Yesterday, an article appeared on CNN by sports blogger and SI columnist Stu Hackel (http://nhl-red-light.si.com/2011/06/14/a-cup-full-of-brutal-mystifying-uncertainty/) concerning how the Stanley Cup final series had so far played out. In it, Stu lamented about the physical play that he deems “brutal” at times (agreed, some of it WAS brutal but Stu seems to think that only the Bruins are playing physical) and described the unfortunate incident between Boychuck and Raymond as follows:
“…very questionable hit by Johnny Boychuk, who spun Mason Raymond around by placing his stick between Raymond’s legs and twisting it (called “a can opener,” which is illegal) and then holding him down bent over and pushing him rear end first into the boards”.
Apparently Stu and I get different television coverage, because I didn’t see Boychuck pull a “can opener” on Raymond. What I saw was the two get caught up with each other while trying to play the puck (and hey – the puck squirted right underneath both players as they became entangled) and Boychuck doing what he was taught to do by finishing his check. It lasted all of about two seconds, the whole incident, and I don’t believe for one second Boychuck deliberately drove Raymond into the boards tail first intending to injure him. What would be the point?
It was a freak accident that resulted in Raymond’s injury, and it was disheartening to watch supposed professional medical people STAND RAYMOND UP and cart him off the ice. They didn’t know the extent of his injury and given how he hit the boards it could easily have been a spinal injury (it was) which could have been horrifically exacerbated by standing him up. The man should have been put on a backboard and taken off on a stretcher to insure his safety. I was glad to see him in the walkway at the start of the final game – and I sincerely hope he makes a complete and speedy recovery.
Worse for me was the reaction of the Bruins fans, suggesting that Raymond was diving and just faking an injury. They should know better. They’ve seen Savard lost to a concussion thanks to Matt Cooke, they’ve seen Bergeron go down and Horton as well. Did anyone assume they were diving? No. When a player goes down and doesn’t get up, give him the benefit of the doubt.
Anyway, back to Stu’s assessment of the incident. He claims that Kerry Fraser agrees that it should have been a minor penalty at least, and I can’t argue that point; neither Boychuck nor Raymond actually played the puck so it is not a stretch to make an interference call. However, what Stu didn’t bother to do was quote Kerry Fraser’s last remark on the incident:
“I did not see any evidence that Boychuk drove Raymond with any excessive or significant force other than what might be deemed normal on a finish of a play of this nature.” – http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=368912
Well on that point it seems Kerry and I are in agreement. At least someone who understands hockey was watching the game.
Stu then goes on to dissect the middle portion of the game and explain why Vancouver gave up so many goals in such a hurry but I won’t bother with his finding a multitude of excuses for Vancouver’s inability to defend against the Bruins’ counterattack. Apparently, Boston must be the dirtiest team in the league by his standards (hey Stu, remember the Flyers from the ‘70s? I think they were worse and I watched them play) as he continues to opine about perceived cheap shots:
“More nonsense, as expected, ensued late in the contest, nothing more egregious than Marchand using Daniel Sedin’s head like a light punching bag.”
Well, yes, Stu – it actually was nonsensical even to me, until I looked at it in the context of the entire series where Vancouver’s face-washing and cross-checking after whistles was more than tolerated. So I don’t begrudge the Bruins’ attempt to pay it back a little. Quite honestly, I was shocked that Canucks’ tough guys like Kessler and Bieksa and Torres simply let Marchand train on Sedin’s head. Moreover, why the hell didn’t Sedin just give it back to him? I mean, these are HOCKEY PLAYERS, Stu. They should be capable of stepping in to defend a teammate.
Stu seems to be making a habit of letting his bias show in his articles. Personally, I am not a Bruins fan so I didn’t have a stake in this series other than I wanted to see good hockey. There was, sadly, woefully little of that but I put the onus squarely on the officials for that. Pocketing their whistles in the post season just seems stupid to me. But sports writers that simply don’t know the rules shouldn’t be writing about hockey. Hey Stu, maybe next time you can save yourself the trouble of creating a biased sports article and let Kerry write it instead? At least it would be factual and objective.
So to drag this rebuttal of Hackel’s hack job back to the original intention of this post, I found the glaring ray of sunshine I was looking for all post season after the final buzzer went off and the Bruins celebrated their victory.
The majority of the Vancouver fans that were at the game stayed for the presentation of the Conn Smythe trophy to Tim Thomas (whom they roundly applauded and cheered as it was presented) and then, probably the hardest thing of all, the presentation of the Stanley Cup to Bruins’ captain Zdeno Chara. Yes, these hockey fans cheered that too (even though a chorus of boo’s rained down on Gary Bettman as he gave his little presentation speech – and Vancouver fans, I cheered YOU for that) and stood up and continued to applaud as the cup was passed from player to player.
Last night, there were fools on the street in Vancouver claiming to be Canuck fans. They overturned the vehicles of innocent people and set fire to them. They broke into establishments and looted them. They attacked police officers trying to disperse the seemingly drunk and unruly crowd. Today, I see many comments on some of the news posts belittling the people of Vancouver for this barbaric display.
That saddens me once more, that people can’t tell the difference between true fans and blatant fools. The fools will go on a rampage and leave destruction in their wake regardless of outcome.
The fans? They stand and cheer both their home team as they leave the ice in defeat but more importantly, they cheer the winners as well for a job well done.
My thanks to those Vancouver fans that occupied Rogers Arena last night. You know who you are.
