Total Bull

by Jason Weisbecker

Thursday March 18, 2010 

I am back!!!! After a long hiatus and an outstanding all-inclusive trip to Mexico, I have returned to the blogging World. By the way, all-inclusive is the way to go.  Although, the constant eating and drinking has put me in the SUMO weight class.

Enough of the small talk…Over the weekend I was watching NHL’s game of the week, with the Caps and the Black Hawks. Obviously, the biggest story of the game was the “Great 8″ Alex Ovechkin being ejected (and eventually suspended) for hitting Blackhawk defenseman Brian Campbell from behind. When I first saw the hit, I thought, “Alright he’ll get 2 minutes or possibly a 5 minute major.” I was a little shocked when they through him out of the game. It was obvious to me that if Campbell were not injured on the hit (fractured collar bone and broken rib), that Ovechkin would have only received a penalty. So, imagine my surprise and disgust when the league decided to suspend him for 2 games. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Not only has the NHL become extremely soft, but also terribly inconsistent.

I was watching the Penguins and the Devils play last night and as the game went on, one play caught my eye and I became infuriated. Devils player Rod Pelley checked Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoshi hard into the boards face first and Goligashi buckled over backwards in a heap. I thought to myself, “here we go, the NHL has a chance to finally be consistent and make a point” so once again imagine my anger when all Pelley got was a 5 minute major and no ejection. If you want to justify it, then you can by saying, ”Well Goligashi did eventually return to the game.”

It is absolute bull that Pelley was not punished just as hard as Ovechkin. Ovechkin’s hit was actually more like a push as Campbell was already losing his balance towards the ice, but Pelley’s was a full out board.

Maybe I am a little biased, being a Capitals fan, but something does not seem right.  The NHL has to be careful that their inconsistency across the board does not get out of hand. An ejection and a suspension should not have happened, but if that’s the case, then Pelley should have been punished as well. It’s the NHL..not figure skating; let them play!!

And that’s my two cents…

Filed Under My Two Cents

Comments

2 Responses to “Total Bull”

  1. Eric Schwartz on March 18th, 2010 1:43 pm

    The NHL has never been consistent on these things. You never want to see another guy get injured like with Campbell, but that shouldn’t factor into a suspension. I think the NHL wanted to make a statement by punishing one of its top players., though I can assure you Crosby would not have been suspended.

  2. Jason Weisbecker on March 18th, 2010 2:03 pm

    I agree with you whole heartedly..I did not want to bring up the obvious, when it comes to Crosby. The NHL has a different set of rules when it comes to him. But then again you would never see Crosby actually man up and play the way Ovechkin does.

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