We must get thee to a thuggary…
As the season winds down there is something I am noticing a lot of – repetition. No, it’s not the repetition of outcomes to games, it’s repetitions to what is happening in games.
Ottawa and Philadelphia imploded the other night into an all out brawl while games such as San Jose vs Dallas, Colorado vs Vancouver and Colorado vs. Calgary have turned out the same way.
Why do I mention repetition? Because I can remember this happening before. The entire league imploding into fight-nights at games (DOn King promoting top ranked boxing and then hockey games breaking out at the arenas) as the season winds down. There’s also something that disgusts me but it doesn’t shock me or surprise me at all – that being Todd Bertuzzi’s hit on Steve Moore last night in the Canucks / Avalanche game.
I’ve seen it before. How are you, Mr. McSorely? Feeling better, Mr. Brashear?
Oh, of course I am not sitting back and saying “oh it’s just more of the same — let them be and stay out of it Vancouver PD and Colin Campbell”. I’m saying, more importantly, that this has happened before and it isn’t as surprising. Personally I think that Bertuzzi should be suspended for the remainder of the regular season and the extent of the post season — and that’s just the start..
The retaliation from Vancouver for Moore’s hit on Naslund a few weeks ago should be clean checks and intense play against him — outplaying the guy and putting him in a legal hurt locker is all fair in love and war. The problem is Bertuzzi let this get to his head and went too far, way too far, with Moore suffering two broken vertebrae, a concussion, face lacerations, etc.
Joe at Tasca’s Take provides an interesting take on the situation — Bertuzzi, deserving what he gets, is a scapegoat of the cheap shots that tend to happen around the league with non-calls abounding. Being suspended for the result and not for the action is a bit of a wrong reason.
Maybe it’s time to put a ref in the stands to stop games when he sees flagrant penalties that aren’t called? Something’s gotta be done because the on ice officials aren’t getting it done. That is more of the same, as is the Bertuzzi/Moore incident, as is the blowups near the end of the season.
