The BS Suspension Thread

[Potatoe1]

This weekend I believe the Rangers got 6 straight PPs against the Bruins and the FLyers got 7 straight yesterday. Had the Flyers been healthy OR had reasonable goaltending the Bruins would have been blown out (goaltending is going to kill the Flyers again!).

It's easy to stop the Bruins from playing the way they do.

It is against the rules to punch people with your glove, hit them with your stick, and create scrums after every whistle.

If the league instructs the refs to call the Bruins every time they do this then they will have to stop doing it.

Based on how their games have been called recently it seems fairly clear that this has happened.

Better late then never I guess.

[Benjo]

The Bruins remind me of the cup winning Ducks. Anaheim played a tough intimidating style all season that translated well going into the playoffs. They had so much depth that they could play on the edge and survive top end players getting suspended (Pronger). The next season though unlike Boston they lost much of their depth but continued the rough and intimidating play and led the next few seasons in PIMs and had a much shorter leash. This Bruins team can likely survive more penalties and suspensions thanks to depth but at least opposing teams will get some more PPs to even things out.

[tantalum]

Ducks didn't have much depth at all. They were a 3 line 2 D pairing Stanley Cup winning team that remained healthy from what I recall. They could withstand a Pronger suspension because it was not a long one and because they had Robotic D-man Neidermayer.

[Island Nucklehead]

It's easy to stop the Bruins from playing the way they do.

It is against the rules to punch people with your glove, hit them with your stick, and create scrums after every whistle.

If the league instructs the refs to call the Bruins every time they do this then they will have to stop doing it.

Based on how their games have been called recently it seems fairly clear that this has happened.

Better late then never I guess.

I'm more curious to see if this still applies in the playoffs. I have my doubts. It's easy to punish teams and players in the dark days of January where games are pretty meaningless.

[Hank]

Ovechkin gets 3 games. Michalek gets nada.

Caps fans blame Crosbaby for the suspension.

[Tciso]

It's easy to stop the Bruins from playing the way they do.

It is against the rules to punch people with your glove, hit them with your stick, and create scrums after every whistle.

If the league instructs the refs to call the Bruins every time they do this then they will have to stop doing it.

Based on how their games have been called recently it seems fairly clear that this has happened.

Better late then never I guess.

I'm more curious to see if this still applies in the playoffs. I have my doubts. It's easy to punish teams and players in the dark days of January where games are pretty meaningless.

The Stanley Cup is the holy grail of hockey. The NHL cannot afford to start having an asterix beside a particular year with the caption *regular season rules did not apply. THe rules are already different, but, they canot be as blatently different as they were in game 7 last year again, and I think the league knows that. Piss the fans off, and be prepared to lose big $$

[Potatoe1]

It's easy to stop the Bruins from playing the way they do.

It is against the rules to punch people with your glove, hit them with your stick, and create scrums after every whistle.

If the league instructs the refs to call the Bruins every time they do this then they will have to stop doing it.

Based on how their games have been called recently it seems fairly clear that this has happened.

Better late then never I guess.

I'm more curious to see if this still applies in the playoffs. I have my doubts. It's easy to punish teams and players in the dark days of January where games are pretty meaningless.

It's easy in the playoffs too, it just depends on what the league wants to do.

Last year I think they wanted Boston to win so they let it all go, this year I have my doubts.

I don't think the league want's "team goon" to win 2-years in a row. In fact I'm almost certain that they don't.

BTW it was just music to my ears to hear that Tim Thomas embarrassed the league by snubbing Obama. The Bruins just continue to cook their own goose.

All the league has to do is insist that the refs call the game by the book through the playoffs and Boston is screwed. They will take a ton of penalties and their special teams are not very good.

Very little chance of a Bruins re-peat if the league insists that the games are called tightly.

[Listercat]

When players think they are "bigger" than the game and the team they represent it shows a lack of respect. Obviously the B's don't have the balls to rein in their players either on or off the ice. Whether Thomas agrees or disagrees with Obama's politics is immaterial in this case. The B's have shown in numerous instances that they do not have any respect for the league. Recchi's tirades concerning the Canucks and Pacioretty, Marchand's assertion that the league doesn't know what a penalty is, Julien's "stupid" comment. Lucic's hit on Miller and the "do you know who I am" incident. The finger wagging after Julien flatly said his players would never do that.

The B's would appear to believe they are above criticism because they won the Cup but sadly they make very poor representatives for "Champians" !

[Southern_Canuck]

Very little chance of a Bruins re-peat if the league insists that the games are called tightly.

"Potatoe, if you look at the Boston roster, I think you will clearly see that my son Gregory Campbell still plays for the Bruins. And may I remind you that I am still the Director of Hockey Operations for the NHL? Sure, they took away my ability to provide biased suspensions (hey, did you see how I let Cooke off the hook for that Savard career ender because I hate Savard? haha), however I retain my ability to bully the refs into doing whatever I want. And I want my son to win another cup - so keep dreaming about fairness and a corruption-free league, princess."

[Potatoe1]

Very little chance of a Bruins re-peat if the league insists that the games are called tightly.

"Potatoe, if you look at the Boston roster, I think you will clearly see that my son Gregory Campbell still plays for the Bruins. And may I remind you that I am still the Director of Hockey Operations for the NHL? Sure, they took away my ability to provide biased suspensions (hey, did you see how I let Cooke off the hook for that Savard career ender because I hate Savard? haha), however I retain my ability to bully the refs into doing whatever I want. And I want my son to win another cup - so keep dreaming about fairness and a corruption-free league, princess."

It's still the owners league, if they want the playoffs called tight, then that's what will happen or Colie will be walking.

[Hockey Widow]

I think the Finals were a different beast, as they are every year. I fully expect that the Finals will always be different. But last season had an added dimension. That was the overblown media driven hype about Vancouver being divers, whiners and embellishers. At the time I loved how Mg came out and called out the officials during the Chicago series but I think in hindsight it back fired. From that point on the media was in a craze about everything Vancouver and I think the on ice officials reacted to that.

In fact it was so bad in the media and with most non Vancouver fans that they cried faker when Raymond went down. Remember the serenade from Boston fans? The commentators for the American broadcast, I forget who, also added salt to the wound by suggesting he was hardly hit and another Canuck was trying to draw a penalty.

But the hype was also there in reverse starting with the Chara hit against that Hab guy, whose name I cannot spell. All you heard was how Chara was one of the nicest guys in the league, was not a dirty player and always played within the rules. In fact there were reports that he was so upset with what he did he was literally sick and was having problems playing for a few games after. It was all Boston drive media propaganda and it worked, of course having Campbell in charge of discipline at the time worked well too.

But it was not the lack of PP that hurt us in the finals, we had them and we had enough of them that had we been able to score we could have made a difference and perhaps even won the series. So what hurt was that Boston got away with shit and kept doing it. Not whether we scored so much but that they should have been playing a man down more often. What hurt was Rome getting 4 games and nothing for the Raymond hit, nothing for the slash that broke Edler's fingers. Nothing on Marchand for his after whistle antics yet everyone criticizing Lappy for his. Those things hurt. But it was all perception and maybe perception is changing as everyone hates a winner and Boston won so now they are the most hated team in the NHL. I do think the league is getting tired of the crap. One can hope anyway. But more so I hope everyone is getting over this myth that every time a Canuck is hurt he is faking or embellishing. That hurts us more than anything else.

[dhabums]

"Potatoe, if you look at the Boston roster, I think you will clearly see that my son Gregory Campbell still plays for the Bruins. And may I remind you that I am still the Director of Hockey Operations for the NHL? Sure, they took away my ability to provide biased suspensions (hey, did you see how I let Cooke off the hook for that Savard career ender because I hate Savard? haha), however I retain my ability to bully the refs into doing whatever I want. And I want my son to win another cup - so keep dreaming about fairness and a corruption-free league, princess."

Errr, I forgot to mention that Brendan still seeks my advice.

[Soapy]

I think the Finals were a different beast, as they are every year. I fully expect that the Finals will always be different. But last season had an added dimension. That was the overblown media driven hype about Vancouver being divers, whiners and embellishers. At the time I loved how Mg came out and called out the officials during the Chicago series but I think in hindsight it back fired. From that point on the media was in a craze about everything Vancouver and I think the on ice officials reacted to that.

In fact it was so bad in the media and with most non Vancouver fans that they cried faker when Raymond went down. Remember the serenade from Boston fans? The commentators for the American broadcast, I forget who, also added salt to the wound by suggesting he was hardly hit and another Canuck was trying to draw a penalty.

But the hype was also there in reverse starting with the Chara hit against that Hab guy, whose name I cannot spell. All you heard was how Chara was one of the nicest guys in the league, was not a dirty player and always played within the rules. In fact there were reports that he was so upset with what he did he was literally sick and was having problems playing for a few games after. It was all Boston drive media propaganda and it worked, of course having Campbell in charge of discipline at the time worked well too.

But it was not the lack of PP that hurt us in the finals, we had them and we had enough of them that had we been able to score we could have made a difference and perhaps even won the series. So what hurt was that Boston got away with shit and kept doing it. Not whether we scored so much but that they should have been playing a man down more often. What hurt was Rome getting 4 games and nothing for the Raymond hit, nothing for the slash that broke Edler's fingers. Nothing on Marchand for his after whistle antics yet everyone criticizing Lappy for his. Those things hurt. But it was all perception and maybe perception is changing as everyone hates a winner and Boston won so now they are the most hated team in the NHL. I do think the league is getting tired of the crap. One can hope anyway. But more so I hope everyone is getting over this myth that every time a Canuck is hurt he is faking or embellishing. That hurts us more than anything else.

Have you watched the game 7 Bruins game vs TB??? there was no penalties called. faking....diving.....it is called game management...

[Per]

BTW it was just music to my ears to hear that Tim Thomas embarrassed the league by snubbing Obama. The Bruins just continue to cook their own goose.

Guess Tim Thomas has a right to disagree with Obama, and I guess he has a right to like Glenn Beck as well.
Still shows a lack of class to snub the White House though, imho.
Either way, Down Goes Brown had a funny joke on twitter about his supposed extreme right stance:

Tim Thomas: “I’m tired of foreigners coming to America and trying to take our jobs!”
Tuukka Rask: “Dude, I’m standing right here.”

[tantalum]

Thomas certainly has the right to not like Obama and if this was Obama inviting the team or Thomas as part of some political fundraiser I have no issues with Thomas not agreeing to go. However, this was not a political event. This was a celebration for the accomplishment of the Bruins (and a great accomplishment it was) and a celebration of the game of hockey. It was a time to stand up and be an ambassador for the game.

And no I don't buy the crap going around that because it was at the Whitehouse with the president it makes it political. This event is no more political than the annual Easter Egg hunt the Whitehouse and president host.

Timmy should put on his big boy pants. Instead the day turned out to be this:

Obama: Congratulations on winning the cup. It's a great accomplishment and well earned. etc etc etc

Random Bruin player: thank you Mr. president. It was A difficult run but great to win. Thank you for the recognition of our effort.

Tim Thomas: ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME


BTW if I recall, it was this attitude that almost had Thomas out of Boston after he signed his big contract and then struggled. They didn't really want to see if he could turn it around because he was just terrible in the room at that time. he was struggling so bad they couldn't find a taker for him and his deal.