http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1182974/3/index.htm
An interesting read on one of my favorite players. I have a differing opinion of Matt Cooke, though I will not dispute the fact that he plays the game on the edge, as noted. I will say that similar to James Harrison of the Steelers, Cooke has somehow become public enemy number one playing a role that most teams reserve a special place for. Even though Ovechkin has more dirty hits, and Cooke plays a game similar to Ruutu, Lucic, Downie, Clutterbuck, Kessler, Avery, Ott, Tucker, Burroughs, and Neil to name a few, the hockey world has chosen to make Matt Cooke public enemy number one. In the article, Farber actually quotes one of the dirtiest human beings on and off the ice in Brad May as support for the position. That was comical. Some of the most interesting aspects of the article, and areas of contention for me were as follows:
The notion that the prescence of Matt Cooke on the Penguins somehow eliminates Mario's credibility commenting on the garbage that happened on the Island? First off, the premeditated attack on Eric Tangradi, and the embarrassing aftermath with a worthless hockey player standing in the runway mocking a player he had assaulted from behind trumps ANYTHING Cooke has ever done. The entire event orchestrated by the Islanders organization is on a different level than an actual hockey player playing a role that is coveted on each team, and going into the gray areas of dirty play. The constant reference to the Savard hit is pretty interesting to me as well. It WAS definitely a borderline hit, tough to argue that. The result for Savard is a true shame. However, I fail to see a vast difference between that hit and the hit Mike Richards put on David Booth in the same season. Richards is a tough player, and one I have come to admire, but that particular hit was very similar, with a very similar result on a similar type of skill player, but nothing is ever said about THAT hit. I know Richards does not have the history of Cooke, and that is part of it, but part of what people(myself included) like about Richards, is he will do some of the "dirty work" despite his status as captain. Occasionally he crosses the line as in the Booth hit. The next quote from one of the biggest hypocrites and crybabies in the NHL, Bruce Boudreau is really comical to me. Bruce, did you have a big issue with David Steckel ending Crosby's season with a blindside hit to the head of Crosby? I am guessing you have enjoyed every second of that. Your entire organizaton from top to bottom and side to side is infatuated with all that is Pittsburgh. Or what about the constant charging plays orchestrated by the gutless caveman? Matt Bradley took issue with Cooke taking a shot at Oveckin's knee? My only issue is that he MISSED! Anybody remember the knee on knee hit the great Ape put on Sergei Gonchar in the 2009 playoffs? A hit that cost Gonchar several games, and could have cost him the season? How about the run he took a couple of years back at Malkin, coming in high from about 30 yards with a full head of steam? Malkin smelled him coming and the ape took the worst of it, but there was bad intent there. Ovechkin leaves his skates and hits people while taking rinkwide runs every week. A very quick YouTube search turned up the following videos of the Great 8. The one where he boards Brian Campbell and gets a two game suspension. The one where he boards Jamie Heward and he leaves the ice on a stretcher. A nasty boarding play where he injures Daniel Briere, and another where he hurts Patrick Kaleta. Oh, and besides the knee on knee with Gonchar, he injured himself and Tim Gleason of the Hurricanes with a violent knee on knee on collision. There were several slew footing videos, including the one with Rich Peverly. Before I forget, there is the one where he shoots the puck intentionally and hits Rob Scuderi at the end of a period. There were in fact too many to list. Besides scoring more goals, and generally having less class, how is Ovechkin any better than Matt Cooke when it comes to borderline hits? He is not. He is worse. What about the fact that the Capitals employed Dale Hunter for years? He was suspended for 21 games for a dirty hit on Pierre Turgeon in the 1993 playoffs, and several other times as an OHL player, including once for abusing the officials. Hunter is the second most penalized player in NHL history with 3565 career penalty minutes. Does that mean they are hypocrites? Does this mena they cannot criticize anything that happens to their team as Mario did relative to mess on Long Island. They also employed Craig Berube, number 7 on that list of all time penalty minute leaders and Scott Stevens number 14 all time and accused of raping a woman in a cab. Surely then the Capitals can NEVER complain about what happens to their players because of that. If someone came out and took out Nicklas Backstroms knees, they cannot complain about that because they employ Ovechkin now and Hunter then. How is it different? Then Farber quotes Brad May, career agitator, dirty player and goon of the LOWEST level take a shot at Cooke? Really? I just flushed something with more class than Brad May. Take a look at some of the YouTube videos on this guy, then try to keep a straight face as he takes his shot at Cookie. I will do you one better and give you some of his history. May was suspended for 20 games in 2000 for slashing Columbus forward Steve Heinze in the FACE with his stick! In 2002 he was arrested for ASSAULTING a police officer in an Arizona night club and injuring him. He was later sued by the officer and ordered by a jury to pay damages as a result of the injuries he caused. He was suspended in 2007 for three games for sucker punching Minnesota Wild defenseman Kim Jonsson in the face and knocking him out cold. Finally, it is widely known that while playing for Vancouver, you know the team he mentioned in the article, that he placed the bounty on the head of Avalanche player Steve Moore due to a hit that Moore put on Vancouver captain Marcus Naslund. Remember that incident? Well, as promised by May, Moore was attacked by Todd Bertuzzi from behind, with Bertuzzi driving Moore's head into the ice, and ending his career. Due to his involvement in inciting the incident, May was named along with Bertuzzi in the civil suit later filed by Moore. Wow, could you have found a bigger piece of NHL trash?? At least Gillies has a role model to work with. Ken Daneyko had something to say on the matter as well that made this article. Why don't you have Charlie Manson critique Jeffery Dahmer on the finer points of murder. Daneyko left a string of bodies in his career that Dahmer would have envied. I posted one of his beauties on line for your review. Daneyko was worshipped in New Jersey as a result of th violence of his hits. My final point is this. Cooke has played for several teams over his career removing the juvenile "league favors the Pens" argument many try to make, yet he has only been suspended for the ten games referenced in this article over a career with more than 800 games played. That does not add up to the moniker of Public Enemy Number One as he is called in this article to me. In the Garage League ruled by Colin Campbell's Kangaroo Court, I know that a disciplinary record may not be the best argument, but in under two minutes Trevor Gillies has almost doubled Cooke's career suspension total, and has an ugly history of dirty hits going back for years in both the AHL and NHL. This while playing as few minutes per game as possible. Tell me then hockey public, Sports Illusrated, American sports fan, how is it that Matt Cooke is public enemy number one instead of Trevor Gillies, or Jack Capuano, or Garth Snow? What about Brad May? By the way, the hit from behind on Paul Martin a couple of weeks ago that drove him into the boards shoulder first in the Chicago game, but was not even penalized was not much different than Cooke's hit on Tyutin that drew a four game suspension. The NHL needs to take a consistent stance on the types of hits it will allow and will not allow and make the jackasses in stripes actually call the game the same way, no matter what period it is, who is winning, which team has Colin Campbell's kid on it, or what player delivered the hit if it wants to eliminate the types of hits apparently only Matt Cooke delivers. For example, the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty is an odd situaton. Nobody will know if Chara intended to injure Pacioretty, but his hit was an interference penalty that resulted in a severe, potentially career ending injury, yet he recieved nothing by way of discipline. I doubt he intended this kind of injury, though a still photo from the video seems to show his arm pushing Max's head into the stanchion, but he needs to be responsible for his actions in my opinion. Just like a high sticking penalty is a penalty whether it was intentional or not, a hit that never should have been made that resulted in this kind of injury needed some sort of action from the league. It would make players have to think in those situations. In closing the Sports Illustrated article makes at least a mimal attempt to not do a total character assassination, but not enough. Do a follow up on the mentality of a league that has allowed the Islanders organization to turn their organized lynching into a necessary defense of their honor and call me then. Better yet, why don't you qualify Brad May's opinion with some of his history? Or discuss how it is that the league allows Alex Ovechkin to run around all over the ice leaving a trail of boarding calls, knee on knees, slewfoots and even a puck shot at a player after the whistle without villifying him? Finally, if you did a little history on guys like Chris Neil, Jarkko Ruutu, Steve Downie, Cal Clutterbuck, Trevor Gillies, Milan Lucic, Sean Avery, Steve Ott, Darcy Tucker, Alex Burroughs or about a dozen others you would find that they have a similar track record or style of play, because like it or not, the league values guys who play in the gray areas, and get under the skin of their opponents, especially if they can play the game too. Matt Cooke is one of the best at filling this role, and I for one am glad he is a Pittsburgh Penguin.
An interesting read on one of my favorite players. I have a differing opinion of Matt Cooke, though I will not dispute the fact that he plays the game on the edge, as noted. I will say that similar to James Harrison of the Steelers, Cooke has somehow become public enemy number one playing a role that most teams reserve a special place for. Even though Ovechkin has more dirty hits, and Cooke plays a game similar to Ruutu, Lucic, Downie, Clutterbuck, Kessler, Avery, Ott, Tucker, Burroughs, and Neil to name a few, the hockey world has chosen to make Matt Cooke public enemy number one. In the article, Farber actually quotes one of the dirtiest human beings on and off the ice in Brad May as support for the position. That was comical. Some of the most interesting aspects of the article, and areas of contention for me were as follows:
The notion that the prescence of Matt Cooke on the Penguins somehow eliminates Mario's credibility commenting on the garbage that happened on the Island? First off, the premeditated attack on Eric Tangradi, and the embarrassing aftermath with a worthless hockey player standing in the runway mocking a player he had assaulted from behind trumps ANYTHING Cooke has ever done. The entire event orchestrated by the Islanders organization is on a different level than an actual hockey player playing a role that is coveted on each team, and going into the gray areas of dirty play. The constant reference to the Savard hit is pretty interesting to me as well. It WAS definitely a borderline hit, tough to argue that. The result for Savard is a true shame. However, I fail to see a vast difference between that hit and the hit Mike Richards put on David Booth in the same season. Richards is a tough player, and one I have come to admire, but that particular hit was very similar, with a very similar result on a similar type of skill player, but nothing is ever said about THAT hit. I know Richards does not have the history of Cooke, and that is part of it, but part of what people(myself included) like about Richards, is he will do some of the "dirty work" despite his status as captain. Occasionally he crosses the line as in the Booth hit. The next quote from one of the biggest hypocrites and crybabies in the NHL, Bruce Boudreau is really comical to me. Bruce, did you have a big issue with David Steckel ending Crosby's season with a blindside hit to the head of Crosby? I am guessing you have enjoyed every second of that. Your entire organizaton from top to bottom and side to side is infatuated with all that is Pittsburgh. Or what about the constant charging plays orchestrated by the gutless caveman? Matt Bradley took issue with Cooke taking a shot at Oveckin's knee? My only issue is that he MISSED! Anybody remember the knee on knee hit the great Ape put on Sergei Gonchar in the 2009 playoffs? A hit that cost Gonchar several games, and could have cost him the season? How about the run he took a couple of years back at Malkin, coming in high from about 30 yards with a full head of steam? Malkin smelled him coming and the ape took the worst of it, but there was bad intent there. Ovechkin leaves his skates and hits people while taking rinkwide runs every week. A very quick YouTube search turned up the following videos of the Great 8. The one where he boards Brian Campbell and gets a two game suspension. The one where he boards Jamie Heward and he leaves the ice on a stretcher. A nasty boarding play where he injures Daniel Briere, and another where he hurts Patrick Kaleta. Oh, and besides the knee on knee with Gonchar, he injured himself and Tim Gleason of the Hurricanes with a violent knee on knee on collision. There were several slew footing videos, including the one with Rich Peverly. Before I forget, there is the one where he shoots the puck intentionally and hits Rob Scuderi at the end of a period. There were in fact too many to list. Besides scoring more goals, and generally having less class, how is Ovechkin any better than Matt Cooke when it comes to borderline hits? He is not. He is worse. What about the fact that the Capitals employed Dale Hunter for years? He was suspended for 21 games for a dirty hit on Pierre Turgeon in the 1993 playoffs, and several other times as an OHL player, including once for abusing the officials. Hunter is the second most penalized player in NHL history with 3565 career penalty minutes. Does that mean they are hypocrites? Does this mena they cannot criticize anything that happens to their team as Mario did relative to mess on Long Island. They also employed Craig Berube, number 7 on that list of all time penalty minute leaders and Scott Stevens number 14 all time and accused of raping a woman in a cab. Surely then the Capitals can NEVER complain about what happens to their players because of that. If someone came out and took out Nicklas Backstroms knees, they cannot complain about that because they employ Ovechkin now and Hunter then. How is it different? Then Farber quotes Brad May, career agitator, dirty player and goon of the LOWEST level take a shot at Cooke? Really? I just flushed something with more class than Brad May. Take a look at some of the YouTube videos on this guy, then try to keep a straight face as he takes his shot at Cookie. I will do you one better and give you some of his history. May was suspended for 20 games in 2000 for slashing Columbus forward Steve Heinze in the FACE with his stick! In 2002 he was arrested for ASSAULTING a police officer in an Arizona night club and injuring him. He was later sued by the officer and ordered by a jury to pay damages as a result of the injuries he caused. He was suspended in 2007 for three games for sucker punching Minnesota Wild defenseman Kim Jonsson in the face and knocking him out cold. Finally, it is widely known that while playing for Vancouver, you know the team he mentioned in the article, that he placed the bounty on the head of Avalanche player Steve Moore due to a hit that Moore put on Vancouver captain Marcus Naslund. Remember that incident? Well, as promised by May, Moore was attacked by Todd Bertuzzi from behind, with Bertuzzi driving Moore's head into the ice, and ending his career. Due to his involvement in inciting the incident, May was named along with Bertuzzi in the civil suit later filed by Moore. Wow, could you have found a bigger piece of NHL trash?? At least Gillies has a role model to work with. Ken Daneyko had something to say on the matter as well that made this article. Why don't you have Charlie Manson critique Jeffery Dahmer on the finer points of murder. Daneyko left a string of bodies in his career that Dahmer would have envied. I posted one of his beauties on line for your review. Daneyko was worshipped in New Jersey as a result of th violence of his hits. My final point is this. Cooke has played for several teams over his career removing the juvenile "league favors the Pens" argument many try to make, yet he has only been suspended for the ten games referenced in this article over a career with more than 800 games played. That does not add up to the moniker of Public Enemy Number One as he is called in this article to me. In the Garage League ruled by Colin Campbell's Kangaroo Court, I know that a disciplinary record may not be the best argument, but in under two minutes Trevor Gillies has almost doubled Cooke's career suspension total, and has an ugly history of dirty hits going back for years in both the AHL and NHL. This while playing as few minutes per game as possible. Tell me then hockey public, Sports Illusrated, American sports fan, how is it that Matt Cooke is public enemy number one instead of Trevor Gillies, or Jack Capuano, or Garth Snow? What about Brad May? By the way, the hit from behind on Paul Martin a couple of weeks ago that drove him into the boards shoulder first in the Chicago game, but was not even penalized was not much different than Cooke's hit on Tyutin that drew a four game suspension. The NHL needs to take a consistent stance on the types of hits it will allow and will not allow and make the jackasses in stripes actually call the game the same way, no matter what period it is, who is winning, which team has Colin Campbell's kid on it, or what player delivered the hit if it wants to eliminate the types of hits apparently only Matt Cooke delivers. For example, the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty is an odd situaton. Nobody will know if Chara intended to injure Pacioretty, but his hit was an interference penalty that resulted in a severe, potentially career ending injury, yet he recieved nothing by way of discipline. I doubt he intended this kind of injury, though a still photo from the video seems to show his arm pushing Max's head into the stanchion, but he needs to be responsible for his actions in my opinion. Just like a high sticking penalty is a penalty whether it was intentional or not, a hit that never should have been made that resulted in this kind of injury needed some sort of action from the league. It would make players have to think in those situations. In closing the Sports Illustrated article makes at least a mimal attempt to not do a total character assassination, but not enough. Do a follow up on the mentality of a league that has allowed the Islanders organization to turn their organized lynching into a necessary defense of their honor and call me then. Better yet, why don't you qualify Brad May's opinion with some of his history? Or discuss how it is that the league allows Alex Ovechkin to run around all over the ice leaving a trail of boarding calls, knee on knees, slewfoots and even a puck shot at a player after the whistle without villifying him? Finally, if you did a little history on guys like Chris Neil, Jarkko Ruutu, Steve Downie, Cal Clutterbuck, Trevor Gillies, Milan Lucic, Sean Avery, Steve Ott, Darcy Tucker, Alex Burroughs or about a dozen others you would find that they have a similar track record or style of play, because like it or not, the league values guys who play in the gray areas, and get under the skin of their opponents, especially if they can play the game too. Matt Cooke is one of the best at filling this role, and I for one am glad he is a Pittsburgh Penguin.
No comments:
Post a Comment