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You Can't Have It Both Ways |
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TO THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS AND THEIR FANS:
Losing your cool and taking penalties for over-zealous hits when you're holding a one goal lead late in a road playoff game is almost inexcusably dumb. Do you want to win or exact revenge? D-U-M.
Personally, I have a much bigger problem with Bryan Bickell's leg to leg hit on Vladimir Sobotka than I do with Brent Seabrook's hit on David Backes.
BECAUSE . . . AND THIS IS DIRECTED AT PITTSBURGH FANS AND THE OFFICE OF LEAGUE DISCIPLINE
I remember hearing from a number of Pittsburgh fans how Brooks Orpik's similar hit on Jonathan Toews a few weeks ago was clean ("his skates left the ice only after contact" and other garbage). And apparently the NHL agreed.
So what is Seabrook supposed to think when Backes presents himself with his head down EXACTLY as Toews did to Orpik? He's fair game.
Anyone saying there's a difference between the Orpik hit and the Seabrook hit has probably never played any hockey beyond "no-check." Look at the forest not the trees. Whether or when their skates left the ice, principal point of contact, doesn't matter. In both cases, the hitter saw the opportunity to flatten an opposing player and took it. Period. Either player could have pulled up and respected the opponent in a vulnerable position, and didn't.
Orpik was not penalized or disciplined, as Niklas Kronwall has not been disciplined so many times over the years for that kind of hit and much worse. Seabrook was penalized and likely will be suspended.
Because . . . NHL officiating and discipline is not much better than the WWE. It's a crap shoot and a joke. So what are the players supposed to do on the ice when playing at 40 MPH? That's the question.
TO THE ST. LOUIS BLUES AND THEIR FANS
Kudos for playing like the champs when the champs were supposed to do so. But, you can't have it both ways either.
Backes has a leaguewide reputation for going after smaller players and taking shots after the whistle. You might love your captain, but throughout the NHL this morning, there are some saying he got what was coming.
Maybe I'm old school, but the NHL office of league discipline has failed in policing the game versus the way the players policed themselves prior to the instigator rule.
Neither is perfect, but the complete comic charade of the league "hearings," the suspensions handed out (or not), the utter lack of consistency and shifting rationale has become hard to take.
Brendan Shanahan, Colin Campbell? Doesn't matter. The next guy in charge. Probably won't matter. The problem is a league and quite honestly a culture of "make goods," and whoever cries loudest wins.
Here's an idea. You write the rules? Follow them. Whether the player in question is a star like Seabrook or a slug like Raffi Torres. The fact is, when you start making exceptions for players, teams or interpretations of your own rules, it's a slippery slope that leads to what we have today.
Or let the players discipline themselves as they did for decades—when there was some respect in the game as well.
All I have for now,
Congrats again to the Blues. They've been impressive.
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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