Well, so much for honoring the memories of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team...
I was watching a hockey game when a wrestling match broke out! Last night, in theory, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins were putting aside their intense rivalry for one night while helping to raise money for the families of those that perished in the tragic plane crash of September 7. This isn't what happened. A solid hockey game was overshadowed by a fight that resulted in a graphic injury and antics that belong in wrestling, not hockey. During the third period of last night's game Kris Letang crosschecked Jay Beagle of the Caps from behind during a battle for the puck against the boards. Beagle followed up by turning around and giving Letang a face wash with his glove. The refs, shockingly, missed both of Letang's crosschecks, and immediately signaled for a penalty only on Beagle for the facewash. I know, you're shocked that the refs call would favor the Pens, right? It doesn't end there, though. Aaron Asham then skates over to Beagle (since apparently Letang is too delicate to handle his own disputes against a guy who totaled a whopping 34 penalty minutes between the NHL and AHL last season) and instigates a fight. Asham proceeded to land two devastating blows to the jaw of Beagle, knocking him down
to the ice. As Beagle was lying on the ice, injured and potentially unconscious, Asham must have thought for a moment that he was in the WWE as he decided it would be motivational to use his hands to make the boxing referee's signal for a knockout. That wasn't enough apparently. Literally adding insult to injury, Asham then brought both hands up to his cheek and put his head down to mockingly demonstrate sleeping. Well done, Mr. Asham, well done. On a night when a hockey game was being dedicated to showing respect and raising money for members of the hockey family, you managed to show no respect for a fellow opponent.
The first thing I'd like to address is the lack of an instigator call. I'll ignore the fact that Letang should have been called for the initial crosscheck. Why the refs missed that one, I do not know. Let's take a look at the NHL rulebook for the wording on instigating:
I was watching a hockey game when a wrestling match broke out! Last night, in theory, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins were putting aside their intense rivalry for one night while helping to raise money for the families of those that perished in the tragic plane crash of September 7. This isn't what happened. A solid hockey game was overshadowed by a fight that resulted in a graphic injury and antics that belong in wrestling, not hockey. During the third period of last night's game Kris Letang crosschecked Jay Beagle of the Caps from behind during a battle for the puck against the boards. Beagle followed up by turning around and giving Letang a face wash with his glove. The refs, shockingly, missed both of Letang's crosschecks, and immediately signaled for a penalty only on Beagle for the facewash. I know, you're shocked that the refs call would favor the Pens, right? It doesn't end there, though. Aaron Asham then skates over to Beagle (since apparently Letang is too delicate to handle his own disputes against a guy who totaled a whopping 34 penalty minutes between the NHL and AHL last season) and instigates a fight. Asham proceeded to land two devastating blows to the jaw of Beagle, knocking him down
to the ice. As Beagle was lying on the ice, injured and potentially unconscious, Asham must have thought for a moment that he was in the WWE as he decided it would be motivational to use his hands to make the boxing referee's signal for a knockout. That wasn't enough apparently. Literally adding insult to injury, Asham then brought both hands up to his cheek and put his head down to mockingly demonstrate sleeping. Well done, Mr. Asham, well done. On a night when a hockey game was being dedicated to showing respect and raising money for members of the hockey family, you managed to show no respect for a fellow opponent.The first thing I'd like to address is the lack of an instigator call. I'll ignore the fact that Letang should have been called for the initial crosscheck. Why the refs missed that one, I do not know. Let's take a look at the NHL rulebook for the wording on instigating:
46.11 Instigator - An instigator of an altercation shall be a player who by his actions or demeanor demonstrates any/some of the following criteria: distance traveled; gloves off first; first punch thrown; menacing attitude or posture; verbal instigation or threats; conduct in retaliation to a prior game (or season) incident; obvious retribution for a previous incident in the game or season.
A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation shall be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting and a ten-minute misconduct.
If the same player or goalkeeper is deemed to be the instigator of a second altercation in the same game, he shall be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct.
When a player receives his third instigator penalty in one Regular season, he is automatically given a game misconduct following that third violation.
A player who is deemed to be both the instigator and aggressor of an altercation shall be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct (instigator) and a game misconduct penalty (aggressor).
Asham's actions meet just about every one of the criteria laid out in the rule book so why was no instigator penalty called? Oh I know. The instigator is "bad" for hockey, and it's much better to have goons do the policing rather than the refs. Fighting is "entertaining" for the fans and helps get a team "motivated", right? Let me make a couple things perfectly clear. 1) If you are professional hockey player and need to see someone bloody and unconscious on the ice in order to get "motivated" to play, you have problems and you need help. 2) If you claim to be a hockey fan, and you run around on internet boards screaming about how "fighting is part of the game" and that you won't watch or follow the sport anymore if they eliminate fighting, then you aren't really a hockey fan. You are a fighting fan, and the sport doesn't need you. If you like fighting, blood, and watching people get injured, go watch the UFC. If the immature and classless antics displayed by Asham after the fight are more your speed, go watch the WWE.
The other thing I'd like to address is what Kevin Weekes had to say about the incident after the game on the Penguins, um, I mean the NHL Network:
"Aaron Asham... What I love about this, is again, having known him as a teammate, right away he came out and he said 'Hey it was classless on my part. I was trying to get my bench going. I was trying to get my teammates going.' I certainly know where he's coming from, and I have to think that a lot of the guys in the Washington locker room that have been in the league long enough know that Aaron Asham is an honest player and also they respect the fact that he was as accountable as he was. And again, this goes back... to me it reflects very well on Aaron Asham, but in the bigger scheme of things, in the bigger picture, it reflects very well on the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. I say it all the time. Mario Lemieux runs a class organization. Dan Bylsma, you heard his comments post-game. This is nothing but class in what could have been a very tough situation and still may be from an injury standpoint. From an accountability standpoint, you have to love this."
No, Mr. Weekes. No, I don't "have to love this." I don't think the Caps players "loved" it either as they were clearly displeased with both Asham and the classless behavior of the Penguins fans. It even inspired John Carlson to chime in via Twitter to one of the more particularly classless and disgusting Penguins fans. Perhaps you forgot that this Penguins organization that al
legedly has all this "class" still employs Matt Cooke. Perhaps you forgot the unbelievable hypocrisy of Mario Lemieux, "the owner of the team that pays Matt Cooke to go out and take opponents’ heads off", when he came out with quotes like this beauty, "“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.” I wonder how Mario's "re-thinking" is going. I'm anxiously awaiting what Mario had to say about Asham's antics last night. It's amazing to me how some of hockey's talking heads can take just about any incident and twist it around to somehow praise the Penguins. Incidentally, I actually heard Pierre McGuire on the radio this morning state that Beagle "took a run at Letang" Are you serious Pierre? That little facewash qualifies as a "run"? Perhaps you need to think a little more before you open your mouth. Or at least, you know, watch the game? I feel the same way about Pierre McGuire as Marty Turco does. Kudos to TSN analyst Aaron Ward for calling this what it was - "bush league." Oh, by the way, the Caps won 3-2 in OT.
The other thing I'd like to address is what Kevin Weekes had to say about the incident after the game on the Penguins, um, I mean the NHL Network:
"Aaron Asham... What I love about this, is again, having known him as a teammate, right away he came out and he said 'Hey it was classless on my part. I was trying to get my bench going. I was trying to get my teammates going.' I certainly know where he's coming from, and I have to think that a lot of the guys in the Washington locker room that have been in the league long enough know that Aaron Asham is an honest player and also they respect the fact that he was as accountable as he was. And again, this goes back... to me it reflects very well on Aaron Asham, but in the bigger scheme of things, in the bigger picture, it reflects very well on the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. I say it all the time. Mario Lemieux runs a class organization. Dan Bylsma, you heard his comments post-game. This is nothing but class in what could have been a very tough situation and still may be from an injury standpoint. From an accountability standpoint, you have to love this."
No, Mr. Weekes. No, I don't "have to love this." I don't think the Caps players "loved" it either as they were clearly displeased with both Asham and the classless behavior of the Penguins fans. It even inspired John Carlson to chime in via Twitter to one of the more particularly classless and disgusting Penguins fans. Perhaps you forgot that this Penguins organization that al
legedly has all this "class" still employs Matt Cooke. Perhaps you forgot the unbelievable hypocrisy of Mario Lemieux, "the owner of the team that pays Matt Cooke to go out and take opponents’ heads off", when he came out with quotes like this beauty, "“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.” I wonder how Mario's "re-thinking" is going. I'm anxiously awaiting what Mario had to say about Asham's antics last night. It's amazing to me how some of hockey's talking heads can take just about any incident and twist it around to somehow praise the Penguins. Incidentally, I actually heard Pierre McGuire on the radio this morning state that Beagle "took a run at Letang" Are you serious Pierre? That little facewash qualifies as a "run"? Perhaps you need to think a little more before you open your mouth. Or at least, you know, watch the game? I feel the same way about Pierre McGuire as Marty Turco does. Kudos to TSN analyst Aaron Ward for calling this what it was - "bush league." Oh, by the way, the Caps won 3-2 in OT.
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