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Lemieux’s Anger Directed Right Back at His Glass House

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

So Pittsburgh Penguins owner and president, Mario Lemieux, didn’t like the discipline handed out by the NHL to the New York Islanders this past weekend?

Not surprising. Mario has a lot on his plate right now. He has a concussed Sidney Crosby who is likely out of the lineup until mid-March at best and he has Evgeni Malkin out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. With his two best players on the sidelines, Mario has noticed his Pens aren’t very good.  Between the injuries and the circus on Long Island last week, ol’ Mario is angry.

Trouble is, he lives in a glass house.

Now let’s not point the finger solely at Lemieux for his little outburst this week. National Hockey League organizations have been releasing written statements that disagree with a suspension handed out by the NHL’s vice-president of discipline, Colin Campbell, for a lot of years now. However, the statement released Sunday afternoon by Super Mario was nothing, if not blunt.

Responding to the $100,000 fine to the Islanders, the four-game ban to Matt Martin for drilling the Pens Maxime Talbot with a sucker punch that would have made Todd Bertuzzi and Marc Crawford proud, and the nine-game suspension dished out to Trevor Gillies after his hit to the head of Eric Tangradi, Lemieux expressed his “disappointment” with the NHL’s decision.

WE QUOTE: “Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be. But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn’t hockey. It was a travesty. It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that.
The NHL had a chance to send a clear and strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport. It failed.”

Hmmm. Mario should probably be fined, but he won’t be and give him a little credit, he got his anger off his chest.

Mario’s problem is that the NHL has no desire to clean up the “sideshow.” After the lockout ended in 2005, the league said there would be a “new NHL,” one where the star players could be star players, where they could score goals and where the referees would call hooking, holding and interference exactly as those rules were outlined in the NHL rulebook.

Unfortunately, the stricter officiating lasted about 3/4 of a season and while the NHL maintained that the players had become accustomed to the “new” of interpretations of the rules, the fact was, the officials just went back to the way it was before the lockout. With that, NHL general managers started loading up on goons and now every team has at least one player in its organization who can step in, beat the crap out of its opponents and not worry aboiut missing any ice time because he couldn’t really skate anyway. Today, “the new NHL” is loaded up with the likes of Zenon Konopka, Colton Orr, Derek Boogaard, George Parros, Jared Boll, and on and on and on, guys who can kick the living shit out of another person without so much as a hint of conscience.

Because the NHL wouldn’t call the infractions on the ice, teams had to take the law back into their own hands. And they did so. Now, everybody has a goon and when everybody has a goon, the occasional circus will come to town. As long as the officials refuse to call the rules as they are described in the rulebook, coaches and GMs will make sure they can control the ice themselves.

Which brings us back to Mario. Mario’s problem is that he’s part of the whole mess. His Penguins have a headhunter named Matt Cooke. This is the guy who has, evidently, ended Marc Savard’s career. He’s a 32-year-old enforcer with a reasonable amount of skill who can pass for a legitimate player. However, if the Penguins need someone to end an opponent’s career, Matt Cooke is ready and willing to do whatever it takes. Most recently, Cooke was handed a four-game suspension (on Feb. 9), for hitting Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin from behind. It was a vicious, stupid hit delivered by a vicious, stupid man.

However, it’s Mario’s man and as a result, when Lemieux talks about “sideshows,” he forgets that Cooke is one of the biggest clowns of the bunch.

What Matt Martin did to Max Talbot last Friday is exactly what got Todd Bertuzzi a year-long suspension. Martin should have had the book thrown at him. No doubt about it. Trouble is, what Matt Cooke did to Fedor Tyutin could have left Tyutin attached to tubes for the rest of his life. Too bad Mario forgot about that one in his little rant.

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There will always be fighting until NHL games are properly officiated.

Posted on January 18, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Since the terrible death of Don Sanderson of the Whitby Dunlops after a fight in an Ontario Sr. League game last month, the debate has raged. Should fighting be banned from the National Hockey League.

Almost everyone who has never played a game of hockey at an elite level said yes to a newspaper poll to ban fighting last week. Most of those who have played the game at a high level either shrugged or said, “No chance.”

 

The reason why there is no chance? Because there is no one anywhere who can officiate any game of any kind properly at any time. And as long as that remains the case — and it will forever — in a high-speed collision sport with hard plastic protective gear and sticks that can be used as weapons, fighting will be a necessary evil.

 

After the lockout of 2004-05, the NHL handed down a series of rule adjustments that were designed to usher in “the new NHL.” For about a year, the officials did their utmost to maintain the integrity of those rule adjustments (they weren’t really rule changes because the rules were already spelled out clearly in the NHL rule book), but by the 2006-07 season, fighting had become widespread once again — and fighters had become important members of every contending team. In fact, in 2007, the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks led the NHL in fighting majors. If you fight, you protect your skilled players and you win.

 

Fact is, fighting had become necessary again because the officials had stopped calling most of the penalties they were told to call after the lockout. Sadly, the incredible whining from NHL beat writers and TV commentators about the number of power plays and the length of the games, convinced the league and the officials that “managing” not “officiating” hockey games was a better way to go.

 

So after a year of cracking down on hooking, holding and interference, the league virtually stopped altogether. Hooking, holding, slashing, high-sticking and hitting-from-behind became common-place once again and with officials only calling penalties on occasion, it was up to the likes of Colton Orr, Donald Brashear, Georges Laracque and big Derek Boogaard to take the law into their own hands — hockey vigilantes, for lack of a better term.

 

During Sunday’s Pittsburgh-Rangers game on NBC, the officiating could not have been more arbitrary. Chris Drury gets cross-checked in the back in front of the net, no penalty. Chris Drury gets cross-checked in the back in front of the net — again — no penalty. Sidney Crosby gets hooked less than a stride past Scott Gomez, Crosby gets a penalty shot (which was comical since Crosby wasn’t as far into the open as Montreal’s Guillaume Latendresse was in a 4-4 tie against Ottawa on Saturday night and yet Latendresse didn’t get a penalty shot). What is a penalty and what isn’t?

 

Let’s not be patronizing. There are no rules in the NHL. I mean there is a rule book, but the rule book is all but ignored. So without rules there has to be fighting. If the officials can’t call the game, somebody has to stand up for the smaller, skilled players. If it isn’t the league, it has to be the enforcers-in-uniform. Until the game is officiated properly — which will NEVER happen — there has to be fighting.

 

* * *

 

By the way, it was great to have the mute button on the remote control between periods on Sunday.

 

Pierre McGuire asked Mike Milbury, “What’s wrong with the Pittsburgh Penguins?” MUTE!!!! If Milbury had any idea what was wrong with a hockey team, he would not have single-handedly destroyed the New York Islanders’ franchise.

 

If that team moves to Kansas City as some predict, it will be Milbury’s fault. He has no right telling hockey fans what’s good or bad about any team. He is the Matt Millen of the NHL.  

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Welcome to the State of Hockey

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

ST. PAUL, MN – Welcome to the Xcel Energy Centre, one of the great hockey buildings anywhere in the world.Tonight, we’ll blog periodically from Game 5 of the Minnesota Wild-Colorado Avalanche Western Conference opening round series.

After getting drilled 5-1 in Game 4 — and trying desperately to appear tough in the third period — the Wild have to lick their wounds, buck up and play legitimately tough hockey, not stupid, penalty-filled, dumb-ass hockey. 

The Avalanche, meanwhile, just need to do exactly what they did in Game 4 — skate, skate, skate and take advantage of mistakes made by a tiring Wild defence. With Kim Johnsson, Brent Burns and Martin Skoula playing nearly 28 minutes a night for Minnesota, the Avalanche can certainly use their speed to wear down a Wild defensive unit that is undermanned and overworked.

The lights have dimmed — gone right freakin’ out actually — the show is starting, they’re playing The State of Hockey and 18,000 people, all decked in Wild jerseys are going nuts. Makes me think of White Outs at the Old Barn. 

If the Wild don’t respond to this welcome, they’re done.   

FIRST PERIOD — Minnesota comes out banging and the Avs don’t like it. Paul Stastny takes a dumb tripping penalty, but the stone-handed Wild can’t convert. Marian Gaborik still doesn’t have a point in the series. 

Oh, oh. Todd Fedoruk takes a penalty and at 12:24, Andrew Brunette — a former Wild star — picks up some garbage in front and roofs it. It’s an easy goal and the Wild now have some stress. They’ve carried the play but haven’t been rewarded and Colorado has just too much skill.

About 30 seconds later, David Jones takes a penalty and in the first few seconds of the power play, the Wild get a scoring chance, but Jose Theodore is too quick. The Wild have territorial advantage and plenty of chances, but somebody needs to convert. 

With four minutes left, the Wild have outshot the Avs 13-5, but Colorado still leads. The Wild need to score because it’s hard to imagine they can keep up this pace. The Avs are starting to get to more loose pucks and winning the little battles.

With 2 1/2 minutes left, Peter Forsberg takes a penalty and right away Brent Burns has a chance and Brian Rolston gets a big rebound, but Theodore stones them both. Shots are 16-6 and Theodore is getting better. 

On the 17th shot with 39.3 seconds left in the period, the Wild get on the board. Pierre-Marc Bouchard takes a great pass from Brent Burns (second of the playoffs) and drifts a one-timer past Theodore. It’s about time and it seems only fair.

Minnesota owned the first period and the Avs scored on their one real chance. That’s hockey.

End of the first: Colorado 1 Minnesota 1.

SECOND PERIOD — Ran into Larry Fitzgerald Sr. between periods. The father of the spectacular Arizona Cardinals receiver, Larry Jr., is a columnist with the Minneapolis Statesman-Recorder, the highly-regarded African-American paper in the Twin Cities and he’s a bigger hockey fan than people give him credit for. He’s also, evidently, a big Derek Boogaard fan. Go figure.  

So what happens at the start of the second period? Boogaard gets one of his rare shifts and on a seemingly innocuous play, almost tips in a goal.The Wild have now outshot Colorado 21-9 but just can’t beat Theodore.  

Stephane Veilleux, the young man the Denver media believes should be jailed for his behaviour in this series, picks up a penalty and the Avs take control. But despite owning the Minnesota zone and despite making a couple of great passes, Minnesota goalie Nicklas Backstrom has to face only one shot. 

Moments after the penalty ends, Gaborik has another glorious chance but can’t get a backhander up over the leg of Theodore.

The building has exploded. Aging Ian Laperriere has big Boogaard lined up and he drills him at the Avalanche blueline (it’s an interference penalty in any other league) and the big guy goes down with a thump. Trouble is, the big guy gets right up and Laperriere doesn’t move. Boogaard went down because he doesn’t skate very well. Laperriere went down because he bodychecked a truck (Boogaard is 6-foot-7, 260 pounds).

This little incident fires up the Wild who take control of the game. Minnesota gets three great chances, but they fire three booming shots right at the A on Theodore’s jersey. The shots are now 30-12 and Colorado isn’t anywhere to be found.

The Wild own this game. It’s like one long, protracted power play. Colorado can’t even clear the puck. First it’s Gaborik, then it’s Burns, then it’s Mikko Koivu. Chance after chance after chance and yet they can’t beat Theodore.

And it’s not like Theodore is unbeatable. The Wild either shoot it right at the goalie’s pads or they miss the net altogether. Burns, the best player on the ice, should have five goals, but officially, he doesn’t have that many shots.

In the final 12 seconds, Colorado gets its first solid chance of the period, but Backstrom has not fallen asleep and makes the save.

Shots at the end of the second: Colorado 14, Minnesota 32.

Score at the end of the second: Colorado 1 Minnesota 1   

THIRD PERIOD — Early in the third, Minnesota’s Sean Hill takes a penalty and for a minute and 55 seconds, the Avs do nothing. Then, with five seconds left in the power play, John-Michael Liles sets up Wojtek Wolski who one-times it past a startled Backstrom.

The shots are 34-16 and Colorado leads 2-1.

Colorado’s superior playmaking pretty much puts this one away. At the 6:25 mark, Paul Stastny takes a pass from Milan Hejduk (who took a beautiful pass from Peter Forsberg) and roofs a backhand to make it 3-1.

Minnesota has toughness and heart, but Colorado has speed and skill and that combination looks like a winner.

There are 19,364 rabid Wild fans in this building tonight and probably half of them think they have better hands than the boys on the ice who happen to be wearing Wild uniforms. 

This is a truly wonderful place to watch hockey. The Wild are down 3-1 with less than two minutes to go and not one person has left the building. These aren’t fair weather fans who try to beat the traffic. They’ll go down with their team.

The final shots on goal are 40-17 in favour of the Wild, but Colorado’s pure hockey talent was just too much for a big, strong feisty team with plenty of moxy, but not a whole lot of skill.

The place erupts as Brian Rolston finally scores (he had a million chances) to make it close. But it’s 19:57 and the dream is dead.

This series should be over on Saturday in Denver.

FINAL SCORE: Colorado 3 Minnesota 2  – Video highlights below

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjglWRaQr9I]

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Midway through the opening round of the NHL playoffs: Here are five things we’ve learned

Posted on April 16, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

nhlplayoffticketsNO Midway through the opening round of the NHL playoffs: Here are five things weve learnedNo. 1: I’d make a lousy owner.

If I owned the Ottawa Senators, I’d have fired Bryan Murray right when the buzzer went to end Game 2. Then I’d have re-hired John Paddock before Game 3.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made the Senators (a very good team on paper) look weak. Granted, Ottawa is banged-up and that isn’t Murray’s fault, but this team is playing with no heart and Murray has to take absolute responsibility for that.

Midway through the third period of Game 3, the fans in Ottawa were booing the Senators. My sense is, they were booing the coach and GM, not the players. Owner Eugene Melnyk should get rid of that guy before he does any more damage to the franchise.

 No. 2: If the Minnesota Wild intend to beat the Colorado Avalanche, they’d better start gooning it up.

OK, so they don’t need to unleash Derek Boogaard on Joe Sakic, but they’d better get tougher, ’cause it’s pretty obvious they can’t skate with the Avs.

When they bang and crash Colorado’s old men — Andrew Brunette,  Peter Forsberg and Ian Laperriere are all 34, Ryan Smyth is 33, Adam Foote is 36 and Sakic is 102 — the Wild are competitive. When they try to skate around like Nancy Kerrigan (see Tuesday night’s Game 4), they get killed.

As old as the Avs are, and this team is freakin’ old, they are still fast and skilled and if the Wild’s goons don’t wear them down, Colorado will blow Minnesota out of the  building.

 

No. 3: Before the Boston-Montreal series started, the only real concern in Montreal was the rookie goalie, Carey Price (it seemed to be the only real concern among Habs fans, too.) 

CareyPriceMontrealCanadiens Midway through the opening round of the NHL playoffs: Here are five things weve learnedAlmost everyone seemed to be worried about the kid. Was he good enough? Could he handle the pressure? Don’t forget, the NHL is a lot tougher than the American Hockey League.

Well, on Tuesday night, the guy who singlehandedly led the Hamilton Bulldogs to the AHL’s Calder Cup title last year probably silenced the doubters. With a 27-save shutout, Price gave the Habs a 3-1 series lead over the Bruins, heading home.

The kid can play. Period.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=akqU6nX3wvw]

 

No. 4: The only way Detroit loses to Nashville is because their goaltending isn’t good enough.

The Red Wings are the much superior hockey team, but Dominik Hasek is now the OLD Dominik Hasek, not the old Buffalo Dominik Hasek.

Those two goals he gave up in the third period of Game 3 were embarrassing. If "the Dominator" (and I use the term mockingly) doesn’t pick it up, his fast, skilled and, yes, big, teammates will be eliminated by a club that shouldn’t be allowed on the same ice surface. 

No. 5: Washington is more hype than substance.

I love Alexander Ovechkin. If he continues along the same path he’s going along today, he will be remembered as one of the greatest players who ever lived.

Trouble is, the rest of his team isn’t that good and a very smart, tough and talented Philadelphia club — a club that went through a two-month slump this season, a slump that I’m still having trouble trying to understand — is on the verge of blowing the Caps out of the post-season in five.

The Flyers are proving that in the playoffs, at least, a team with the likes of Mike Richards, Scotty Upshall and Scott Hartnell will take apart a team with Alexander Semin, Viktor Kozlov and Sergei Fedorov any day.

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