By the way, how about freaking Phil Kessel!? This guy is single-handedly making hockey fun to watch. He's doing things you see only after you've had a year experience playing "NHL 'o8" and have mastered the special moves. He's flying out there... and shooting like a bazooka. It's nice to see him maturing, the scary thing is he's only going to get better. Remember, this kid's into his third year and just turned 21 last year.
Back to the game then: This was a night of pure cowardice on the part of two Stars players, who looked more like two cranky toddlers on the ice rather than hockey players. The tots I speak of are none other than Sean Avery and Steve Ott. You know, before watching this game, I didn't really mind Sean Avery, I certainly didn't think he was as bad as everyone made him out to be. And Steve Ott, well he'd played for our hometown Utah Grizzlies back in the day, earning him a special place in my heart. I have now carved that part out of my heart and jammed every single player for the Boston Bruins in his place. These two displayed their immaturity, wearing it on their sleeves for all to bear witness.
Ott and Avery proved that night to be the cheapest, most cowardly players in the league.. Not only were they throwing cheap, behind the play shots common of players of their caliber, but they were going for knees and for backs... on multiple players. In other words, they were seriously trying to injure members of the Bruins. The announcer called Ott a "Knee Seeking Missile", which I thought fit him well. Multiple Bruins fell victim to the childish play of Avery and Ott. Stephane Yelle took a shot in the knees from Ott, who soon visited Marc Stuart with flying check from behind. Avery, besides his usually stick-waving and carving, saw fit to check Milan Lucic from behind, among other things.
The thing I LOVE about this game is the Bruins response: Poise, courage, and brotherhood personified. As soon as Yelle went down after the aforementioned knee shot, Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton went straight at Steve Ott, who practically hid behind the referee to escape the wrath of hell fire.Then, after his hit on Stuart, Ott found himself staring into both of Shane Hnidy's fists. Ott, not willing to step up and answer the bell after his dirty hit, cowered and skated away, refusing to fight. That's not all. After Lucic was checked from behind by Avery, little Seanie found himself being pummeled by Bruins leading scorer Marc Savard. That's right, MARC SAVARD did not hesitate in jumping on Avery, fists flying. Soon every Bruins player on the ice was at the scene of the crime, swinging at anything in a white and green jersey (you should have seen Hnidy's absolute wrath of destruction on Matt Niskanen's face. Wow.). Never in all my life have I seen players looking out for each other like the Bruins that night.
The absolute highlight of the night was courtesy of Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference. But a modest 189 lbs., the speedy defender found himself with a bead on Steve Ott, who was skating straight up the middle of the neutral zone. Coming out of nowhere, Ference absolutely DESTROYED Ott with one of the most beautiful open ice hits I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Ott looked like he had just been hit by a bull. And to add more to Ference's pedigree, he accepted Sean Avery's invitation to fight immediately after, not afraid to answer the bell for his destructive hit, unlike Ott had been earlier on two occassions. After edging Avery in the fight, Ference received a standing ovation from the crowd, and even threw them a wave as he skated to the penalty box.
Ott, by the way, was later ejected and had to rely on teammates like enforcer Krys Barch to go out and do his fighting for him, while he sat protected in the comfortable confines of the locker room. Wimp.
In the end, the night completely belonged to the Bruins, who found a way to play some hockey between all the madness and won 5-1.
Stars center Mike Modano, in his usual classy way, summed up the situation perfectly. "Tonight, it was idiotic and stupid," he said. "It was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen. If that’s what we’re going for, then they need to find me an off-ice job." I imagine most of his Stars teammates felt the same way after the game.
The Bruins announcer made another good point after one instance earlier in the game where Ott (surprisingly) took a shot at Milan Lucic a few seconds after the whistle. He said, "Who's career will end because this guy [Ott] is allowed to get away with stuff like that?" Indeed.
Childish and stupid. Go Bruins.
To see all the mayhem, have a look at this montage, divided into two parts on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbufCcwYImk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtvBFY7a3lQ&feature=related
1 comment:
"Oh there's brave Steve!"
Classic.
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