Brashear's hit, which was so flagrant and dirty to everyone who watched, apparently except for the refs on the ice, and the capitals bench (who later to a man claimed they had seen the replay and thought it was clean and he has used his shoulder and not his elbow. First of all, who cares what he used, he hit betts in the head, second, it was clear he did it intentionally), has been reviewed by the league and deemed....dirty.
The league called it a late hit. (Story link here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2009/news?id=4105737 , sorry Dave, that's just how I link) They gave Brashear 5 games for the late hit, and an additional 6th game for his actions during the pre-game warmups, when he skated unprovoked over to the Rangers in the warm up skate and made contact with and tried to start a fight with Colton Orr.
This reeks of bullsh*t. It's not just that Brashear didn't get penalized in game 6, not even giving the rangers a power play for something so flagrant the league suspended him for SIX games. It's not just that it was obvious Brashear intentionally took out the rangers top penalty killer (showing instant returns, Capitals 0-13 previous 3 games, went 2 for 2 after Betts went down), but Brashear is a goon, he's told to fight to "get the team fired up", so he fights. He was clearly told to take a run at betts. In baseball, when the pitcher does something that flagrant, and throws at a player with the intent to injure, assuming warnings had been given, the pitcher doesn't just get tossed, so does the manager, because he is responsible for his player. I want to know with such high scrutiny of Torts and his behavior, why is Boudreau getting a pass when he clearly sent Brashear out on the ice to take Betts out of the game? He should be suspended for Game 7 along with his goon.
Wednesday News and Notes: Senators Ink Andrew Sturtz to 2-Year ELC,
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In a tidy bit of business, the Senators signed a player who’s not not
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6 years ago
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Six games is a lot - but Brashear is no Blair Betts - he's just a goon. Look at it this way - from a logical standpoint - if we could put Ovechkin or Varlamov out of the series in exchange for, say, losing Colton Orr for 6 games, wouldn't we do it? It's up to the league to take that type of thinking out of the game.
ReplyDeleteSo the punishment should be to the coach - as Nugs says. Or how about a ten minute penalty to start game 7?
Not sure I can go the Ovechkin rout, he is their Hank, if not more valuable. But if I could take Aron Voros at the beginning of the next game, and tell him to Take out Backstrom or Nick Green for Game 7? Umm, yeah, absolutely.
ReplyDeleteThey are pretending like this is some big loss for them. Brashear barely plays. The only time he plays is usually when the team is trailing heavily, and it is only to engage in a fight to create some sort of fake rally mentality. Maybe they are upset that potentially they won't have anyone in the next round to take out a key person on the team they play for the first 5 games?
I think that's part of the Cap's calculation. If they went after Hank or Ovechkin - the league sees it as bad for business. But a key role player like Betts - not a top name - he's a logical target.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame and it's bad for the game. But as long as it benefits a teams that does it - like the Caps - they will keep doing it.
I hate this part of the game. I can still remember near the end of Gretsky's career - when he was on the Rangers - and he got this massive chopping slash on his arm. Grets dropped his stick - looked at the ref - no call. He thought his arm was broken. It wasn't - but The Great One had had enough. He quit after that year ended.