Welcome to our first edition of Blog Wars, in which we pit our Vancouver Canucks blogger, Harrison Mooney of Pass It To Bulis against Boston Bruins blogger, Jon Fucile of Days of Y’Orr. The two blogs will debate the fine points of each game of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Vancouver Sun: There were several questionable calls last night. The goal may or may not have been offside. Burrows may or may not have bit down on Bergeron’s fingers. What was your view of the debateable action in Game One?
Mooney: It always amazes me when a game with this many calls winds up handing out the exact same number of penalties to both sides. Some will argue that this proves the game was evenly called — I would argue it proves the refs are more concerned with math than blowing the whistle at the right time. Some of the penalties, such as the high-sticks on Zdeno Chara that Daniel Sedin and Kevin Bieksa must have climbed beanstalks to commit, were no-brainers. The crosscheck on David Krejci and the trip on Alex Burrows, however, were, well, brainers. That’s a problem.
Speaking of Alex Burrows, he allegedly bit Patrice Bergeron. I use the word allegedly because I’m a Canucks fan. He bit him.
You’re not supposed to bite, although they must not teach that in Pincourt kindergartens, but Patrice Bergeron needs to pay attention during scouting reports. Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that putting your finger in Alex Burrows’s mouth is the on-ice equivalent of noodling, the practice of sticking your arm into a catfish hole. You’re gonna get bit. If Burrows gets a slap on the wrist for his stupidity, Bergeron should get a slap to the face for his.
Fucile: The entire playoffs, every single series, has been really poorly officiated in our humble opinion. Some nights it seems like the refs are getting paid by the call and nothing makes sense. The whole notion of the refs feeling obligated to call the same amount of penalties or make calls to make up for an earlier missed call or wrong call just makes games seem overly controlled by the refs.
I’d love to see the refs do more of what they did in Game 7 of the Bruins-Lightning series. Just let the teams play unless you feel the game is getting out of hand. If there are blatant cheap shots or too many after the whistle liberties then call it but teams should be allowed to play but the refs make calls so inconsistently that it seems like not even the players have a grasp on what is a penalty and what is not.
If we had it our way, we’d have the refs stop calling penalties against the Canucks all together. We love our dear Bruins but we are baffled as to how the powerplay can possibly suck that much.
For the offsides, there was no angle that we saw that definitively said yes or no. Really it doesn’t matter. The Bruins had several opportunties, including that long 5 on 3, to get something going offensively and failed. It never should have come down to that goal anyway. Blaming the potential offsides would just be loser talk.
And Burrows totally bit Bergeron. Not even a question in our mind. We’re not upset Burrows wasn’t suspended. Whatever, lets the teams play don’t let suspensions potentially decide a game. Burrows is an ass clown and a coward for biting but whatever. We don’t agree with the large group of people saying that if you put your hand in someone’s face you deserve to get bit. That is assinine. Players face wash each other all the time. Real players don’t bite. As for the NHL’s ruling that it was inconclusive, check the videos you fools. There is one video that clearly shows Burrows grabbing and holding Bergeron’s hand and then biting.
Mooney: This might be the nicest back and forth you’ll ever see — I agree with most of this. I do, however, take exception to a few things:
1. On whether “Burrows is an ass clown and a coward”, that statement is only half true. Bitey assclown? Yes. Coward? No. What, exactly, is the braver option when your opponent has a finger in your throat? Trim the nail?
2. Unlike Boston fans, who recognize their team’s powerplay makes baby Jesus cry, I don’t want the refs to put their whistles away. I want them to do their jobs by managing games rather than deciding them. Make good calls. Don’t make bad calls. Of course, there’s a margin for error here, we’ve drifted far beyond that in these playoffs, into what one might called The Inane Zone. In the inane zone, if Tim Thomas initiates contact with you at the blue line, you’re going to the box.
And on that powerplay, why, exactly, would you put Zdeno Chara in front of the net? He has the hardest shot in the league. Using Zdeno Chara as your net presence is like hosting a track meet underwater.
Fucile: Maybe we should start hurling fake insults or something. I’m going to take your mother out for a nice seafood dinner and then NEVER call her again. Maybe.
1. I guess when it comes to Burrows (and not Burrows specifically but players that tend to be like him) is that we don’t like a player who will start something and then wait until two refs are between him and the other guy to act tough, which we feel Burrows does a lot of. He’s not on the PK Subban level of this but we’re firm believers in finishing what you started. Then again… that is Burrows job. And he has obviously done his job if we dislike him so much.
2. I agree to an extent. I feel like the refs influenced waaaaaaaaaay too much on both sides. If you’re going to call something against one team, call it against the other team as well or don’t call it at all. Players should decide games, not the refs. Often I feel like he refs are just on a power trip. It is crazy. I’m not saying refs should ignore every call and just let people play all game long… but why call a borderline tripping call and then not call an obvious cross check. We understand that not every real penalty is going to get called either. There is a lot of action and refs can’t see everything. Inconsistency stems from the top though and we all know the NHL doesn’t even know the meaning of consistent.
3. We kind of like Chara in front of the net because he is one of like two Bruins that seems to understand that screening the opposing goalie is a good thing. We love Chara’s hard shot but when he hangs out at the blueline the B’s powerplay becomes even more predictable. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, Chara one timer, pass, pass. Rinse. Repeat. We’ve noticed that opposing teams don’t respect Chara’s shot anymore in the sense that they know that is all the Bruins are going for. They’re trying to open lanes and get the puck to Chara for a shot. But since this has become so predictable and opposing teams know that most Bruins are apparently REALLY afraid to shoot… they don’t move and no lanes open for Chara’s blistering shot. If guys like Krejci, Bergeron, Lucic and Horton started firing more on the PP maybe other teams would start moving around more. But right now it seems like teams just stop moving, clog lanes and let their goalie just get a great view of the shot on the rare occasions the B’s take it. We’re kind of hoping Chara just starts taking the shot again anyway even if no lanes are open. If a player gets hit by a Chara slap shot once or twice chances are they’ll start to move a little when he winds up.
Side note: As a B’s fan, didn’t really see the problem with the Hamhuis hit. Keep your head up Lucic. Keep your head up.
Mooney: I don’t think even Lucic could have had a problem with the Hamhuis hit. Did you see the way Hamhuis helped him to fully rotate once he was in the air? He’s such a good guy.
I still think the predictability of Chara’s shot trumps the nonthreatening nature of Kaberle’s. Seriously, when Kaberle winds up, all six Canucks blow the zone. Seriously. All six.
Fucile: Does Kaberle still play for the Bruins? That is news to me.
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John in Marpole
June 2, 2011Gotta take exception to 2 statements from Bruin Boy:
1) That none of the replays were conclusive re: Kesler being off-side. HNIC had a replay that showed Kesler’s skate was still on the blue line when the puck was completely inside the Boston zone. If NBC or Outdoor Living or whatever US network they were watching didn’t have that angle, tough. Get a better cable package.
2) Burrows didn’t start the thing when Bergeron tried to test his gag-reflex. Burrows had to intervene on Bergeron mugging a Canuck after the scrum started. No doubt Burrows deserved the extra 2 for the horse-collar he put on Bergeron, but he most certainly didn’t start the scrum.
I hope the Boston coaches agree that Chara in front of the net is a good PP strategy, because it isn’t. Keep doing it. They’ll only have to stick to that plan for another 3 games if they do. Then they can start working on a new plan during the off-season.
peanutflower
June 2, 2011Outdoor Living. haha. Seriously, though, sometimes one has to wonder exactly what the US fans are being shown, because it sounds like it’s some other game completely than the one we see. The HNIC reply clearly shows Kes dragging his toe across the paint so as to be onside.
As to Burrows leaving what he allegedly starts, well, no, that isn’t what usually happens. He doesn’t start much these days, and certainly not that Bergeron thing, and he is now paid to skate away in zen-like calmness. That’s what he does instead of flailing around and ultimately going to the box
Maplemusketeer
June 2, 2011I must say that I happen to have found this conversation to be interesting and entertaining. I also really enjoyed the respectful dialogue and mock-insult hurling by Fucile.
As this series goes deeper it will be interesting to see if the debate heats up with harsher wording, more shouting ALL IN CAPS, and a vociferous dialogue on the merits of tea over coffee.
antro
June 2, 2011Agreed, great exchange on both sides.
One question for a Bruins fan: I agree that the “alleged” bite is asinine, and I wish Burrows would move beyond that stuff already. However, why did that scrum start? What had the Sedins done that all 5 Bruins suddenly had to converge on them? It was like Hank had snow-showered Thomas, and Daniel had punched him in the back of the head. They reacted as if something like that had happened, but nothing like that had happened. The Sedins were nowhere near Thomas, and had done nothing except be Sedins. And then the Bruins came skating in to mix it up. Unclear to me why they’d do that, except if they wanted to take extra shots at the Sedins?
JS Topher
June 3, 201130 uncalled cross checks a night just won’t cut it in the finals!
Rituro
June 2, 2011Civil debate? On the internet?! What madness is this?
Seriously, though, nice write-up. My respect for both PITB and Days of Y’Orr climbed a notch higher.
JS Topher
June 3, 2011No kiddin’! Dang Bruins fans… makin’ it almost as hard to hate them as Preds fans… what happened to Chicago?
Oliversgirl
June 2, 2011As someone who follows the Canucks in the West and the Habs in the East (ya, I REALLY want the Canucks to win), I’m a bit unimpressed by Fucile’s reference to Subban. Seriously? No player should ever be above criticism, but this from a guy with Brad Marchand on his team. I just shake my head at that…
Spencer
June 3, 2011Ummmmmmm Subban looked around for a ref before he went dead weight. Don’t even think of comparing Marchand to that.
Mondo Bizarro
June 3, 2011How about talking about the classless Bruins spraying water on an injured player? How about the 9 consecutive crosschecks to the back of the Sedins? How about the failure to call the bear hug in the first minute of the game? The only two people in North America who thought that bear hug was NOT a penalty were carrying whistles!
The refs should NOT put their whistles away. They should use then to call the penalties! That’s what they get paid for – well allegedly anyway. Our count had it 12-7 for the Bruins. The refs were awful.
Lucic whining after the hip check was classic! What a big baby. I had heard he was tough!
J21
June 3, 2011I don’t really believe that someone who follows an Eastern Conference team could really have an informed opinion on what Alex Burrows is or does. Especially not this season. Most information about rarely-seen teams now comes from the Internet — forums, blogs, columnists, etc., and it’s usually filled with hyperbole and mountains made out of molehills. (If a player makes one mistake once by doing X, he becomes known as a “guy who does X”. I always think of Peter Gibbons’ friends in Office Space saying that they hear he’s been having trouble with his TPS reports.)
I also despise Letthemplayism. Don’t “let them play” if they can’t do it legally, or else the deserving team won’t win. Absolutely call penalties. Just call them rationally, and don’t feel the need to make even-up calls.
Josh
June 3, 2011Great debate guys! I totally agree with the reffing stuff. But as a Canucks fan, I gotta tell you Bruins fans that Marchand is just as much of a “Burrows-like player” as Burrows is.
Maybe the American feed didn’t catch it, but just after a whistle Marchand looked around for a ref, then when he saw they weren’t looking he dropped to the ice at Lapierre’s feet (another one of those type of guys), then started yapping to the ref to try to draw a penalty. So sure, Burrows can be an ass clown, but so can Marchand, so don’t complain too much.
Josh (different than that last one)
June 3, 2011Great article. The refereeing in all the series has been atrocious this year. I tend to agree with Fucile that I’d prefer to see the refs just let them play rather than see the inconsistency we have been treated to. Yeah, a chippy, hooking game will probably give a small advantage to the Bruins, but at least the players would know what is a penalty instead of the confusion we’re seeing now.
The refereeing this year is the worst I can remember in a playoffs. But then again, I think I say that every year…