Why the NHL Sucks
Posted November 29th, 2009 @ 10:29pm by Erik J. Barzeski
No Suspension:
Two-Game Suspension:
I'm fine with the Cooke suspension. I'm not fine with the double standard. Richards' hit is later, higher, and resulted in a far worse injury.
And in the same game, after jumping a player from behind, running the goaltender, and trying to take Crosby's head off three seconds after he passed the puck (Crosby ducked out of the way), Sean Avery - poster boy for repeat offenders - gets nothing. Brashear, who continued to throw punches that put a linesman out of the game, also gets nothing.
Donate Life
Posted 30 Nov 2009 at 2:38pm #
They are going to have to curb this as the injuries will pile up. Think the key will be, is the on-coming shoulder down (towards the chest/shoulder) or up (intending to take out the head).
Lesson: Never cut across the middle looking back or with your head down.
Regardless, mid-ice collisions can be brutal!
Posted 01 Dec 2009 at 11:32am #
Cooke has had several penalties/altercations in the last two weeks and deserved a suspension. While Avery is a repeat offender, I have no idea what his track record has been of late (not to mention you seem to imply that he never dirtied Crosby's panties by actually hitting him).
Posted 01 Dec 2009 at 12:07pm #
[quote comment="56250"]Cooke has had several penalties/altercations in the last two weeks and deserved a suspension.[/quote]
I never said otherwise about the suspension (though I disagree about the "several" part). Did you even watch the Richards hit?
You sound like a Rags fan who's just pissed about Crosby's eight-point performance, Mike Rupp's hat trick, and the Pens killing the Rags twice and by a final score of 13-5 in the past three days. True? 🙂
Or maybe you're just anti-Crosby. Next you'll try telling me that the Great Ape was leading with his shoulder.
Posted 01 Dec 2009 at 1:01pm #
Nope, don't care for the Rangers at all. I did watch the Richards hit but I don't know what his history is concerning hits like that one. The NHL has been cracking down on repeat offenders over the past two years and Cooke fits that bill to a T. Cooke has had several incidents in the past two weeks starting in Atlanta and ending in NY. If Richards has had issues recently, then he too should be suspended but if this is just a one off hit that I also would not suspend him. Look at Ovechkin, wasn't suspended last week but odds are good he will be serving some time now after multiple incidents.
Posted 01 Dec 2009 at 1:29pm #
[quote comment="56252"]The NHL has been cracking down on repeat offenders over the past two years…[/quote]
The point remains that there's a disparity, and people like Mike Richards and Great Ape continue to escape serious punishment because they're not repeat offenders. You can't be a "repeat" if every time you do something you're let off because you're not a "repeat offender."
Richards could be a four- or five-time repeat offender at this point - same with Ape - but since neither ever got a "first" offense written up they skate (no pun intended) every time.
[quote comment="56252"]Cooke has had several incidents in the past two weeks starting in Atlanta and ending in NY.[/quote]
I continue to disagree with your assertion of "several" and Cooke didn't play in NY. He served the first game of his suspension. 😛 I've watched every Pens game this year and Cooke has agitated but hasn't gone anywhere near as far overboard as many other players.
And again, I'm not disagreeing on Cooke's suspension. But it's a double standard.
This chart would be funny if it wasn't so dead-on accurate. 😛
Posted 03 Dec 2009 at 9:15am #
Wow, I hope that booth is OK.
And, agreed on the double standard.