For two days I’ve patiently read the incessant whining from
Capitol’s fans (and yes, some Thrasher’s fans) about how all fault for Wednesday’s
brouhaha can be placed squarely on the shoulders of Andy Sutton and his “cheap
shot” on Green with just over a minute left in the game. These complaints fall under two headings: Sutton
is a cheap shot artist who does this all the time and it’s about darn time some
team stood up against his brutality; and the Thrasher’s had the game in hand
and there is no reason for aggressive play with so little time left.
The Cheap Shot
Sutton’s hit didn’t merit anything more than a two minute
roughing penalty. He’s a defenseman and
he hit the guy with the puck when the opportunity presented itself. That’s what he gets paid for. Was the hit high? Yes. I’d prefer Sutton find a way to check Green
without getting penalized too, but he was just coming onto the ice and needed
to react quickly.
Uncalled for in a Game You Will Win
This second argument is the one that really burns me. Anyone who thinks you stop playing aggressive
defense because the end of regulation is near needs to have their head
examined. Or better yet, go back and
watch some tape of our early season loss to the Hurricanes. Our team learned the hard way this season
that you can’t stop and take a breather when the final seconds are ticking off
the clock. We’ve had teams score twice
on us in under a minute. We’ve had a
team score a game winning goal with half a second left on the clock. If those losses taught us ANYTHING it’s that
we can’t blow off the last two minutes of the game. Thrasher fans who jumped on this bandwagon
should be ashamed. We want our team to win and for that to happen we need them
to play defense until the final horn sounds.
I’m sure my arguments won’t silence anyone, but the NHL
rulings make it pretty clear where the league places the blame. On the Capital’s
side you have $30,000 in fines to Hanlon, a three game suspension to Brashear,
a one game suspension to Sutherby. On
the Thrasher’s side $10,000 in fines to Hartley and a one game suspension to captain
Mellanby. Frankly I’m surprised, and disappointed,
that Hanlon didn’t receive as suspension of his own. He engineered the first three on three
throw-down and I suspect he wanted to meet Hartley in the parking lot after the
game and go at it Karate Kid style. One
thing I do know, on December 15th I’ll be at Philips for the
rematch.