1) Many were a bit surprised with the NHL's decision today to NOT suspend Islander forward Jason Blake for a spearing incident that occurred in the waning moments of last night's Islander-Penguin game in the Igloo. Replays clearly showed it was an intentional action on the part of the diminutive Islander forward on the teen super star
2) Why then was Blake cut slack when it seems the league would have gone out of its way to send a message to protect its most marketable product, Sidney Crosby? The answer actually isn't too complicated. The NHL front office, specifically Mr.'s Walkum/Campbell and the officials are none too pleased with the way Crosby continues to embellish infractions against him.
3) This trend/perception would explain why on a play that was clearly a 5 minute spear, Blake not only didn't get so much as a 2 minute minor, BUT Crosby got an unsportsman like conduct call. Ostensibly for 'diving'.
4) It appears a case of 'Boy crying Wolf' once too often. If Sid had a clean record with regard to embellishments/diving, you can be certain he would have been given the benefit of the doubt with regard to the Blake stick foul. Instead Blake was given that benefit, and got away with one. The league could have decided to give Blake a suspension after the fact today but may be sending Mr. Crosby and other divers a message: Stop it! Hopefully the message is received and we start to see less of this now common tactic to draw fouls.
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15 years ago
12 comments:
i'm happy that the nhl didnt give blake a saspenshun. That crosby seems like he thinks who he is. he's a cry baby
SASPENSHUN - Now WHERE have you EVER seen this word written ANYWHERE? C'mon Stacey, stop pulling my leg... There is no way you actually think this spelling is correct...
However, great news for Blake - he's not normally a dirty player... The CLOWNS in the NHL offices got this one right...
Why don't ya just go take a flying leap antz
If this is a way to try to get with me it aint workin
stupid...if gretzky or lemieux were speared in the gut, they too would have fallen to the ice...does the kid embellish sometimes sure, 90% of the players in the league do...maybe the fact that sid is the focus of attention every time he is one the ice, makes it seem like he dives more regularly then everyone else in the league, that and the fact that he gets a ton of abuse because he is as good as he is...blake should have got 5 and a game, hell give the kid a 2 minute diving penalty too...but c'mon blake still stabbed him in the gut with his stick, which last i checked was a penalty...as for the suspension, whatever, they fined him a 1000 bones, fair enough.
1) Hate to disagree with ya there Joe, but our original comment wasn't whether or not Blake's spear deserved a penalty (clearly it did), but whether Crosby's PAST dives may have affected the decision to give Blake a penalty and/or a suspension.
2) You are correct, anyone would have behaved similarly if speared like the Kid was, BUT it has been Sid's past proclivity to embellish lesser hits that have caused ire within the league officials
3) For better or worse, right or wrong, we believe that is precisely why this was called the way it was.
1) Post script: The Blake spear illustrates another reason why we believe the instigator rule needs to be amended.
2) At least back to where it was prior to 2005. No more free reign to go after players with your sticks in the final 5 minutes of a game knowing that the team can't retaliate without significant penalty/fines
3) Pittsburgh, even it was inclined to, could not go after Blake else that player would be sitting out tonight's game and Therein would be $10,000 lighter in the wallet.
a. In all fairness, and I am a huge Ovechkin fan, he embellishes his dives as well... I have seen Alex go down, as if he's been shot (ALA Kris King, when he is on the short end of stick play... And then, two minutes later, he's out there again bouncing all over the ice...
b. Joe is probably correct in saying that these high profile superstars garner more attention than most... Good post for discussion, Faux...
1) In the relm of brilliant minds think a like we were made aware of an article found on the TSN web site that was published about 2 hours after our piece on Sid and the reasons behind the non call/suspension
2) Seems Mr. Dreger and Fauxrumors think a lot alike!
Find it at: http://www.tsn.ca/tsn_talent/columnists/darren_dreger/
Hey Faux, are you really 104 years old?
Hey Antz, are you really an insect?
AS the Frenchies would say, "TOUCHE'"
pas un zing contre la belle langue francais mon antz, fait attention comme tu dit mon tabernac....sorry bored out of my skull, figured i'd whip out so horribly written french, you know just for kicks.
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