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Friday, March 9, 2007
Simon says, Duck!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That was some seriously ugly stuff from Long Island last night, with Chris Simon basically trying to decaptiate Ryan Hollweg. By now, most of you have seen the video and I know it’s been kicked around on our blogs all day, but I’ll just quickly tell you why I think it’s the worst of the recent incidents and why I doubt we’ll see Chris Simon play another NHL game.
If we’re going to look at Simon’s Samaurai swing, McSorley’s slash to Brashear’s head and Bertuzzi’s sucker punch on Steve Moore as the big three of recent NHL black eyes.
I know a lot of people regard Bertuzzi’s attack on Moore as the worst because he basically ended the guy’s career. And it’s the only one of these three incidents that wasn’t necessarily goon-on-goon action. But the fact is that Bertuzzi was trying to start a fight; he wasn’t necessarily trying to do what ultimately happened. He got overanxious and jumped Moore in an awkward position, instead of waiting until they were face to face. The fact that Moore fell and broke his neck was more a result of the clumsiness of the situation that the attack itself. Ugly, uncalled for and worth of the suspension he got, but as for outright intent, I rank it behind the other two … if for no other reason than the other two involved stick work.
McSorley’s hit on Brashear appeared to me, again, to be a guy trying to pick a fight. We’ve all seen enforcers kind of whack each other across the arms with their sticks as they acknowledge that it’s time to drop. McSorley made the mistake of getting the stick up high and he tapped Brashear on the head instead of the arms. Again, worthy of the penalties imposed, but the intent wasn’t to knock Brashear off his feet like that; it was to get his attention.
Which brings us to Chris Simon, who basically wound up and swung his stick on a horizontal plane right at Hollweg’s Adam’s apple. He could have killed him with the chop to the throat, not to mention the fall to the ice. He swung that stick with the pure intention of swinging the stick. And that’s why I see it as the worst. I imagine he’ll get the same one-year deal that Bertuzzi got, and that should all but end the career of a tough guy with limited skills who will be almost 37 by the time he’s eligible to play again.
Looking around at the other sports, what do you consider the worst act of aggression?
Kermit Washington’s punch of Rudy T is pretty much the standard bearer in the NBA, although the Pacers-Pistons brawl was pretty ugly. In baseball, my dad has told me several times about the time Juan Marichal knocked Johnny Roseboro over the head with his bat because Roseboro had been throwing the ball back to the pitcher by whizzing it by Marichal’s ear. Several Giants came out of the dugout with bats as well in a very tense, ugly scene. And in the NFL, it’s a tough call because out-of-control violence was legal for so long. They actually had to come up with rules against head-slapping and clothes-lining. But I do remember watching the game live on TV when Reggie White picked up Jim McMahon after the whistle and threw him down on his shoulder. It was bizarre to see something happen so far away from the play and so long after the whistle.
Have you ever seen a famous incident like that live? And what do you regard to be the most flagrant acts of violence in sports?
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A commendation for Officer Tkachuk
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A while back I wrote: “… do I think [Keith Tkachuk] is some kind of “missing piece” that completes this team? Uh, no.”
Let me take this opportunity to say: I take it back. Completely and unreservedly. I take it back with humble apologies.
Over the past five games we have seen first-hand how a big-time NHL player plays. Though perhaps past his prime, Tkachuk still has a combination of speed, power, skill and ill temper the likes of which we, as Thrashers fans, have not really seen. He has that certain greediness that great athletes possess, the greediness that lets him decide when and where he’s going to plant himself on the ice, defying you to do something about it. It’s his space, his game.
For years, we have lamented about a certain soft element on this team, a tendency to watch opposing players skate a little too close to our goalies without offering any kind of in-house policework. For the past few seasons, we’ve watched opponents dump Slava Kozlov with only Ilya Kovalchuk coming to the rescue. How many times has Ilya come looking for a hit on somebody who had taken liberties on Kozzie or Hossa? On Thursday night, Tkachuk basically said, ‘That’s not how it’s going to work around here anymore.’
It was reminscent of Jarome Iginla during Calgary’s run to the ‘04 Cup finals, when he would fight the other team’s best player in each series. Just as a way to say, “I’m the best player on the ice tonight.” In the first round, he fought Mattias Ohlund in the final minute of a Game 3 loss to Vancouver … and Calgary won in seven games, with Iginla scoring twice in Game 7. In the conference semis, he fought Detroit’s Derian Hatcher in the final minute of Game 2 … and Calgary won three of the next four. In the conference finals vs. San Jose, he ran Evgeni Nabokov in the final minute of Game 4 as the Sharks were about to tie the series 2-2 … Calgary won Games 5 and 6. In Game 3 of the Cup finals, he fought Vinny Lecavalier and beat him up pretty good …. although Tampa would go on to win the Cup.
Nevertheless … point made. And until now, we have never had anybody make those kind of points. Let it be known henceforth: You shall not take runs at Hossa and Kovalchuk.
Tkachuk has brought a level of seriousness to this franchise in just five games. The Thrashers are no longer the hapless little expansion franchise that is finding its way through its first run at the postseason. Suddenly, we are a team with a mission statement, with careers at stake in this postseason.
And it’s a trickle-down effect. Ilya’s been better the past five games. Jon Sim scored twice tonight playing with them. The power play has more direction, now that defenders expend their energy trying to remove that stubborn SOB from in front of the net. Did you see Mellanby put the puck right on Tkachuk’s tape in the crease the other night against Florida? It was perfect. KT held his ground and just redirected it into an empty net.
So I take it back. It’s been a treat to watch an old pro at work the past few games.
