Milbury mentality, or risk destroying itself.
What happened Friday night was a sickening and disgraceful display. Kris Letang and Dan Bylsma said it was not hockey, I saw it was not even sport. It served only to embarrass the National Hockey League and the teams involved, regardless of who was ultimately at fault.
The league had to send a strong message that this was unacceptable on any level. As Lemieux clearly stated today, they failed.
My love for the sports parallels the Penguins’ rise to prominence, lead by a quiet (usually) French Canadian simply known as “Le Magnifique.” And yet, I clearly remember watching Michelle Dion and the Pens nearly pull one of the greatest playoff upsets in sports history against the Islander dynasty in 1982.
Those Islander teams were amongst the greatest of all time. They were blessed with a roster full of hall of fame players. They were not saints, but for the most part played the game the right way. Three decades later, their successors put on one of the most shameful displays in NHL history.
I’m not sure what was worse; the beer league goonism and thugery the Islanders perpetrated under the guise of “settling a score,” or the pathetic see no evil response from their coach and general manager. To hear Jack Capuano and Garth Snow tell it, their team of choir boys was simply defending themselves from the likes of the evil Eric Tangradi.
I guess that explains why the legendary Matt Martin felt the need to give Max Talbot the Todd Bertuzzi treatment. I guess that’s why Trevor Gillies skated half the rink to drive his elbow through Tangradi’s cranium, punch him while he was clearly injured and then taunt him while he was laying face first on the ice. So much for getting tough on head injuries.
Let me be as clear as possible on this so there is no misunderstanding where I stand on this. Gillies' actions in that sequence were possibly the most sickening display I’ve seen in over 30 years of watching sports. It was the single most disgraceful act of a game that was a complete disgrace to the sport.
Seriously, what does it say for the Islanders that Martin tried to end Talbot’s season with a cheap sucker punch from behind and it was only the second worst display of the night? And there was an ample supply of other candidates.
All of this occurred because the Islanders apparently felt the need to avenge a questionable hit by Talbot in the last meeting and Brent Johnson’s one punch TKO of Rick DiPietro. Frankly I would think the Islanders would pin a metal on Johnson for taking DiPietro out of the line-up but that’s an argument for a different day. I guess I’m struggling to understand how fighting is an accepted part of the game unless your guy loses. Then its justification to run Johnson and his teammates all night long.
The NHL was apparently incensed in word though not in deed. They admonished both players for “deliberate attempt to injure” and then gave them slap on the wrist suspensions. I’m sorry but when you acknowledge that somebody “deliberately attempted to injure an opponent,” that player’s season should be over. It goes against every principle of organized team sports to purposefully injure an opponent. Even James Harrison acknowledged that. When there are multiple acts as such over 60 minutes, the offending organization and coach should be severely punished.
Apparently the fact that Talbot was lucky enough to duck and avoid a fractured jaw makes the act less egregious, at least in the eyes of the all knowing and all powerful Colin Campbell.
I recognize that the NHL fined the Islanders $100,000 and in doing so sent a bit of a message. That said, whether the Islanders are cheap or not, that’s chump change for a professional sports franchise. What absolutely should have happened is additional fines and a suspension for Islanders coach Jack Capuano who at best turned a blind eye to his team’s obvious intentions, at worse encouraged it.
I commented after the game were that anything less than 20 game suspensions for both Martin and Gilles would leave me outraged. Well guess what…I’m outraged. If I thought my voice carried any weight, I would publicly admonish the league for this tragic miscarriage of sports justice. Thankfully, Mario Lemieux took care of it for me.
Let’s take a step back though. Any non Pittsburgh fan who reads this is going to interpret it as a one sided rant by an angry Penguin fan. I do not deny my anger; my impression is that the Islanders caused most of this; but there is a bigger issue here. In short, what happened Friday night was inevitable.
I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m not a fan of fighting in the NHL. I believe it’s unnecessary and that it cheapens and demeans what is otherwise a great sport. It’s amazing to me that something deemed so necessary all but disappears in the playoffs. It’s even more amazing that people feel that two 4th line goons fighting has more effect on the game than Brooks Orpik crushing a guy with a clean, legal check. The only thing I hate worse than fighting is the pathetic attempts to justify it as a necessary act of “policing the game.”
Did the Islanders look like they were “policing the game” on Friday night?
That said, I have reluctantly accepted fighting for years as part of the game’s culture. I grudgingly gave the league credit for eliminating bench clearing brawls and for gradually siphoning fighting from the game. If fighting was limited to the occasional Eric Godard versus Colton Orr scrap to fire up the crowd, I could live with it. If it was occasionally used to avenge say Adam Grave’s criminal slash on Lemieux in 1992 or Matt Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard last year, I could deal with it.
After seeing three brawl filled games this week, and the NHL’s meager response I fear that’s no longer the case. It’s even worse that the league tries to depict its response as aggressive. The impotent punishments from the league in response to Friday night’s horrific actions are nothing less than a tacit endorsement of what went on. For all of Campbell’s tough talk, only three players left the arena with anything more than additional PIMs.
If the NHL wants to protect fighting’s limited role in the game, I guess that’s their right. If the players truly believe that a limited amount of fighting is necessary, I can continue to accept it in extreme moderation. That said, the travesty of sport that occurred Friday night on Long Island can not be allowed under any circumstances. It is indefensible on any level for a civilized sport. It’s the latest example of a league that continually sabotages any chance for mainstream acceptance.
The movie Slapshot was supposed to be a parody of a bygone era or minor league hockey. It was not supposed to be replayed in earnest by “supposed” NHL players.
The Penguins are not innocent bystanders in this. It does not help their cause that they lead the league in fighting majors. Nor does it help them that Matt Cooke is forcefully growing his reputation as one of the dirtiest players in the game. That does not excuse what went on Friday night in Long Island but it’s clear that the Pens are earning an ugly reputation around the NHL.
A year ago I praised the Pens for becoming a genuinely tough and physical team to play against. This year they seem to be morphing in to their neighbors to the east.
That said, this is bigger than the Penguins and bigger than what happened on Friday night. The simple act of allowing fighting in the sport opens up the doors to that kind of breakdown. The refusal of the league to take truly aggressive action against such an embarrassing display emboldens every other franchise. What’s to stop any other team from bringing up a few minor league hacks to rough up any player who dares throw a body check? I realize the Islanders are not a playoff team (or an NHL team in my opinion) but do you really think losing Matt Martin for four games is going to affect them?
Again, I love hockey and I was thoroughly disgusted by what happened Friday night. The game had the same effect on me that it had on Lemieux; it made me question whether I want to continue to be a part of the sport I love. The NHL remains a niche sport in the United States. When it starts offending its most die hard fans, it’s in serious trouble. The league can not continue to let a minority of backward minded Canadians determine its destiny. It must stop catering to the barbaric Don Cherry and Mike Milbury mentality, or risk destroying itself.
What happened Friday night was a sickening and disgraceful display. Kris Letang and Dan Bylsma said it was not hockey, I saw it was not even sport. It served only to embarrass the National Hockey League and the teams involved, regardless of who was ultimately at fault.
The league had to send a strong message that this was unacceptable on any level. As Lemieux clearly stated today, they failed.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Penguins Making Super Bowl Week Easy
As a sports fan, there is nothing better than having your favorite team in the Super Bowl. It is so to speak, sports nirvana.
Unfortunately, as former Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz frequently reminded me, you do not get something for nothing in this life. The cost of that Super Bowl glory is the interminable two week wait leading up to it. One minute you are celebrating the thrill of reaching the summit of the sports mountain; the next you are stuck in a two week abyss of no football.
Compounding the misery is the non stop dissection of the event by the various and bloated talking football heads; supplemented by a steady does of rumor, innuendo, and pointless gossip. Everyone and their mother is on TV or the internet with their own useless analysis and meaningless predictions. Let’s face it, the average human being is not equipped to handle 14 days of Deion Sanders, Keyshawn Johnson, and Steve Marriucci.
The oversaturation of pointless news and gossip reached a historic low point today when it was reported as breaking news that Ben Roethlisberger was seen drinking with teammates at a piano bar on Tuesday night. Unless Ben singing under the influence is consider a potential felony this is a total non story. Unless of course its Super Bowl week.
Maybe I’m just spoiled after three Super Bowl trips in six years but I frankly can’t stand it. Fortunately I have the perfect cure. It’s called Pittsburgh Penguins hockey.
The Penguins are doing a phenomenal job keeping my mind of the Super Bowl week abyss. Instead of being immersed in the endless minutia of Super Bowl week, I’m watching perhaps the gutsiest regular season performance in the history of our beloved hockey team. And I’ll be doing so right up through Sunday afternoon. Instead of eight hours of senseless pre game babble, I’ll be watching Disco Dan’s boys taking on the hated Washington Crapital’s in a matinee special.
By all accounts, the Penguins should be in free fall right now. In case you did not get the memo, they have played the last ten games without the world’s best player, a young fellow named Crosby, and the last five games without his superstar sidekick Evgeni Malkin. To up the ante on Tuesday night, Jordan Staal decided to go all Brent Johnson and punch out a Ranger forward, thus earning an early shower.
If I had told you after the winter classic that the Pens would be without Sid for ten games and Geno for five of those games, would you in any way, shape, or form believed they would earn 13 points?
I’m not above admitting that I would not.
With this performance, the current group has redefined the image of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Our boys have always been thought of as a run and gun, offensive skill team. They’ve never been considered a team that wins games with defense, physicality and grit. At least until now.
All of a sudden the Pens are winning games because Max Talbot and Matt Cooke are running guys all over the ice, Zbynek Michalek and Brooks Orpik are dominating the defensive zone, and Brent Johnson is punching out Ricky DiPietro. Okay, the last part is more of a bonus parting gift but you get the point.
And think, some idiot on this blog keeps insisting that this team has too many grinders and not enough scoring wingers. Blasphemy.
Anyway.
Two months ago, I wrote a blog overflowing with praise for the Steelers brilliantly gritty victory in Baltimore. The game was the classic embodiment of Steeler football. The team battling for 60 minutes through a brutally physical encounter and all but willing themselves to victory. It was men pushing themselves beyond the limits of human endurance for nothing more than one regular season victory. I was so fired up afterwards that I could not sleep until 3am.
I had nearly the same feeling after the Penguins gutted out a 4-3 win at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night without their top four centers (including Mark Letestu). Oh and after spotting one of the league’s best goaltenders a 2-0 lead. The Pens just refused to quit, right up to the point where a rookie with less than ten games of experience scored the game winning goal in the shootout. It was quite frankly a “Steeler-like” performance.
I love the Steelers and the Penguins but I sometime marvel at how different they are. Steeler football is so emblematic of Pittsburgh. It’s about brutal physicality (except when it angers Roger Goodell), hard work, and an overwhelming desire and will to win. It’s rarely pretty; a fact we were comfortable with long before Mike Tomlin clarified that style points do not matter.
The Penguins on the other hand have been considered a brilliantly talented, finesse team pretty much from the day they were raised to prominence by a quiet French Canadian simply known as Le Magnifique. Go back and watch Hockey Night in Canada’s coverage of Lemieux’s mind numbing playoff goal against Ray Bourque and Boston in 1992. The announcer sums up the perception of Penguin hockey perfectly when he asks, “Have you ever seen such finesse?”
That’s not to suggest in any way that the Pens are not tough. Ulf Samuelsson was tough. Rich Tocchet was tough. Ryan Malone played a playoff series with a broken nose. We know all about the likes of Cooke, Brooks Orpik and Mike Rupp. Hockey players frequently play through injuries that would keep a good accountant in bed for weeks (hypothetically).
That said, when you think of the Steelers, you think of Jack Lambert or James Harrison, covered in blood and driving some poor running back through the turf. When you think of the Pens, you think of Lemieux’s Jagr, Crosby, and/or Malkin undressing some poor defensemen and humiliating the likes of John Casey, Andy Moog, or whatever AHL caliber goaltender is suiting up for Philadelphia.
Steeler fans prefer a 7-3 victory behind a dominant defense to a 40 point, 400 yard passing explosion. Penguin fans prefer that same 7-3 score, with Crosby and Malkin tallying 5 points each. It’s a shocking dichotomy in our sports preferences.
At least until now.
I pointed out last season that the Pens have become one of the toughest teams to play against in hockey. It’s not just because of Deryk Engelland dropping the gloves two out of three nights. It’s because of fast, physical forwards who pummel defensemen on the forecheck. It’s because of big, strong and mobile defensemen taking out guys in the defensive zone. Heck, even our back-up goaltender is tough.
And did I mention that the Penguins are the top penalty killing team in the NHL? The Pittsburgh Penguins? What next, the New Jersey Devils in last place?
This is not necessarily new, it’s just that nobody noticed until the team’s two offensive superstars went on the shelf. The Penguins are not scoring nearly as much without 87 and 71 but they have not changed their system one bit. They continue to dominate on the forecheck resulting in a huge disparity in zone time. They continue to choke off scoring chances when the puck is in their defensive zone (without trapping by the way). And offensively they are now opportunistic. Not a word frequently used to describe Penguin hockey over the last 25 years.
The result is some of the grittiest hockey in Penguin history. The gold standard to me remains games six and seven of the Stanley Cup finals against Detroit two years ago. That said, this is a close second and it’s being accomplished with $17.5 Million of all world production in the press box. I don’t know that I’ve ever been prouder of our boys.
Dan Bylsma has risen to another level as a coach. And let’s be honest, he set the bar pretty high to begin with. I hate to poach quotes from Mike Tomlin but I can almost picture Bylsma telling his injury riddled team, “the standard is the standard.” Of course it does not hurt that Marc-Andre Fleury is playing perhaps his best hockey ever; and has to just to stay ahead of Johnson.
Let me be clear on this. As impressive as this run is, the Penguins are not going deep in to the post season without a healthy Crosby and Malkin. And I still think the team needs one more offensive winger to win a cup. You need grit in the NHL but you also need guys who can put the puck in the back of the net. Alas, that’s a subject for another day.
For now, I’m just enjoying this remarkable display of Steeler style hockey from the Pens. The fact that it keeps Keyshawn off my television for the better part of the week is just an added bonus.
Unfortunately, as former Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz frequently reminded me, you do not get something for nothing in this life. The cost of that Super Bowl glory is the interminable two week wait leading up to it. One minute you are celebrating the thrill of reaching the summit of the sports mountain; the next you are stuck in a two week abyss of no football.
Compounding the misery is the non stop dissection of the event by the various and bloated talking football heads; supplemented by a steady does of rumor, innuendo, and pointless gossip. Everyone and their mother is on TV or the internet with their own useless analysis and meaningless predictions. Let’s face it, the average human being is not equipped to handle 14 days of Deion Sanders, Keyshawn Johnson, and Steve Marriucci.
The oversaturation of pointless news and gossip reached a historic low point today when it was reported as breaking news that Ben Roethlisberger was seen drinking with teammates at a piano bar on Tuesday night. Unless Ben singing under the influence is consider a potential felony this is a total non story. Unless of course its Super Bowl week.
Maybe I’m just spoiled after three Super Bowl trips in six years but I frankly can’t stand it. Fortunately I have the perfect cure. It’s called Pittsburgh Penguins hockey.
The Penguins are doing a phenomenal job keeping my mind of the Super Bowl week abyss. Instead of being immersed in the endless minutia of Super Bowl week, I’m watching perhaps the gutsiest regular season performance in the history of our beloved hockey team. And I’ll be doing so right up through Sunday afternoon. Instead of eight hours of senseless pre game babble, I’ll be watching Disco Dan’s boys taking on the hated Washington Crapital’s in a matinee special.
By all accounts, the Penguins should be in free fall right now. In case you did not get the memo, they have played the last ten games without the world’s best player, a young fellow named Crosby, and the last five games without his superstar sidekick Evgeni Malkin. To up the ante on Tuesday night, Jordan Staal decided to go all Brent Johnson and punch out a Ranger forward, thus earning an early shower.
If I had told you after the winter classic that the Pens would be without Sid for ten games and Geno for five of those games, would you in any way, shape, or form believed they would earn 13 points?
I’m not above admitting that I would not.
With this performance, the current group has redefined the image of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Our boys have always been thought of as a run and gun, offensive skill team. They’ve never been considered a team that wins games with defense, physicality and grit. At least until now.
All of a sudden the Pens are winning games because Max Talbot and Matt Cooke are running guys all over the ice, Zbynek Michalek and Brooks Orpik are dominating the defensive zone, and Brent Johnson is punching out Ricky DiPietro. Okay, the last part is more of a bonus parting gift but you get the point.
And think, some idiot on this blog keeps insisting that this team has too many grinders and not enough scoring wingers. Blasphemy.
Anyway.
Two months ago, I wrote a blog overflowing with praise for the Steelers brilliantly gritty victory in Baltimore. The game was the classic embodiment of Steeler football. The team battling for 60 minutes through a brutally physical encounter and all but willing themselves to victory. It was men pushing themselves beyond the limits of human endurance for nothing more than one regular season victory. I was so fired up afterwards that I could not sleep until 3am.
I had nearly the same feeling after the Penguins gutted out a 4-3 win at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night without their top four centers (including Mark Letestu). Oh and after spotting one of the league’s best goaltenders a 2-0 lead. The Pens just refused to quit, right up to the point where a rookie with less than ten games of experience scored the game winning goal in the shootout. It was quite frankly a “Steeler-like” performance.
I love the Steelers and the Penguins but I sometime marvel at how different they are. Steeler football is so emblematic of Pittsburgh. It’s about brutal physicality (except when it angers Roger Goodell), hard work, and an overwhelming desire and will to win. It’s rarely pretty; a fact we were comfortable with long before Mike Tomlin clarified that style points do not matter.
The Penguins on the other hand have been considered a brilliantly talented, finesse team pretty much from the day they were raised to prominence by a quiet French Canadian simply known as Le Magnifique. Go back and watch Hockey Night in Canada’s coverage of Lemieux’s mind numbing playoff goal against Ray Bourque and Boston in 1992. The announcer sums up the perception of Penguin hockey perfectly when he asks, “Have you ever seen such finesse?”
That’s not to suggest in any way that the Pens are not tough. Ulf Samuelsson was tough. Rich Tocchet was tough. Ryan Malone played a playoff series with a broken nose. We know all about the likes of Cooke, Brooks Orpik and Mike Rupp. Hockey players frequently play through injuries that would keep a good accountant in bed for weeks (hypothetically).
That said, when you think of the Steelers, you think of Jack Lambert or James Harrison, covered in blood and driving some poor running back through the turf. When you think of the Pens, you think of Lemieux’s Jagr, Crosby, and/or Malkin undressing some poor defensemen and humiliating the likes of John Casey, Andy Moog, or whatever AHL caliber goaltender is suiting up for Philadelphia.
Steeler fans prefer a 7-3 victory behind a dominant defense to a 40 point, 400 yard passing explosion. Penguin fans prefer that same 7-3 score, with Crosby and Malkin tallying 5 points each. It’s a shocking dichotomy in our sports preferences.
At least until now.
I pointed out last season that the Pens have become one of the toughest teams to play against in hockey. It’s not just because of Deryk Engelland dropping the gloves two out of three nights. It’s because of fast, physical forwards who pummel defensemen on the forecheck. It’s because of big, strong and mobile defensemen taking out guys in the defensive zone. Heck, even our back-up goaltender is tough.
And did I mention that the Penguins are the top penalty killing team in the NHL? The Pittsburgh Penguins? What next, the New Jersey Devils in last place?
This is not necessarily new, it’s just that nobody noticed until the team’s two offensive superstars went on the shelf. The Penguins are not scoring nearly as much without 87 and 71 but they have not changed their system one bit. They continue to dominate on the forecheck resulting in a huge disparity in zone time. They continue to choke off scoring chances when the puck is in their defensive zone (without trapping by the way). And offensively they are now opportunistic. Not a word frequently used to describe Penguin hockey over the last 25 years.
The result is some of the grittiest hockey in Penguin history. The gold standard to me remains games six and seven of the Stanley Cup finals against Detroit two years ago. That said, this is a close second and it’s being accomplished with $17.5 Million of all world production in the press box. I don’t know that I’ve ever been prouder of our boys.
Dan Bylsma has risen to another level as a coach. And let’s be honest, he set the bar pretty high to begin with. I hate to poach quotes from Mike Tomlin but I can almost picture Bylsma telling his injury riddled team, “the standard is the standard.” Of course it does not hurt that Marc-Andre Fleury is playing perhaps his best hockey ever; and has to just to stay ahead of Johnson.
Let me be clear on this. As impressive as this run is, the Penguins are not going deep in to the post season without a healthy Crosby and Malkin. And I still think the team needs one more offensive winger to win a cup. You need grit in the NHL but you also need guys who can put the puck in the back of the net. Alas, that’s a subject for another day.
For now, I’m just enjoying this remarkable display of Steeler style hockey from the Pens. The fact that it keeps Keyshawn off my television for the better part of the week is just an added bonus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)