Apr 28 2009
Donald Brashear, Game Seven, and other thoughts
- The hit Donald Brashear placed on Blair Betts of the New York Rangers is exactly what the NHL needs desperately to do away with. And a 5 game suspension simply isn’t going to do it. The Rangers are going to be missing a key penalty killer for their Game Seven against the Caps, while the Capitals will be missing a talentless goon who plays only a few minutes a night. For those who somehow haven’t seen the hit yet, here it is:
As you can see, the hit wasn’t even a part of a play - Donald Brashear gets taken into the boards by another Ranger, and then when that Ranger leaves the ice before Brashear can catch him, Brashear turns to find the next person to hit (an unsuspecting Blair Betts) and basically punches Betts in the face with his forearm. A completely needless and dirty play - total garbage from a total garbage player who was pissed off that he took a hit. Real manly, Mr. Brashear. He should be suspended for a season, and his coach and general manager should get a punishment as well. Perhaps then if the players are too stupid to stop dirty play like that, the coaches will simply not put them on the ice. And maybe the GMs will realize that it isn’t worth having idiots like these guys on their teams.
- Now that the rant is over, is there anything better than Game Seven? The tension, the desperation - it’s the best sporting spectacle on the planet. And we get to watch two of them tonight! Devils and Capitals win.
Image from http://www.wilkesbeacon.com
- The Pittsburgh Penguins took away the ‘interim’ tag from coach Dan Bylsma. Fantastic move. The guy had never been a coach in the NHL before, yet he stepped in and took over a team led by a veteran coach, and knew exactly what buttons to puch to drive his team to their full potential. Perhaps his success (along with that of Cory Clouston of the Senators) will alow GMs to realize that just because a coach has been around the NHL doesn’t mean he’s better than a fresh pair of eyes with a hungry attitude.
Image from http://www.sportsnet.ca
- It appears that the emergence of young goaltender Craig Anderson will have Tomas Vokoun on the trading block this summer. The Panthers played well in front of Anderson, who ended the season as pretty much a 1B instead of a #2. And Vokoun is due to make $12 million over the next two years - far too much to pay for a goalie who isn’t a clear cut number 1 on your team. I would expect the Avalanche to show some interest if it works within their cap, or possibly the Oilers if they decide not to bring back aging Dwayne Roloson.
These types of things are why hockey only makes major news when one of these idiots does something REALLY stupid - the major sports media refuse to take hockey seriously.