Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Gary Bettman: Hockey - "America's Game"
Watch this video, and then consider:
a) Nathan Horton's injuries are, to a great extent, attributable to his own momentum as he runs into Aaron Rome, essentially skating at full speed into the path of an oncoming defenceman;
b) The hit occurs after Nathan Horton releases possession of the puck;
c) The hit occurs on a player moving with his head up, presumably able to himself change direction or brace himself for a hit if he was paying attention to the place of the Defender (Aaron Rome);
c) The injury to Nathan Horton was a concussion - an injury which, while serious, is almost common-place in the game of hockey.
Now, watch the injury to Mason Raymond, and then consider:
a) Mason Raymond never had possession of the puck. Not for even one millisecond. The puck came off the boards and as he sought to move towards the puck, he was struck by Johnny Boychuk. This "hit" occurred against a player never in possession of the puck, and was not delivered as he was entering the offensive zone having released possession;
b) There can be no argument that 100% of Mason Raymond's injuries were attributable to the hit delivered by Johnny Boychuk. Mason Raymond's momentum was, in fact, exerted away from the boards - not into them;
c) Mason Raymond was struck with his head down, as he was reaching to pick up his stick. While he was, effectively, kneeling down, without possession of the puck, trying to pick up his stick - he was slammed into the boards by Johnny Horton who delivered the hit with complete indifference to the disadvantaged position of Mason Raymond;
d) The injury suffered by Mason Raymond was a broken back. Not quite so common-place.
The response of the officials and the NHL.
In the first case - a hit that the NHL used to reward with admission to the Hall of Fame (Scott Stevens, Mark Messier), was responded to with a four game suspension, taking away Aaron Rome's Stanley Cup Final participation.
In the second case.. nothing. Nada. Nary a finger-wag. NHL officials said he "lost an edge".
Seriously.
Go look at that video again.
And even if you are a die-hard Bruins fan, tell me that Mason Raymond was injured because he "lost an edge".
The antics of the worst officials in Professional sports, and the condonation of those antics by the executives of the NHL as an embarrassment to an otherwise amazing sport which I have played myself for some 45 years.
It would be comical, if it weren't actually tragic.
I wish the Canucks and Bruins well tonight, hoping the best team prevails - and hoping that the game is not marred by NHL officials who feel compelled to take sides from time to time to make some "point".
One posits that Gary Bettman, in his misguided zeal to expand hockey to American markets still has not received the message that his small-minded interference in seeking to put franchises where they don't belong (Atlanta, Phoenix, Nashville) while thumbing his nose to the country who continues to make this sport great might... just might.. have something to do with looking the other way when a celebrated American franchise commits an offense on the ice that far exceeds the culpability of anything done by Aaron Rome.
Just sayin'
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
You fail to mention that Rome's hit was LATE. We have the benefit of slow mo, but Rome doesn't start his hit until after the puck has been passed.
If you look at the two plays, Rome's was clearly meant to do damage. It would be tough to read into any malicious intent on Boychuk's part.
I'm no fan of the Bruins and what they get away with on a regular basis. Chara gets 'superstar' calls frequently in his favour but Rome got what he deserved.
He was even 'slightly' blindside to Horton. Wasn't a clear north-south hit.
Frunger..
Horton had the puck.
Mason never did.
And the "latenss" - if that is a factor when you've never had possession of the puck anyway - is pretty much the same in both cases.
An additional, subtle, difference - is that Horton was still agressively moving into the zone - while Mason Raymond clearly was not.
But, watch both videos, consider the additional power of the collision created by Horton's own momentum, and ask, is it cheaper to hit a guy with his head up moving towards you.. or to ram a guy into the boards while he's kneeling over picking up his stick?
I would suggest the Boychuck hit is much more offensive - but at least as bad - as anything Rome did.
But that's just my opinion.
I think the NHL has enacted an unwritten rule on bodychecks,call it the Stevens-Lindros rule.
As you said,Stevens made a career out of hits like Rome's on Horton,and he essentially finished Eric Lindros' career after hitting him on several occasions.
Lindros just didn't seem to catch on to the "keep your head up and don't watch your pretty pass rule".
Rome may have been a second late, but Boychuck had no reason to hit Raymond at all,should have just shoved him to the ice,and definitely should have been penalized.
Don Cherry's right, make the players go back to the soft shoulder pads,so the guys aren't running into a wall of armour plate, just a big muscular shoulder.
Thankyou for pointing this out on your blog. My feeling exactly on the Mason Raymond attack. I knew something was up immediately when CBC supposedly had no video to replay.They never even allowed the referee's to give Boychuk a slap on the wrist penalty. Disgusting.
Shame on CBC and Don Cherry for hiding this cowardly abuse by Boston.I suspect that Mason Raymond will never play again and will live the rest of his life with chronic back pain. I have always held Don Cherry in great esteem but no longer. Shame!
I get the impression that Don Cherry, Gary Betman and his buddy Colin Campbell are making sure that Canada never wins the Stanley Cup again.
What all this comes down to is that in the NHL you are permitted to hit a player who is not in possession of the puck. Call it finishing your check if you want, but the bottom line is that you're hitting a player who is not in possession of the puck.
Even tonight's game - Chara is nowhere near the puck, but an elbow to his head goes unpunished.
If you are going to argue that Horton should have kept his head up, then Mason should have known better too - what the hell is he doing trying to pick up his stick while in contact? Either stand up or go to the ice.
Want to eliminate these injuries? It's super simple. Make it a major penalty to make contact with a player who is not in possession of the puck. Problem solved.
Whiners. Plain and simple.
I would tell you to watch the hits again but obviously that is hard with your eyes closed.
The Raymond injury was the result of a strange twist and unintended result of run of the mill corner work. Nothing special or intent to injure - just bad luck.
Horton had passed the puck and Lucic had already made a move with it before Rome hit him.
Listen to the announcers - people who might have a little more knowledge about hockey - and immediately they were all over the hit as late, dirty and completely out of bounds.
The Raymond hit came as two players were fighting to get to the puck, got tangled up and one went down awkwardly.
And enough with the conspiracy theories about the fix being in. Every time Burrows or Torres was on the ice they did soemthign that should have earned them a penalty. Both of those guys are worse than Matt Cooke who is currently the poster boy as the dirtiest player in the league.
Maybe Vancouver will learn its lesson and get some hard working Canadian kids on the team who want the Cup, not just foreigners that want a paycheque for a few years before going back to the lutefisk.
re: Cranky's rant.
Amen to that.
"Maybe Vancouver will learn its lesson and get some hard working Canadian kids on the team who want the Cup, not just foreigners that want a paycheque for a few years before going back to the lutefisk."
Face it, to win the cup, the Canucks need to trade in their Euro's for some Canadian currency!!
And for the love "hockey" stop with the diving and goading. I'm tired of reading or listening to die-hard canuck junkies whine about how brutal the refs were or how dirty the Bruins were. The fact is, the canucks were flopping all over the place the entire playoff, and it caught up with them. No 5 on 3 powerplays, 3 times in a row, to bail them out. Nope, they might actually have to win with their skill, heart and grit, which were absent.
Post a Comment