I just wanted to come out and say, even though I’m a Ranger fan, I find what Sean Avery did on Sunday night against the Devils unbelievable and in poor taste. I clearly think the “correct” option would be to kick Avery out of the league because of this thoughtless and rude act.
Brodeur was perfectly justified in his shots to Avery’s groin with the stick, and to Avery’s face with his glove. I would have done the same thing. Brodeur, after all, is a perfect example of class. He never over exaggerates (thus is never unsportsmanlike). He takes tiny bumps like a man. Why Avery decided to treat Martin Brodeur, one of the most respected goaltenders in the league, with such disrespect, I will never understand.
The Devils in general, have led the way in class with this series in particular. Parise and Langenbrunner didn’t throw their sticks in the hallway out of anger over an icing call (which, sarcasm aside, was clearly a wrong call). Madden didn’t follow the refs, screaming his brains out. There isn’t a recorded clip of a Devil yelling to Ryan Callahan “You’re a F---ing B----,” that was shown on the VS telecast. Lundqvist hasn’t received snow shower after snow shower. That’s why I feel so bad for Marty. Avery won’t leave him alone, but no one is crashing Lundqvist’s net.
That was clearly the most embarrassing thing that could have happened to the NHL. Chris Simon’s hit on Ryan Hollweg doesn’t hold a candle to what Avery displayed on that 5-on-3. It was clearly childish and immature.
In hockey, there are some unwritten rules that everyone in the league, besides Sean Avery, follow. This is because hockey players are held in such high regard for their class, on and off the ice. Hockey players don’t throw late checks. They don’t board or charge opposing players. They never –ever- lead with their elbows. Hockey players NEVER use their stick or their skates as a weapon. I have personally never seen a hockey player take a cheap shot and go for the knees. Hockey players may fight, but they fight gracefully. No one ever sucker punches. There is no history of players jumping into stands, fighting fans. This doesn’t exist in this perfect hockey world.
This is the thing I hate about Sean Avery, and the reason I wish he was off my team even though he happens to lead the team in postseason goals. Avery doesn’t go for knees. He doesn’t lead with his elbows. He isn’t called for boarding (any more often than the next guy). He does it with his mouth. His facial expressions. He waves his stick.
I applaud the NHL for taking immediate action. Clearly, this is so important this needed to be taken care of right away, regardless of the fact that we’re in the middle of a playoff series, and that this is probably just an isolated incident. Thank God the NHL had the audacity to change the rules half way through a playoff run. Otherwise, we’d have to deal with Sean Avery screening a goaltender while facing him and waving his stick in his face, for at least another three games. ::shudder:: The horror!!!
Mark Recchi said he wouldn’t do what Avery did, even to win game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. I know the great hockey men in the hall would agree. Mark Messier and Scott Stevens come to mind. They wanted to win, but they wouldn’t do ANYTHING to win. Very clean players, those two. Eric Lindros would vouch for it.
I know changing rules in the middle of a playoff series probably could get some people annoyed, and they would say the proper way to go about this would be to wait until the off season, and then discuss this with the board of governors and the Player’s Association. But this needed action, and it needed action immediately. And we all thought Bertuzzi and Simon were the disgraces to the league! I would add Pronger, but he doesn’t MEAN to step on people on purpose. No real talented defensemen would do that.
The moral here is that Sean Avery is a bad man. He is the most overrated despite his team-leading three goals! and hated despite not playing to hurt like some other players do player in the league, with good reason. Kick Sean Avery out of the league and return this mid-season rule-changing league to dignity!
Argue with me all you want. Sean Avery deserves his own rule for facing a goalie to screen him. Plus, I really like the new rule. I don’t think you should be able to screen a goalie if you’re not trying to make a play even though Hockey 101 teaches children to screen the goaltender. In fact, let’s take screening out all together.
I can’t wait until someone gets called for this new penalty! And we all know who it will be because the rule is made especially and only for him, and if someone else actually gets called for it, I'll be floored.
Thank you, Canadian media, for again blowing everything out of proportion. And thank you, NHL. America will respect you even more than they already do read: they don't for your random rule changing and overreacting to what is probably an isolated incident.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Avery Rules
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
DANGER Will Robinson!
DISCLAIMER:
This posted by Teka, who is an admitted liberal pro-choice feminist. Views in this post do not necessarily speak for the entirety of the Hloggers. However, as this blog is generally read by females and pro-female types, it's important that word on this get out.
For any Sens fan contemplating entering the Ottawa Senators "Better Halves" Christmas tree raffle this year, take a good hard look at where the money it raises is going. The First Place Pregnancy Center lists numerous pro-life sites on their links page, and turns out to be a "Crisis Pregnancy Center", which, according to Wikipedia, "are non-profit organizations established by pro-life supporters that work to persuade pregnant women to give birth rather than have abortions, with a focus on women facing unplanned or "crisis" pregnancies. "
Planned Parenthood Ottawa has released a statement here, in which they encourage fans to recognize the aims of the First Place Pregnancy Center before giving money to support it.
More information assembled from Birth Pangs here and here
Another view here from Unrepentant Old Hippie.
Feministing.com's take is here
Please be a conscientious consumer-money speaks!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Earning my Bad Person Points.
I swear to god, I'll shut up about this goalie kid now, but I just had to do this.
Because, dear heavens, we happen to have Peter Pan in goal for the Reading Royals right now. (WHY on earth do these boys not TRY to look human in their mugshots?)
Thursday, September 27, 2007
A moment of serious......
From http://canadianpress.google.com/:
ASIAGO, Italy - Darcy Robinson, a Canadian playing for Asiago of the Italian hockey league, died during Thursday's season-opening game. He was 26.
The native of Kamloops, B.C., fell to the ice without being hit during the first period of a game with Renon and was rushed to a local hospital where he died, Asiago said. No cause of death was given. The game was suspended.
Robinson was beginning his second season with Asiago. The defenceman, who held dual Canadian-Italian citizenship, played junior hockey in Saskatoon and Red Deer. He was selected 233rd overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1999 draft.
Prior to playing in Italy, Robinson played for the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers.
He had six goals and three assists with 66 penalty minutes for Asiago last season.
He might not have been the best hockey player in the world, but he was a good guy. I'm sure that he'll be missed by the people that knew him. Hell, I miss him and I only knew him from the Chasing the Dream vids.
RIP, Darcy Robinson. We remember you.
(edit: more info coming in on google news at this point... still no cause of death, but some of his former teammates saying some awfully sweet things.)
(also at talk hockey to me) Read More......
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Tuppo suspended for being physically unfit.
Wait. WHAT? The poor guy gets heart surgery and the team screws him over. Pisani breaks like spaghetti and he gets to stay.
Um. I'm sure when I wake up, the problem will be over but wow - what assholes.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Loooooooooo
Some of you who watched the Ducks vs Canucks Game 5 might have noticed that Roberto Luongo didn't start in goal for the Canucks during the first overtime. The Ducks fans probably thought Luongo has thrown in the towel. Some Canucks fans probably thought the same, especially after that display of effort shown by the team in front of him. Some believed that it was indeed an equipment problem.
Others thought he had diarrhea.
Others were probably right.
Roberto Luongo revealed during the Canucks' locker room clean up that it wasn't an equipment problem that kept him from the beginning of the first overtime period. "It was an illness and nothing serious," he said. When asked if this illness involved using the bathroom, he replied by laughing a bit and saying "I don't know."
I guess "LOOOOOOOOOOO" is the new "LUUUUUUUUUUU".
