Gonchar to Spin Wheel of Justice
by Geoff Detweiler on Jan 12, 2010 11:25 AM EST
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PrintNot sure if anyone saw this last night, but Sergei Gonchar should be spinning the NHL Wheel of Justice today.
In the middle of the third period - with his team trailing by one - Gonchar took a five-minute major for interference/elbowing. It was a high hit, he appeared to leave his feet, and the man didn't have the puck.
Video is at the bottom of this post here.
Interesting quote from Cal Clutterbuck after the game:
"He better hope he retires at the end of the year, I’ll tell you that … Somebody’s going to hurt him before the end of the year. Someone will. It’s not going to be me, but someone will."
For the Pittsburgh reaction, FrankD said this in the comments section of his recap:
"[Minnesota fans] should know that Gonchar isn’t a dirty player. Never has been and never will be."
Now, I'm not starting any conspiracy theories here, but I'll definitely be curious how this one ends up. Danny Briere (not a repeat offender) got two games for a high hit to the head on a guy without the puck when he left his feet, yet Ian Laperriere got away with a similar hit against Florida in December. Not saying Gonchar should be suspended, but certainly a decision has to be made.
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Suspend Him
That was a blatant intent to injure. He was no where near the puck. Can’t believe he didn’t get a game misconduct. What do you expect, It’s Bettmans boys.
Suspension should be given by the very nature of the hit. It was a retaliation away from the play. But more interestingly he was only given a 5 minute interference call on a charging elbow away from the play. He should have been tossed with a game misconduct. Richards got tossed on what, like it or not, was a legal hit within the confines of the game. None of this is surprising.
Well, of course, he isn’t a dirty player. None of their players are dirty, but all of ours are. /rolls eyes
Seriously, I’d say he’s a little dirty. But all really good players are a little dirty; it’s the nature of the game. This ain’t the friggin’ ice capades. He’s not a first-time offender and should probably be suspended if they’re really serious about eliminating these types of hits.
Was watching the game with Pens fans. They definitely didn’t like it, and said to let the teams play. Yet theyre are the first to complain about our style of play. Take the comments with a grain of salt. They have this thing on every team called enforcers for a reason: so comments like this don’t mean much on the ice.
TAKE THE FALL, ACT HURT, GET INDIGNANT
by CoburnsCuddleBuddy on Jan 12, 2010 1:30 PM EST reply actions
He should be suspended for at least 2 games for that hit. Not at one point during the play did the guy he hit have the puck he was just chasing the player with the puck. It was blatant that Gonchar was trying to injure the Wild player and besides the fact he left his feet the player did not have the puck and the hit was unnecessary. Honchar should be suspended but because he is on the Pens he won’t be.
am working on the flyers chart
pretty much all paths lead toward suspension. even for the organ player and kate smith.
Eat what the monkey eats, then eat the monkey. -U.S. Navy survival guidance
::gasps:: They can’t suspend our good luck charm!
by DragonGirl0583 on Jan 12, 2010 2:51 PM EST up reply actions
In hushed Colin Campbell voice:
I suspend dead people!
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
My guess is he probably falls under the “he does this all the time but since we never suspend him we just keep saying he has no prior record and hope nobody notices” one.
Of course this results in a, you guessed it, 0 game suspension.
by philiafan14364 on Jan 12, 2010 3:15 PM EST up reply actions
From those camera angles, it’s hard to say if he left his feet before or after the hit. But that’s as classic an example of headhunting as there is.
"In fact, it is probably safe to say, the statement "I am a hockey fan" is the same as "I hate gary bettman."- bfrank27
There’s a great discussion of this going on at the Wild’s site, Hockey Wilderness.
Even has a better video for those of you interested.
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Jan 12, 2010 8:44 PM EST reply actions
And somehow, Philly having dirty hockey players comes up—when Philly had nothing to do with the incident.
It kind of started from the original story where the author said:
Looking over a handful of Philadelphia Flyers blogs or Washington Caps blogs would garner the opinion that Gonchar is a dirty player. I will save that judgment for others to make. He has never been suspended, at least from what I can find (please post any corrections to that in the comments).
I’m sure he picked the Flyers and Caps since those are the two teams that hate the Penguins the most and would therefore be the most likely to say Gonchar is dirty. Then Hooks blockquoted it and away you go.
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Jan 12, 2010 10:17 PM EST up reply actions
Plus, there may be a bit of bitterness from the Washington side, since he was their draft pick and played there for a long time – it’s like having Recchi score against us for the Beaners.
For us, we should be able to recognize dirty players, since according to fans of other teams, everybody on our team’s dirty, down to the Zamboni drivers. Logically, that makes us the experts on what constitutes dirty. The hit on Buttercup? Dirty.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
Absolutely suspensionworthy
But you know how things go when the NHL front office and the Pens are concerned.
Absolute intent to injure.
I say he gets 2 but he deserves 5 or more.
Carcillo does this he’s looking at 20.
Viva Los Dan Carcillo!!!!
Bob McKenzie says no suspension’s coming. Incredible.
Gonchar a star ?? He is a really good player but I don’t think he is a star by any means he doesn’t carry household recognition like Malkin, Crosby or Ovechkin compared to Briere I think Danny has more star power than Gonchar. Danny’s hit was a joke compared to this one. Either way if Malkin didn’t get suspended for jumping Zetterberg in the Finals, which is a clear cut rule as it gets and we will probably never see an exemption again in our life time, no way is Gonchar is going to get suspended especially with the Pens playing so poorly.
I hate this.
A comment on Kukla’s Korner from “Tony” (emphasis mine):
If notorious head-hunter Mike Richards didn’t get suspended for that brutal hit on David Booth, I don’t want to hear shit about Gonchar, who lays what would be classified as a "hard check" about once a year, not getting suspended….
Yup, Mike Richards the notorious head-hunter. The smarter readers over there put Tony in his place:
Tony, Toni, Tone! Really? [Richards’ hit on Booth] was a legit hit. Was it necessary? Nope. But it was entirely legit. Gonchar clobbered a guy without the puck.
That’s just factually inaccurate. (Responding to the “notorious head-hunter” accusation)
I agree[…] that Richards’ hit wasn’t dirty, but[…] that Gonchar’s hit was clearly dirty.
I don’t t know what it is with some Penguins fans, but the blatant homer-ism is beyond ridiculous. You know that guys like FrankD and Hooks over at Pensburgh are real fans of the team and have been watching them for many years. The bandwagoners are the ones who regurgitate whatever Staggy and Errey tell them.
I saw this firsthand last night as I watched the Pens (unfortunately) beat my number 2 team, the Flames. The GameCenter broadcast featured Staggy and Errey and they were going off on Mark Giordano of all people. At one point, Giordano tried to draw a penalty when Malkin gave him a shove during a stoppage of play. None was forthcoming, but those two didn’t shut up about it. You’d think Giordano sucker-punched Malkin.
Later, Giordano was driving to the net and someone (Gonchar?) hooked him. It wasn’t the worst hook in the world, but it was enough to knock Giordano off-balance. He slid into the net and the Penguin was called for hooking. Well, first I had to hear about what a bad call that was, and second I received another sermon on Mark Giordano’s poor sportsmanship. “Derp de derp we saw the dive before against Malkin, and now he does it again, but HE should be the one getting the penalty for the dive! He could have hurt the goalie on that play! Derp de derp!”
Here are Gio’s career stats. He averages roughly one PM per game, and he can be a little chippy for sure. But he ain’t exactly Dan Carcillo either.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
To clarify:
You know that guys like FrankD and Hooks over at Pensburgh are real fans of the team and have been watching them for many years.
This is obviously to say that they are not bandwagoners. We know this because they discuss their team intelligently and without Penguins-colored glasses.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
Do you think it’s all Pens or just symptomatic of being a hockey fan in that you always think your chief rivals are full of goons and headhunters?
Although, I’ve personally never thought that about other teams—I can actually tell a skill player from an agitator from a fighter/goon—I’m sure there are Flyers fans who find many Pens to be goons.
Mike Richards, notorious headhunter? I’d actually laugh if I saw someone post that. Maybe you could say that about someone like Pronger, even thought that’s still inaccurate, but about Richie? It doesn’t even warrant a response it’s such a stupid statement. Sometimes he gets overly aggressive, yes (and notice his play has noticably become less aggressive since the incident, so that should make the notorious headhunter statement look even more ludicrous), and makes some bad decisions, but he’s no cheap-shot artist.
I have a hard time counting more than 5-10 players in the whole NHL I’d call goons. The only “goon” I’d say the Flyers have is Riley Cote, but I have a very narrow definition of “goon”.
There are tons of players I hate on the Pens who fall under the agitator category, but why I can see them and properly classify them as that while a majority of Penguins fans can’t correctly classify Hartnell or Carcillo as an agitator rather than a goon I won’t understand.
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Jan 14, 2010 1:15 PM EST up reply actions
Perhaps it’s because the Flyers have been called a team full of goons since pretty much their inception, we actually know how to ascribe the term, i.e. we actually know what a real goon looks like. And just because a player can “goon it up with the best of them,” (e.g. Malkin, Ovechkin, Pronger) does not mean that that’s the main part of their game. It just means that if the situation calls for it, they will fight fire with fire so to speak. Dirty play does not = goon.
Perhaps it’s because the Flyers have been called a team full of goons since pretty much their inception
Technically, the Flyers weren’t labeled as the Broad Street Bullies until 1972-73, and it wasn’t until around 1970 that they started to toughen up. The original intent of the team was to “fly” on the ice as their name implied, so they had smooth-skating players like Claude “Pepsi” LaForge, Andre Lacroix, and Jean-Guy Gendron. That didn’t work out so well.
</annoying nerd>
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
Well, I used the qualifiers “pretty much,” so from 67-70 they were smooth-skating and sucked, so the organization decided to toughen up (like the Blues, I think, right?) and play a different style of hockey.
They were also heavily a defensive team early on. Their first five seasons, in the West, they were 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 4th, and 3rd in goals against. Unfortunately, they were also at or near the bottom of the league in goals for. It was the 1972-73 season that they became an offensively oriented team, being 1st in the West in goals for and 6th in goals against.
In 73-74 they were first in both categories in the West, and in 74-75 they were second in GF and first in GA in the Patrick.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
Do you think it’s all Pens or just symptomatic of being a hockey fan in that you always think your chief rivals are full of goons and headhunters?
The latter, definitely. Back in the late ‘80s I thought the Rangers and Capitals were the two dirtiest teams I had ever seen, specifically guys like Tomas Sandstrom and Dale Hunter. I didn’t like Pittsburgh but I didn’t hate on them the way I did the Rag$ and Caps.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
And I really consider the Rangers more of my enemy then the Pens. Other than a half a dozen years in the early 90’s the Pens until recently weren’t even significant to me as an opponent.
If it weren’t for the league cramming the Pens down every hockey fan’s throat (and the bandwagon fans – I actually like the long-term fans), I wouldn’t have a dislike of them at all. It’s the Devils I don’t like, because of that stretch from 1995 to 2007 when it was either Philly or Jersey taking the Atlantic.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
“Every 5-minute major is not a suspension or a fine. There’s gotta be a little bit of passion in the game.
"Cal Clutterbuck leads the League, or is close to leading the League, in hits. He hit Gonchar very hard into the boards prior to that — real hard. That could have been boarding. Could have been charging. It wasn’t. So Gonchar, who’s been hurt before and knocked out before and suffered a concussion; he’s on the receiving end more than he’s on the giving end — I don’t think he’s ever been on the giving end — he went in and it was a 5-minute interference penalty and he hit him with his shoulder.
“We felt the penalty was the penalty. We don’t feel [based on] past history that Gonchar deserved to be suspended. Clutterbuck came out and I thought his statement was ridiculous, that somebody’s going to ‘get this guy’. Last time I looked, Sergei Gonchar wasn’t on too many guys hit lists.”
So…If you get checked a lot, and you check only from time to time, and you were hit hard at some point earlier in the current game, then its perfectly ok to go out and attempt to lay down a dangerous clearly illegal hit on an opposing player who checked you.
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but then again, That’s Bettman’s Nonsensical Hockey League (NHL).
Well, using that explanation, Briere shouldn’t have been suspended then, either, right? I mean, he gets targeted quite a bit and checked/hit a lot, and so when he leveled that hit—according to the ruling above, it should have been allowed, right?
Look: I don’t have an issue necessarily with Gonchar not being suspended. And I wholeheartedly agree with the “there’s gotta be a little bit of passion in the game” theory. However, if they are intent on removing these dangerous hits to the head—and making an example of those that level them—then there has to be some consistency to how punishments are meted out. There’s no rhyme or reason other than 1) player was hurt or 2) player was not seriously hurt. Players get hurt on legal hits in the NFL all the time; sometimes ending their careers. The player getting hurt shouldn’t have any effect on what level of punishment is delivered. It needs to be consistent with the type of hit and how it’s delivered. And this “payback” for earlier stuff doesn’t cut it as a reason not to suspend. But, Mom, he hit me first!
“Could have been boarding, could have been charging.” Whatever. It wasn’t. Don’t make excuses for him. Say we aren’t punishing it, but it’s something we won’t tolerate and don’t let it happen again—otherwise, you just make yourselves look stupid by talking out of both sides of your mouth.
I work in marketing, and I, for one, would hate to work in the PR department for this league.
I work in marketing
I used to work in marketing. I don’t miss it.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
My point is that it almost reads: “We didn’t suspend him because all he did was put a big hit on a guy who had put a big hit on him earlier”
I don’t have a problem with passion in the game either, but things have to be equal, i.e. you can’t now suspend any player who goes to retaliate for a big hit delivered to them in a game. Which is stupid and they will but only if that person is someone who is known for hitting people? It’s a very stupid decision process, the result of which is random.
Dammit Pronger.
No suspension for Gonchar.
What a joke.
Some think too much, then come too soon
I just curse the sun, so I can howl at the moon
Huh.. link didn’t format correctly.
Huh.. link didn’t format correctly.http://tinyurl.com/yemlyj8
Some think too much, then come too soon
I just curse the sun, so I can howl at the moon
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