Just under a year ago, Matt Cooke caught Marc Savard with his head down and opened a massive hit on him. At full speed, the hit looked dirty. Slow motion showed the true malice of the disaster, Cooke clearly locked on to Savard’s head and fired his body like a missile, knocking Savard into a daze.
To this day, Savard has yet to fully recover and even after coming back, suffered another concussion, effectively ending his season.
The impact of the hit was felt more by more than just the Bruins and the Savard family, as a new rule was implemented immediately. The league knew it wasn’t clean, but couldn’t take action due to the lack of a clear cut rule and the play was not penalized. Sports writers, outside of Pittsburg, condemned the action and Cooke. The Pittsburg front office, and the entire organization for that matter, remained silent on the issue.
Last month, during their first meeting since the Winter Classic, Cooke’s Penguins played the Capitals. The Caps held a secure lead late in the 3rd period, Cooke became the center of controversy again, as he stuck his leg out, intentionally kneeing Alex Ovechkin, setting off a scrum in the Pittsburg zone. Again, no suspension, just more ire from journalists, reporters and news anchors.
The Penguins’ front office yet again remained silent.
Last week, Matt Cooke’s luck with not being suspended finally caught up to him with his check from behind on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Fedor Tyutin. Tyutin luckily was not hurt from the incident, but the recklessness of Cooke finally was punished and addressed by the league. The punishment was a 4 game suspension, an insult to many across the hockey universe. Especially with Anton Volchenkov of the New Jersey Devils being suspended for a head shot of his own, even though by some eyes, the elbow call was very border-line due to the circumstances.
Wouldn’t you know it, Pittsburg still stayed silent about the situation.
Then, something happened. The worm turned on the Penguins. In one of the most disgraceful displays in the modern-era of hockey, the Islanders pretty much jumped the Penguins players and set off a near NHL record for penalty minutes and game misconducts. Islander players literally sucker punching the Pens, going for dirty hits and setting fights off to the degree of leaving 5 skaters on the Pittsburg bench by the end of the game, all after the Isles staked a claim to a commanding 6-0 lead.
The actions were disgraceful and despicable, there is no question about it. Undoubtedly, both teams deserved to be punished equally and harshly.
Eric Goddard received an automatic 10 game suspension for leaving the bench. His punishment, in my eyes, should have been reduced simply for the fact the Islanders player went after his goaltender when everyone else was scrapping at the other end of the ice. Goddard was, for lack of a better term, a hero for jumping to his keeper’s aid. The NHL could have reduced this and taken exception, but they choose to hold serve, fair enough.
Trevor Gillies, who initiated the fight by throwing a high elbow and sucker punching Eric Tangradi, was given a 9 game suspension.
His other aggressor and partner in crime, Matt Martin, will sit for 3 games.
The Islanders also earned a $100,000 fine as a team.
The Penguins, other than sustaining Goddards’ automatic suspension. No fines nor suspensions for the high hits thrown by their players earlier in the game before the proverbial mess hit the fan. Nothing for their staff and their role in the event.
Apparently, that was not okay with Mario Lemieux, owner of the Penguins for over a decade. Apparently players taking liberties with how they aim their checks suddenly now has become a huge issue. A year ago, it wasn’t a big deal, but now it has pushed Lemieux to question “whether he wishes to remain a part of the league.”
It is absolutely dumbfounding how one person can decry the actions of an opposing team when he has not openly had ANY opinion in regards to an individual who has on at least three occasions made plays with clear intent to injure, succeeding overwhelmingly once.
Marc Savard will never be the same because of the actions of Matt Cooke, and had Lemieux gotten on top of his soap box and his white horse back then, no one would have said a word, other than to commend him for doing so. Now, however, thanks to his beyond obvious hypocrisy, he will come under fire by millions of knowledgeable hockey fans.
Sure, Lemieux will hide under the blanket of this is bad for the game, but what one of his own players did was so much worse for the integrity of not only the game, but for some people, Lemieux himself.
Suddenly, Lemieux has single handedly placed the Penguins above every other team in the NHL. He claims it is for the good of the game, yet when other players were being annihilated by vicious checks and illegal actions, he never so much as uttered a word. Now, that his team, his legacy, was manhandled by a thuggish act, and they responded with an equal act of violence, the culture of hockey needs to change.
Sorry, Mario. I once respected you, especially the night you returned to the Penguins on a snowy night which I cannot for the life of me remember the date nor the month. I actually cheered your success because of your no quit attitude. Now, however, I cannot help but be disgusted in how you went from not caring about how anyone else was being treated until it happened to your team.
Source of the quotes can be found in Mario Lemieux's press release on NHL.com
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