Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Playoff races finally edging out fighting in hockey
Keep those cards and letters coming folks. Lots of reaction via email from the last few blogs that have appeared here and I appreciate everybody’s time and effort to relay their opinion. Fortunately I would say for hockey’s sake, the tight playoff races, especially for a spot in the dance in the East have slowly taken over the tedious pulpit pounding diatribes on fighting emanating from Mt. TSN among other places.
In fact the irony which is not lost on me was listening and reading many accounts of the New York Ranger victory over Toronto this past Sunday night, ( April 1) and hearing how Sean Avery picked up a ‘Gordie Howe’, with his two goals, one assist and a fight. The Howe reference to anybody who does not know – meaning any player who scores has an assist and a scrap in the same game gets glorified or certainly at the very least, identified as having accomplished said feat. I also thought how ironic that Craig Conroy would identify Jarome Iginla’s first minute fight with Willie Mitchell during Saturday’s victory for his Calgary Flames over the Vancouver Canucks as ‘setting the table’ for the rest of the period and for what turned out to be a Calgary victory. How ironic. A player espousing the virtue of a teammate dropping the gloves, where is the vilification? Harry Neale said it best years ago. “They better get fighting out of this league or they will have to build bigger rinks.”
Here’s the really upsetting element of all of the violence talk. To the hand wringers out there and I liken all of you to the reporter who had the misfortune to cover the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 – you know the famous quote as the massive air ship is coming down to the ground at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, “oh the humanity, the humanity,” that quote. I picture most of you uttering this anytime somebody throws a punch in an NHL game. What is really upsetting to me is where the hell were all of you after Ville Nieminen of the St. Louis Blues rammed Detroit’s Brett Lebda face first into the stanchion at the end boards not only knocking Lebda out of the game but out of the next several games? Lebda suffered a concussion and was carried off the ice on a stretcher, just like Stephane Robidas, just like Todd Fedoruk. Where were the letters, the indignation, the concern, the angst? Not one single email to me from anybody and I typically get 30-40 a day, not one comment on this atrocity. Incidentally Lebda is the third Red Wing player to sustain a concussion this season because of a hit to the head. Jason Williams who is now with Chicago and Johan Franzen were the other two. That’s just this one team. That’s a night’s work for Ryan Hollweg.
Anyway folks, you get my drift. And the other really funny part of this whole debate is reading the comments in the letters-to-the-editor sections of our dailies here in Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun. They are from parents, current and past minor hockey coaches, fans, et al. Yep, nobody can seem to understand that if Jarome Iginla, a player anybody would love to have on their team, does not fight Willie Mitchell early in their game last Saturday night that you do in fact end up with a more vicious, back stabbing game. Some of you people just can’t seem to get that through your heads. Incidentally, there have been 28 fights in the NHL since Mark Bell KO’d Jon Sim on March 21st. There has been nary a word about any of them and not an injury to be found. I can’t figure you people out. And please, don’t try and equate what happens in the pro game to little Johnny’s Novice House C game on Saturday morning at 7am. If you as a coach, and I’m six years in as a minor hockey coach, if you cannot teach your children how to play the game even after they may have witnessed whatever from the night before in the NHL, if you cannot differentiate on the ice during your practices you don’t deserve to be a minor hockey coach. What shameful, pitiful remarks from anybody who either was or is a minor hockey coach. “I don’t see where fighting is in our manuals, I don’t see where we’re suppose to teach our kids how to fight.” Grow up you idiots. You sound like you just got your pants pulled down in the school yard and while you’re waiting for the teacher you’re sucking your thumb crying your eyes out. Caterwauling bitches. Please get as upset with the rest of the atrocities that are prevalent in the game today if you hope to garner even one shred of respect for your comments.
It says here that my Habs will not make it to the dance this year. I think they pick up two of four points against Boston and the Rangers while the Leafs pick up all four available against the Flyers and the Islanders and then hold off Montreal with an empty net goal to cement the win on Saturday night. We’ll see how I’ve called it in next week’s blog.
As for my friend Claude Julien who was unceremoniously dumped by the Lou Lamoriello, GM of the New Jersey Devils, that’s a tough one to swallow. One of the first times I ever heard of this happening so late in the year was when Phil Esposito replaced Michel Bergeron with the Rangers in 1988-89 with two games to go in the regular season but this was an 82 point club, not 102. Still – when you factor in Lou’s resume he will probably get a mulligan on this especially as his own track record of replacing Robbie Ftorek with Larry Robinson in 2000 worked so well. Time will tell. Hang tight for the week, should be one heck of a ride. Gidday.
Liam Maguire
In fact the irony which is not lost on me was listening and reading many accounts of the New York Ranger victory over Toronto this past Sunday night, ( April 1) and hearing how Sean Avery picked up a ‘Gordie Howe’, with his two goals, one assist and a fight. The Howe reference to anybody who does not know – meaning any player who scores has an assist and a scrap in the same game gets glorified or certainly at the very least, identified as having accomplished said feat. I also thought how ironic that Craig Conroy would identify Jarome Iginla’s first minute fight with Willie Mitchell during Saturday’s victory for his Calgary Flames over the Vancouver Canucks as ‘setting the table’ for the rest of the period and for what turned out to be a Calgary victory. How ironic. A player espousing the virtue of a teammate dropping the gloves, where is the vilification? Harry Neale said it best years ago. “They better get fighting out of this league or they will have to build bigger rinks.”
Here’s the really upsetting element of all of the violence talk. To the hand wringers out there and I liken all of you to the reporter who had the misfortune to cover the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 – you know the famous quote as the massive air ship is coming down to the ground at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, “oh the humanity, the humanity,” that quote. I picture most of you uttering this anytime somebody throws a punch in an NHL game. What is really upsetting to me is where the hell were all of you after Ville Nieminen of the St. Louis Blues rammed Detroit’s Brett Lebda face first into the stanchion at the end boards not only knocking Lebda out of the game but out of the next several games? Lebda suffered a concussion and was carried off the ice on a stretcher, just like Stephane Robidas, just like Todd Fedoruk. Where were the letters, the indignation, the concern, the angst? Not one single email to me from anybody and I typically get 30-40 a day, not one comment on this atrocity. Incidentally Lebda is the third Red Wing player to sustain a concussion this season because of a hit to the head. Jason Williams who is now with Chicago and Johan Franzen were the other two. That’s just this one team. That’s a night’s work for Ryan Hollweg.
Anyway folks, you get my drift. And the other really funny part of this whole debate is reading the comments in the letters-to-the-editor sections of our dailies here in Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun. They are from parents, current and past minor hockey coaches, fans, et al. Yep, nobody can seem to understand that if Jarome Iginla, a player anybody would love to have on their team, does not fight Willie Mitchell early in their game last Saturday night that you do in fact end up with a more vicious, back stabbing game. Some of you people just can’t seem to get that through your heads. Incidentally, there have been 28 fights in the NHL since Mark Bell KO’d Jon Sim on March 21st. There has been nary a word about any of them and not an injury to be found. I can’t figure you people out. And please, don’t try and equate what happens in the pro game to little Johnny’s Novice House C game on Saturday morning at 7am. If you as a coach, and I’m six years in as a minor hockey coach, if you cannot teach your children how to play the game even after they may have witnessed whatever from the night before in the NHL, if you cannot differentiate on the ice during your practices you don’t deserve to be a minor hockey coach. What shameful, pitiful remarks from anybody who either was or is a minor hockey coach. “I don’t see where fighting is in our manuals, I don’t see where we’re suppose to teach our kids how to fight.” Grow up you idiots. You sound like you just got your pants pulled down in the school yard and while you’re waiting for the teacher you’re sucking your thumb crying your eyes out. Caterwauling bitches. Please get as upset with the rest of the atrocities that are prevalent in the game today if you hope to garner even one shred of respect for your comments.
It says here that my Habs will not make it to the dance this year. I think they pick up two of four points against Boston and the Rangers while the Leafs pick up all four available against the Flyers and the Islanders and then hold off Montreal with an empty net goal to cement the win on Saturday night. We’ll see how I’ve called it in next week’s blog.
As for my friend Claude Julien who was unceremoniously dumped by the Lou Lamoriello, GM of the New Jersey Devils, that’s a tough one to swallow. One of the first times I ever heard of this happening so late in the year was when Phil Esposito replaced Michel Bergeron with the Rangers in 1988-89 with two games to go in the regular season but this was an 82 point club, not 102. Still – when you factor in Lou’s resume he will probably get a mulligan on this especially as his own track record of replacing Robbie Ftorek with Larry Robinson in 2000 worked so well. Time will tell. Hang tight for the week, should be one heck of a ride. Gidday.
Liam Maguire
# posted by Liam Maguire @ 9:30 AM 
