I don’t like the term “goon” or “enforcer”. I like “policeman.”
Marty McSorley NHL Live
First, my apologies to Paul Thomas Anderson for the title.
Yesterday afternoon, Dave Strader had one of the ultimate enforcers on NHL Live as they covered Wayne Gretzky’s fantasy camp in Las Vegas and we got some unique insight to his views about the nature of the current game. One of Gretzky’s policeman regaled tales of yelling at coaches on opposing benches telling that they will dictate how he plays. Meaning that if they take liberties that the officials can’t police, he will take care of it.
And most often, he did.
When asked by Strader about the nature of the game and the lack of respect, McSorley was quite introspective as he considers Rule 46.11, which doles out penalties to one player who instigates a fight. He stated that with those who play an agitator type style of hockey can continue to take liberties without retribution because they know nothing will happen to them. Plus, when he addressed the lack of respect for the other team, he also shared that when one of his teammates would engage in those type of tactics with the other team, usually done by a younger player, he would take that young person aside and tell him to knock it off because he knew he would have to answer for it – essentially fight a battle that would either be not his to fight, or to take him away from his police work.
I will unequivocally say that is not happening in our game.
I used to think that with the exposure of the Pittsburgh Penguins each and every week on NBC and with 24/7 that it is entirely annoying to see. Now, I actually think it is a good thing. We now see what kind of team they are. Unless, one is a Pens fan, then of course, that person loves it. We see a team where the inclusion of Rule 46.11 helps them be who they are, especially without Crosby and Malkin.
Let me clear on this point before I continue, Crosby’s injury that put him out is not good for the game. I think he’s a victim of the publicity that this team has generated through 24/7 and the players on his squad. Unfortunately, his players put him in that spot and his teammates or coaching staff (or both) have not adequately addressed it.
If you remember, the Pens hosted the Coyotes and the game got out of hand, real quickly as they ran up five goals in two periods. This allowed Matt Cooke to start running around and when Nolan Yonkman didn’t step up to protect players (or if he just didn’t realize what was happening) the job fell on Taylor Pyatt and we lost his services for a brief period of time.
Players remember this stuff. No one has told him to stop.
(It looks like its cultural based on the comments from the Penguin broadcasters. To me the whole point of Cooke “gliding” in says to me that he could have lessened his impact, but he didn’t. He just wanted to obliterate the guy. Ask Marc Savard right now if Cooke is an overly aggressive player and he’ll give you his thoughts. Is he playing right now? No, he is not.)
Then, we move to the recent escapades between the Pens and Islanders. Personally, I have no problems with Brent Johnson punching out DiPetro from the earlier contest. In fact, I think Johnson was legitimately concerned that he hurt him. His teammates just loooovvveeeddd <3 it though. But that wasn’t the only issue for the Isles that night.
Maxine Talbot was the subplot, another player who plays this agitating brand of hockey. He hit Blake Comeau from behind and the kid fell to the ice with his head bouncing off of the surface. He’s been out with a concussion. The Islanders took the game last night as a time where enough was enough.
And it was.
Now, the game got of out hand very quickly in the third. The Penguins just didn’t let it go and there is enough blame on both sides (we might have even seen the Islanders take a page out of the Penguins playbook, but that’s another post for another day). However, if the Penguins had teammates who told their players, “Knock it off with that cheap stuff, it’s going to cost us later” and just took their licking like men, I don’t think the game wouldn’t have set records for PIMs. But I don’t think the Penguins learned anything from it though. I expect the next game in April to be a doozy.
However, if they eliminated the Instigator Rule, the agitators will have to answer for their behavior and the game could get cleaned up. It would take awhile, but players wouldn’t ram other players from behind causing injury. In fact, players wouldn’t even target Crosby’s head because there would be a severe price to pay for it. Instead, we see injuries piling up, including the marquee player of Sid the Kid.
If the NHL wants this aspect of the game cleaned up all it has to do is the right thing. Give stiffer penalties to the repeat offenders of Cooke and eliminate the instigator rule.
Because players are starting to get hurt very seriously now.
And that’s bad for the game.
Original Story:
http://onefansperspective.com/2011/02...
