R-E-S-P-E-C-T…

Then and Now…

I am so sickened by what I saw today, I am not sure if I should even write this…

Last year the Bruins were known for their team toughness, mess with one of them and be prepared to put yourself in the crosshairs of everyone in Black and Gold.  Need an example?? Ask Steve Ott.

Today the Penguins took liberties most of the afternoon.  They seemed to target forward David Krejci, early and often and Ruslan Fedotenko crashed the net, running Tim Thomas like a yellow light.  Only one time did any Bruin seem to respond as Mark Stuart tangled briefly with Fedotenko with both players earning roughing calls.  The Bruins were outmatched, as the Pens are clearly the better team, however the final straw in the downward spiral of the Bruins season occurred in the 3^rd period.  With the Bruins trailing 2-1, mainly as a result of the outstanding play of  Thomas, Marc Savard shot the puck toward the goal from the high slot and the Pens cheap shot artist Matt Cooke trails the play and blindsided Savard with a hit to the head.  Savard was in a totally vulnerable position as Cooke skated up on him from the backside and did nothing but line him up with the intent of hitting him in the head.  Savard lay motionless in the middle of the ice as the play continued into the corner.  All four on ice officials looking straight at the play, none raised their arm, none blew the play dead until the Bruins touched the puck in the corner.

Savard was placed on a backboard and put on a stretcher, all the while the very classy Mellon arena game management continued to play U2 as background music.  Somehow a vicious and dirty hit was totally ignored by all on ice officials, and no penalty assessed.  So with 5 minutes and change remaining in a one goal game Bruins fans surely assumed we would see some form of retaliation, retribution, a message to Cooke or one of his teammates that someone would need to pay the piper – game score be damned.  However, as the minutes ticked away it became evident, the Bruins would not rise to the occasion, they would not get up off the mat and respond.  Only minutes later  Thomas out at the top of his crease to make a save takes a knee to the head from Fedotenko, jarring the puck loose.  The officials blew the play dead, but again, no call, and worse yet  – no reaction from the Bruins, content to let their netminder get run by the same player for the 3^rd time in the game.

The game ended with smiles and laughs from the Pens, obviously proud of their 2-1 victory, while the Bruins skated off to the sound of “Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building”, not only had Elvis left the building, but the pride this Bruins team exhibited a year ago has disappeared into thin air as well.

Not long ago I remember a young Krejci getting knocked out cold, without so much as a shoulder shrug from his teammates, and the Bruins reaction to the hit on Savard today was very reminiscent of that game.  In a post game interview Bruins’ captain, Zdeno Chara claimed, “We are a tight group, and we care about each other”, sorry Zee but not one of you stepped up at any point today to defend Krejci, Thomas, or Savard.  What I saw was a team going through the motions, playing out the string.  As a proud fan of the Boston Bruins I am sickened by the cowardly play of Matt Cooke, but I am deeply disappointed that not one Bruin could see their way to being a teammate, and standing up for one of their own, instigator rule or two points be damned.  The lack of reaction from the Bruins tells me all I need to know about this team, this season: no chemistry and no pride.

As for Cooke, he is a gutless coward who has no place in the game, and one of these days he is going to cost one of his teammates dearly.  I sincerely hope the GM’s spend about 30 seconds talking about the hits to the head and just choose to erase the instigator rule from the books.  The lack of respect by players in the game today and for their fellow professionals needs to be policed by the players themselves.  It is evident that the NHL’s ability to dole out additional discipline which deters these acts is not only entirely absent, it is at best, arbitrary .  If players currently need to defend themselves after administering clean hits, please tell me how the instigator rule does anything but enable the situation seen in the Bruins/Penguins game today where there there is simply no respect for their fellow professionals.

Perhaps a little frontier justice is exactly what the NHL needs to end this absurd lack of respect.  The four on ice officials from the game today should be suspended, or fined for their display of ineptitude.  Yes, hockey is a violent game, and there will be injuries, and there have always been players who skate right on the edge of tough and dirty.  However the prevailing attitude in today’s NHL seems to be one of disrespect, and the dirty players hide behind the rules of restricting retribution.  The dirty play has become dangerous play, and hits to the head have the potential not only to end a career could be life changing.  The lack of respect for the life changing aspect of a hit to the head is so disheartening, and I am wondering what it will take, a player in a coma, a wheelchair, or worse before the NHL and the players clean up this unacceptable part of the game.

In the NESN postgame Jack Edwards remarked that if Shawn Thornton had taken out Sidney Crosby with the same hit that Cooke applied that they would have sent Thornton directly to Siberia, no review necessary.  A fair point by Edwards, and exactly why players should be afforded the opportunity to police their own game.  For the record, I do not believe for a second that the instigator rule had anything to do with the lack of retaliation by the Bruins in this instance.  Over the long haul of the season it would likely clean up the game, but today the Bruins met the gutless play of Cooke with a shrug, and they should be ashamed of themselves.

A sad day for the Bruins, as the team put the outcome of the game above team unity and defending the honor of their fallen teammate.  Surely Savard is worth more than two-points in the Bruins dressing room? Let it be said that if that had been one of Savard’s teammates who had been targeted by Cooke, you know he would have been the first guy to jump into the fray…ask Steve Ott.