Welcome to our second edition of Blog Wars, in which we pit our Vancouver Canucks blogger, Harrison Mooney of Pass It To Bulis against Boston Bruins bloggers, Jon and Justin of Days of Y’Orr. The two blogs will debate the fine points of each game of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Was the NHL fair in dealing a four-game suspension to the Canucks’ Aaron Rome after his season-ending hit on Nathan Horton?
Harrison, Pass It To Bulis: I think the four-game suspension is harsh, especially since it wasn’t the lateral blindside hit the league’s been [ineptly] cracking down on all year long. This hit wasn’t even particularly dirty or malicious; it was just late. Had Rome stepped up a split second sooner, it’s a clean hit, shoulder to shoulder. Instead, he gets there just as Horton is getting down into his stride, and shoulder to shoulder becomes shoulder to head. Anyone who watches Aaron Rome knows that he’s not a dirty player, but his timing isn’t always great on hits. This was one of those instances and it cost him.
I’m interested in what the league would have done if it wasn’t a role player fans don’t particularly care for. The league’s been taking a beating on headshots this season, and on the major stage of the Final, with all the added attention, they weren’t going to risk getting lambasted again, especially on a play that looked so horrific. Since Rome’s no star, they took the opportunity to make an example of him. Canuck fans likely won’t mind, either. Most were hoping he’d would be removed from the lineup for Keith Ballard anyhow. Now it seems Alain Vigneaut will have no choice, unless he bypasses Ballard entirely for Chris Tanev.
But, if it had been Bieksa or Hamhuis or someone we hold in higher esteem, I’d be absolutely furious. The suspension is too long.
Justin, Days of Y’Orr: Rome certainly deserved to be suspended. The length doesn’t really matter because the Canucks lost a marginal defenseman and will likely improve with the loss of Rome while the Bruins lost one of their most lethal scorers in Horton. Horton has been clutch for the Bruins in the playoffs, especially in overtime, and now that is gone.
Rome had plenty of time to stop. We don’t buy some of the arguments coming out of Vancouver that Rome couldn’t stop the momentum or did everything he could to avoid Horton. The puck was long gone by the time Rome got there, Rome could obviously see Horton wasn’t looking and it was going to be blindside and the hit was 100% unnecessary The NHL is trying to send a message but all they’ve done is prove that if you’re a marginal, barely talented player the rules apply to you but if you’re a star or semi-star player you’ll just get a slap on the wrist.
The more irritating part is the mantra from the Canucks organization and official Twitter, some of which has already been deleted, that the hit wasn’t late. If Shawn Thornton had done that very same hit to one of the Sedins the organization would be calling for his head.
Harrison, Pass It To Bulis: The length does matter. It’s much too long. Let’s be clear: Rome was playing in the Canucks shutdown pairing. Granted, he’s a second stringer after Dan Hamhuis, but the Canucks are now down to their third choice on their most important pairing. That hurts.
Also, it’s not about whether or not Rome had time to stop. Once he had committed to the hit, it was going to happen. Sometimes I think people forget how fast the game actually is. It’s like that scene in Rookie of the Year where Henry swings at the baseball after the umpire’s already called strike. On television, it looks like there’s time. In real life, it’s fast as Hell. It’s not like Rome took a look, saw Horton put his head down, and then made the conscious decision to concuss him. Rome was on the wrong side of a half second and, as I said, timing simply isn’t his strong suit.
Furthermore, the Canucks have every right to argue that the hit wasn’t late. What’s late, anyway? here’s no standard whatsoever. As a hockey fan, I’ve heard anything from a half a second to a second and a half. Heck, the “late hit” term only really comes up when someone gets hurt on an otherwise clean check. We see hits like Rome on Horton regularly. If the guy pops up? Great hit. But when he stays down? Late hit.
That said, I could definitely buy unnecessary. I like hits when they separate a guy from the puck. Horton had already gotten rid of it, so it wasn’t a needed check.
While we’re still on this, a word on Mike Murphy, who apparently needs a PR person to help him handle the press after making a ruling. While I agreed with his decision not to suspend Alex Burrows, I hated his silly statement that used lack of evidence as a deciding factor. Now we have another botched statement, as Murphy a) admits to punishing to the injury, which is stupid, and b) admits to consulting Brian Burke, the general manager of another team, who has an axe to grind with the Canucks and Mike Gillis. Conflict of interest? You bet your ass. I’m sure it was all above board, but my goodness, the optics are confounding. Seriously, it’s clear the NHL is working to get disciplinary stuff figured out, but with Colin Campbell’s resignation, we have a less experienced interim guy doling out historically long suspensions without precedent in the Stanley Cup Final? It’s ridiculous.
It’s amazing Rome is the topic du jour today, though. The Canucks weren’t even the dirtiest team last night. My goodness, is it possible to be proud of the way Ference, Thornton, and Lucic played? Amazing that the accusations lobbied at the “classless” Canucks have died down today. Boston took the dirty play to dizzying new heights last night.
Justin, Days of Y’Orr: The NHL is just going to be a distant fourth in the “big four” sports until they get their act together. Lets say Henrik Sedin or Patrice Bergeron blatantly elbowed someone right now… probably about a 3% chance they’d get suspended. If Danny Paille or Mason Raymond elbow someone? See you later, have fun golfing while your team plays. Rules should either apply across the board or not at all. But I guess that is a discussion for another time.
The Canucks are not exactly known as being gentlemen on the ice. Before the series even started, there was talk of benching Seguin and bringing in Thornton to help deal with guys like Torres who like to take cheap shots. Even Helen Keller can see the Canucks have taken their fair share of blatant cheapshots with Bruins skaters and what we saw last night was the Bruins fighting fire with fire.
To say the Bruins brought dirty play to new heights is the pot calling the kettle black. Torres went for an obvious cheap shot on Boychuk near the end of the game, Burrows slashed Thomas in the glove hand before Lucic went after him, Kesler didn’t throw a punch until he and Seidenberg fell in the fight that wasn’t a fight and he landed on top of Seidenberg, Jannik Hansen blatantly slashed Krejci before he scored, etc etc. For every Bruins liberty there was and equal Canucks liberty taken. It is okay for either side? No, but one team can’t complain when the other team does it and ignore their own teaming doing it. It is the Finals. You get what you give and both sides are giving their fair share of shots. Canucks poked the bear and didn’t like what they got in response. Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it Vancouver.
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SteveB
June 8, 2011The Canucks have 40 years of experience in getting their fans’ hopes unrealistically up and then callously dashing them.
It would be a refreshing change for them to do it to their opponent’s fans.
Steven
June 8, 2011I like Blog wars – keep it up guys!
Both sides make good points, but let’s stop the “don’t dish what you can’t take stuff” on both sides. Both teams made some pretty unsportsmanlike plays in the series – let’s put an end to it tonight. Leave the extracurricular stuff to guys like Pronger or Avery.
PetriSkriko
June 8, 2011Anyone talking about the “classless Canucks” or “don’t dish it out if you can’t take it” need only look at Thornton and how he behaved like a T-Rex on coke (see The Oatmeal) right from the opening face-off in game 3. That set the tone for the game, and that’s likely why Rome was overly-aggressive on the Horton hit. Straight up thuggery – even Don Cherry didn’t like it, and Thornton’s a “Good! Canadian! Kid!”
Karen
June 8, 2011@ Harrison re: what constitutes a ‘late’ shot.
When Mike Murphy was being interviewed, he said that they have a ‘specific formula’ for determining what a late hit is, and how ‘bad’ it is – ie, how long the suspension should be. He didn’t elaborate, and no one asked… oh, what I wouldn’t do to be in that scrum.
I think someone should make a compilation video of cheap shots from Boston -> Vancouver and spam it everywhere. We’re classless anyway, why not embrace it?
JL
June 8, 2011I can’t help but comment on the double standard coming out of Boston. (RE: Vancouver whining, cowardice, cheapshots, dirty play, etc) I will remain as objective as possible;
Rome mistimes a hit on Horton, resulting in a major injury. This is considered a deplorable CHEAPSHOT by the Boston faithful.
Chara mistimes a hit on Pacioretty (yes, I am being generous, referring to that butchery as ‘mistimed’), resulting in a major injury. Somehow this, in Boston, translates as a hockey play.
Lapierre taunts Bergeron with gloved fingers dangled in front of his face. To Boston, apparently this is sacrilege, and apparently falls under the category of WHINING/DIRTY PLAY.
Recchi and Lucic engage in the same activities to Burrows and Lapierre, and this is considered ‘gamesmanship’.
For whatever reason, Boston seems insistant on calling the Sedins ‘cowards’. The only justification that I can think of for this is the fact that they don’t fight. So let me get this straight; smallish first line offensive players + no hitting + no unsportsmanlike play + no trashtalking = cowardice?
I realize that non-fighters don’t mesh too well with the ‘big bad bruin’ concept, which is why I can’t help but wonder why the team employs the likes of noted pugulists Seguin, Savard, Bergeron, or Krejci??
Bruins fans are quick to call a CHEAPSHOT on almost any Raffi Torres hit when he is on the ice. How you can point fingers at the Canucks, while defending players who have commited equally heinous acts is beyond me. The Lucic on Spacek, and Ference on Halpern hits in the first round come to mind. I’m not going to sit here and defend Torres’ hits, but i’m tired of reading this like it’s a one way street. When the Canucks hit, it’s allegedly all elbows and cheapshots. Yet when it’s Boston, it’s all “THAT’S BIG BAD BRUINS HOCKEY BABY, WOOO”
Lose the double standard Boston, it’s getting tiring.
Something She Dated
June 8, 2011I’d really be interested to know what the Bruins fans’ take on Eager was?
As for all this “dirty” hitting and “classless” blah blah…you all know this is hockey right? Where exactly are you drawing the line between what’s inherent in the sport and what’s not?
Are no Bruins fans open to the possibility that it was a “hit gone wrong”…sort of like how their beloved Chara broke that kid’s neck?!?! Or what if Henrik Sedin hadn’t gotten up after Timmy nailed him (which to show some of my unbiased opinion…as a Canucks fan…I actually thought was pretty fuckin’ rad on Timmy’s part)…and by the way…Henrik had lost control by then…so essentially…what?!?! Timmy’s hittin’ late…not to mention a player that isn’t supposed to be hitting at all, since of course it’s against the rules for Henrik to hit him…that makes it pretty ridiculous, no?
And while we’re talking about class (er…awhile back up there)…a grown man…sticking a gloved hand…in another dude’s mouth…a glove that is likely covered in germs, sweat, all that spit those boys keep spitting throughout the game…and you’re trying to tell me you’d just leave it there…sitting in your mouth…rubbing around…while the dude who’s doing it looks intently into your eyes?? Get. Serious!
And just a final thought…before you point your finger (into someone else’s mouth) at another team in judgement of their “goons”…take a look at your own team…every team has goons…and look at all the other games played thus far…playoff games especially (and while you’re at it, look at other sports and the heightened level of aggression specifically in championship games)…there’s extra hitting, stick slashing, trash stalking, cheap shotting, etc…from all the players…on all the teams…Boston is no better NOR WORSE than the Canucks…just as San Jose and the Blackhawks weren’t either…but trying to call out one team while ignoring the other is as stupid as saying…(excuse the unladlylike analogy) but my shit don’t stink. Hockey is dirty…humans are humans…but we’re all roughly the same.
Pilsnerpunk
June 8, 2011I don’t mind the suspension because I really don’t like Rome. I don’t like the fact that the hit may have woken up the Bruins the same way the Seabrook hit seemed to wake up the Hawks. The Canucks need to get back to playing between the whistles no matter what is happening around them.
The inconsistency of the suspensions bothers me. No suspension when Ryder hit Jones or when Ference hit Halpern. Neither were hockey plays or involved the puck.
I thought the Torres suspension before the playoffs was the start of a culture change but the league failed to back it up as soon as the playoffs started.
Chris
June 8, 2011The thing that bothers me the most about the Rome suspension is the lack of consistency, compared just with his own injury not a month ago.
You have to feel for the guy. Gets injured, opponent get no suspension. Hits a guy, and gets 4 games, possibly the most important game he might play in his career. It would have been a lot easier to swallow, had Jamie McGinn was also suspended, but he wasn’t, and that makes this unfair.
Kezzi
June 8, 2011You know, when you think about it, isn’t “intent to injure” a major part of any team’s strategy to win in the playoffs? That’s why they never announce injuries. They know that the opposing team will go after that injury in an attempt to take out a player, weaken a team. It’s how playoff hockey has been for ages. So if we, as fans, are okay with that, then we can expect to see this kind of nastiness and ugliness. The league is obviously okay with it…just don’t make it look too obvious. But certainly everyone understands that the opponent will try and take your players out of a series. I would never call ANYONE who steps on NHL ice in the playoffs a coward because they know, and the Sedins more than anyone, that people are out to maim and disable them, all in the guise of ‘playing the game’.
Let the bloodbath resume! And let’s quit wringing our hands and worrying. These guys have agreed to undertake this war and we agree to watch them spill blood. Rules be damned! WIN THE CUP!!!!
kim r
June 8, 2011I just look to their coach saying “my princesses don’t do that” and then said princesses do exactly that. At least AV doesn’t bother with the BS. As a famous philosopher said “it is what it is”.
So any b*tching and moaning about those mean and nasty Canooks is just more BS from Baahston.
peanutflower
June 8, 2011Doesn’t Harrison get the home field advantage in the blog war and get the last post?