I do believe you are correct. (Word is, the rest of the team are PISSED at him.)
So the Pacific divison has the possibility fo all five teams making the playoffs? Crazy!
Well you generally don’t get invited for a face to face meeting unless it is a suspension longer than 6 games. I just heard Bob McKenzie guess it will be 8 or possibly 10 games.
The league is in an interesting position now. Similar hits last week got 2 games and one guy got a $2500 fine (an even bigger joke than 2 games). So, we have a repeat offender getting caught just after the latest promise to crack down.
10 games, minimum 4 playoff
Regular season and first round of playoffs.
Good riddance.
Cooke suspended rest of regular season, Round 1
sigh I hope this sends the message – he’s certainly earned it.
(BTW, I guess when I pointed out that he’s a nice guy OFF of the ice, as someone on a hockey community said, it’s hard to understand – here you have someone, who IS a genuinely decent individual – family man, friendly, devotes a lot of time to charity, etc. And yet he’s probably the dirtiest player in the league, time and again causing injury after injury – it’s like a total 180 in personality. How can you reconcile that? What gives? It’s truely puzzling, and it’s hard for me, as a Pens fan, and someone who actually admires what the guy has accomplished OFF of the ice, to see how acts ON it.)
BTW, my comments on the Crosby hits were to show that people kept saying, “oh, they’d change things if it were Sidney Crosby who was injured!” And yet – they didn’t. It wasn’t until the Chara/Pacioretty incident that people really started getting upset.
Stu Grimson was mostly a fighter but he was a very nice guy and very smart off the ice. He went to law school after retiring and now works for the NHLPA.
Okay. Penguins concur with League on Cooke punishment.
Your snark was actually accurate. He’s not at all hypocritical.
The Senators have given Craig Anderson a four year extension.
He is currently scheduled to go down with a season-ending injury in game 18 of the 2011-2012 season. :smack:
Actually, I don’t really know him very well, but he’s been playing well for the Sens since they got him. For his sake, I hope he avoids the curse that haunts all Sens (and Islanders) goalies. Though I don’t want him playing too well. Life’s more fun when Ottawa sucks.
There wasn’t a single quote from Lemieux in there.
And what are they going to do, publicly decry it? That would make them all hypocrites.
Wow. Your Pittsburgh hating really knows no bounds. I don’t think they could have had a response that would have been suitable to you.
Wow. Your Pittsburgh homerism really knows no bounds. I don’t think they could have had a response that wouldn’t have been suitable to you.
If you’re going to cite an article as proof of something, you may want to make sure it actually contains what you’re saying it does.
Are you seriously arguing that Ray Shero does not represent Lemieux?
As for me, I would have been disappointed with a statement that did not clearly state that Cooke’s elbowing was unacceptable. So, you’re just plain wrong again.
Lemieux speaks for himself. He has in the past and he will in the future.
Even if he is allowing Shero to speak for him, that statement isn’t publicly expressing outrage, it’s demurely agreeing with the League’s decision like all teams do in similar situations.
Since it was his idea to fine teams when this stuff happens, it’s another opportunity for him to lead by example and cut a check to the player’s retirement fund or some other charity.
:rolleyes:
Shero speaks for the Penguins, and therefore for Lemieux, but Lemieux himself did not say anything, which was the initial request. Is it really that hard? You’re both right, and you’re both wrong, ok?
Personally, I would be interested in seeing a statement from Lemieux, in light of what he had to say last month about the state of the NHL, but I’m sure it will be similar to what Shero and Bylsma have already said. I’m satisfied with that response so far, though.
Thing is, it needs to continue. The league can’t just now say “look, we did something about Cooke” and pretend everything is ok. They still have a lot of work to do to eliminate the dirty and dangerous plays from the game. I feel I was hard on Lemieux at the time he made his statements; I think we tend to get lost in who did what/what team they work for, without actually viewing what the debate is actually about. The nicest, best, kindest, Mother-Theresa of hockey can get mad and throw a dangerous hit; it’s the hit that needs to be considered, not the player, though I support increasing penalties for repeat offenders.
I figure we can manage to come up with coherent rules for driving and speeding/other infractions that are dangerous, as well as accidents. We should be able to do the same for hockey!
I’ll let your characterization stand, in contrast to the quote from the team, so that everyone else can judge whether or not you are at all reasonable.
And if Mario DID come out and say something, soulmurk? Would that be enough, or would it be more self-serving bullshit? :rolleyes:
mnemosyne, if IIRC, one of those who was voting on the rules on headhits was connected to the Bruins, correct? Talk about conflicted interests.
Bettman’s a joke.
It would be more self-serving bullshit.
Let’s recap Matt Cooke’s time in Pittsburgh. Cooke first signed with the Penguins in July 2008. In November 2008, he was suspended for a head shot on Artem Anisimov. In January 2009, he was suspended for a head shot on Scott Walker. In March 2010, he knocked Savard out for damn near two months. He wasn’t suspended for that hit, but the NHL implemented a new rule governing hits to the head three weeks after it happened. Cooke spent the '08-'09 and '09-'10 seasons playing hockey exactly the way he’s playing now… OK, now pay attention, because here’s the important part:
In July 2010, the Pittsburgh Penguins gave Matt Cooke a three year contract extension.
That contract speaks louder than anything they have to say. Shero, Lemieux, and Bylsma knew exactly what Cooke was like on the ice, and they decided that Cooke was a guy they wanted on their team. After watching him play for two years, they decided to pay him $1.8 million a year to continue playing hockey in Pittsburgh. The organization can say anything they want to about cleaning up the game, but they’re the people who pay Matt Cooke to do what he does. Why should anybody believe the words when the actions show something else entirely?
I’ve got to say that after Lemieux very publicly came out and “tore the league a new one” after the fight filled Islanders game (iirc), I’d expect him to come out and say something as well. He did start it after all, and it does seem a bit odd to scream bloody murder after his team gets whomped on (appropriately or not ymmv and all that) but to sit down quietly after his own dirty little secret gets to sit out the first round of the playoffs for an easy to see dirty shot.
I also think it will say far more if the Pens release him. That’s not to say that another team won’t just sign him (I’m looking at you Philadelphia and Anaheim). It would at least say a lot about the kind of team Pittsburgh wants to have.