I wasn’t really thinking about home vs road wins too much early in the post-season, and am kind of tired right now. Does anyone care to look up how many home wins and away losses there have been in this years playoffs vs home losses and away wins? Seems like the Pens have followed the home advantage for most of the postseason. Announcers said at one point that they have 10 home wins and it was the most in their history.
I am not as enthusiastic about it this year though. I am seriously considering giving up watching NHL hockey after this season, whether Pittsburgh wins or loses. A major thought going through my mind this postseason is Mario Lemieux calling the NHL a garage league, and thinking that it still is. I am aware that the Penguins have been as guilty as anyone else in this in the past, but to see players of less skill stopping better players by just latching onto them and pounding them while refusing to let go of them is just…wrong. And just being allowed to clobber each other mercilessly, and pummel away without repercussions is not a sport I’m that interested in.
I’m not really understanding or following the love people have for Subban and other players like him. Although PK seems to have more playing skill than some of them, it seems to me like their main goal is to just attempt to get under opponents skin by giving as many cheap shots as possible, both physically and verbally. I know the Pens have had some players that were known for that, and they were much cheered here but not by me. I’d rather see a game of skills involving puck handling and skating. But I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.
Again, I don’t pretend to know much about NHL, but it looked like one of those games when a team just said “We’re gonna lay down the f*cking law right now” and went out and punched the opposition in the face. That’s what the Pens did last night. I didn’t see it all, but from what I could tell, it looked like Pittsburgh wanted to do a lot more than just score; they wanted to physically overpower Nashville and push them around. The only thing I can relate it to is the way the Bears or Raiders used to go out and knock the snot out of other teams before beating them by 3 TDs, or how Shaquille O’Neal’s Lakers or Joe Dumars’ Pistons didn’t want to just win; they wanted to make the other team feel dominated, like they were just physically superior in every way. That’s what I saw last night, or maybe it was just the IPAs making me see things in a different light.
It’s surprisingly similar to game 5 of the conference finals, where Pittsburgh beat the Senators 7-0. At least based on that comparison Nashville still has a chance, since Ottawa won game 6 and took game 7 to OT.
I started watching around…late 80’s/1990. When it became obvious that Mario really was becoming one of the greats and was due for a cup.
I’d have to go back to some of the videos of games back then (thinking about spending some time on Youtube today), but I’ll go with you on the “less actual fights than there was back then”, but when you watch plays like Subban tackling Crosby and pulling him down to the ice, then holding onto his leg to preventing him from getting back up and making some plays, I’m not seen that much of an improvement. Sure, you don’t have anywhere near the amount of skill-less goons whose only role is to hurt and damage the other team as much as possible. But incidents where players routinely just grab another player and hangs onto him to prevent him from making plays is way too common. Or takes constant jabs and cheap shots to hurt and wear down players that they can’t keep up with.
Refs make mistakes, yes they do. But it seems like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. If they call all the hitting, holding, and interfering, every game would be bogged down and constantly, or near constantly, have multiple people in the penalty box. They don’t seem to be calling anything in these playoffs except the very worst things going on. So what’s the alternative? Train the players not to do that stuff during the training and preseason, train the refs to enforce it, and it will become a habit. It’ll take some time to get used to it, but I have seen other hockey leagues that seem to not allow players to use their sticks as blunt instruments.
I must have missed this. I did see the play where Crosby took Subban down, sat on him and then held his head down and smashed it into the ice a few times, using the earhole in Suban’s helmet for control. This happened behind the Pens net during the 1st period, I think. They both received time in the box for minors, mostly because the ref was blocked by Crosby’s body and so couldn’t see the head-smashing.
That’s it. Crosby has said (and the video you linked to bears it out), that Sabban clutched Crosby’s leg and prevented Crosby from getting up. Not sure what exactly Subban was trying to do other than getting under his skin and preventing him from being involved in plays, but Crosby was not “sitting on him”, he was unable to get up because Subban would not let go of his leg. Which seems to be the only thing Nashville can do to stop him, clutch, grab, and take cheap shots.
Why the ref standing right next to them did not intercede is a mystery to me, he was clearly able to see that there were 2 players struggling on the ice right next to him, and decided to let them go.
Huh. On re-watch, I agree that it looked like Subban had a hold of Crosby’s leg. It looked to me like he was grabbing for his stick and got Crosby’s leg instead, then almost couldn’t let go because Crosby was on top of him. Once his head was getting pounded into the ice, I doubt he wanted to let go (as it was the only retaliation he had available).
Okay, I’ll go with Subban’s take as “just hockey”.
1.) The Crosby/Subban incident was total BS. Not so much for what the players did but for what the ref did or didn’t do. The ref was standing right over them and let it go on. If he didn’t see it why were any penalties called at all? He did see it. Letting crap like that go is just inviting the game to get out of hand which is what happened. Crosby could go out there with a pistol and shoot someone and the refs wouldn’t give him a game misconduct.
2.) I used to defend Crosby against those that said he is a self-entitled crybaby. Well, I’ll now go on record, Sidney Crosby is a self-entitled crybaby.
3.) Home team goals in this series: 24. Away team goals: 6. It looks like there is a tilting mechanism installed under the ice so that the home team is going downhill and the away team is going uphill.
4.) Fighting in the NHL used to be much more brutal. Many players didn’t wear helmets.
There were no “fight staps” in the jerseys. One player would pull the jersey over the other player’s head so he couldn’t see or move his arms and then just pummel him. There were more unskilled “goons” in the league whose only role was to fight. There was a time when a player like the Flyers’ Dave Schultz would tape his hands like a boxer before games. Refs didn’t break up fights as soon as they do now. Players would cut the palms out of their gloves so they could grab easier. If Lemouix doesn’t remember that then he must have gotten beaten enough that he has CTE.
With all that, it was worse in the minor leagues like the AHL. That’s what “Slap Shot” was based on. Players would fight just to try to look tough enough to get called up to the NHL. I was at one minor league game where two players dropped their gloves when the first puck was dropped and went at it. It looked like they just want to get it over with because that’s what the fans wanted to see. It was actually a pretty calm game after that.
5.) I’m sick of all the cross-checking that isn’t called. It’s dangerous, especially when a player is cross-checked from behind against the boards. Yet, there has been a lot of it that isn’t called. This is something that can be eliminated.
Was that a late ‘70s Whalers’ game? They had [del]a goon[/del]an enforcer back then who was just brutal; he was a real crowd favorite, of course. Can’t remember his name now, tho.
Back in the day I lived midway between Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA so I saw a lot of Whalers and Indians games (also a handful of Bruins games as Boston was only a couple hours away). I am so glad I got to see some of the classic players (Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, etc.) in action back then!
Come on Bo, Subban continued to hold on to Crosby’s ankle because he somehow thought it would help his head stop slamming off the ice?
I will say if it looked like Crosby was trying to hurt Subban I’d be as against it as any Subban fan. It didn’t look like Crosby was attempting to hit Subban in the head or slam him into the ice. It looked more like Subban was trying to get up (while holding Crosby’s leg, so he could knock him down like it was the WWE), and Crosby was putting pressure on PKs head to keep him down. Then Crosby just wanted to pin his head against the ice so he’d stop moving and maybe let go of him. If Crosby wanted to slam Subban’s head off the ice he could easily have done it a lot better (or is that worse?). I think he was just trying to get out of a potential figure 4 leg lock.
I agree with R. P. McMurphy except #2. What has changed about Crosby that changed your mind? If I was him I’d be even more concerned now about getting pummeled and held constantly. His number of concussions means he might not be playing much longer, he’s 30 and should be in the prime of his career. But like Lemieux, we might look back and talk about what might have been more than what was.
How do you view this differently than Lemieux, whose frustration at getting hit and clobbered every shift was well known? Neither was that public about their gripes. Crosby does do a lot of talking with refs after incidents and I don’t remember if Mario did back in the day. Not that the average person can pick that up on television. But I don’t remember hearing him complaining about anything publicly, it’s all other people discussing it. Not saying he’s never said, just that I don’t remember him addressing penalties/lack of specifically. Give me some info as to how or why some people consider him a crybaby?
No. I can’t see Subban’s arm because Crosby is on top of it and the camera angle is obscured.
Watch it again and you can see that Crosby has his fingers in the earhole of Suban’s helmet. He has total control of Suban’s head due to that and the leverage he gains by being on top. He clearly smacks Suban’s head into the ice several times; he clearly pushes down, lets up a bit then pushes back down. And he’s looking back at the ref the entire time, checking to see if the ref is gonna interfere or if can he continue to dole out punishment.
Again, tho, since no penalty was called and Subban says it was “just hockey” (and since I doubt that Crosby is gonna complain about the officiating there), I’ll go with “just hockey”.
