Dear NHL, NHL Players, Pittsburgh Penguins, Player’s safety
(or lack there of);
As a
hockey fan since I was a child I have to ask you some serious questions. You see, I am what your marketing team dreams
of. An American that has caught the
hockey bug at a young age, and even though I haven’t played the game past dek
hockey, I am addicted to it. I have watched
every game I can since I was a child. I
was there during the Martin Straka era; buying my student rush tickets weekly
just to get in the building. I buy
several games a year off of friends or through whatever means I can. Playoff tickets when I have the extra
money. Watched Geno’s hat trick game in
the upper bowl of the Mellon in a little thing called the Eastern Conference
Finals in 2009, ticket still hanging in my office. Suite 66 ticket signed by
Mr. Lemieux hangs in my home office. The Caps game where Arron Asham knocked out Beagle. I have the Mario poster in my basement from
1984 with my god damn height marked on it from when I was 7 until 13.
God
damn it, last year I was getting married on June 11th. We had the
wedding venue ensure us that we had a cable connection and a projector to watch
the third period at our wedding reception in case it fell on a game day, (I had
a backup rented as well). I told my then
future wife that if we don’t have it, most of the guests will be in the bar
watching it…. And she knows where we would be too (she caught the bug from me).
Before
we get to the injury, let’s talk about how you call the game. The first period, we have a 5 minute power
play. A ticky-tacky call is made on Geno
for closing his hand on the puck, an iffy call in the regular season. Fast forward to Overtime. Puck is caught with a closed hand on it and
carried from the redline to the blue line, not called. Then Daley makes a great defensive play on
the puck, the type you should have highlighted on sportscenter, but instead it’s
a penalty. The refs got in the way of
the game and assisted in deciding it again!
Another one, Cullen, on a breakaway is hooked RIGHT INFRONT OF THE REF
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NEUTRAL ZONE. The beer guy, pouring a beer in the top row
could see it out of the side of his eye that it was hooking. Nope, nothing
called.. Swallowed the whistle, we have decided to “let them play”. Would this happen in the NFL? Nope. We all
have watched games and yelled about the officiating. But when you really go
back and look at it, they are usually right, might be a tight call, but you can
watch the game and its evenly called.
The call in the 4th quarter on 4th and 1 on the 1
would be the same then and the 1st quarter.
Now the
injury…. So your top player does what you want him to do, go hard to the
net. Play the game tough. Be that beacon of how hockey is a mix of
skill and being tough.. The toughest
game out there.. Basketball players get a cramp they are carted off. Hockey players break their god damn foot
blocking a shot and finish the game; they might come back if they can within a
week if the swelling goes down and the skate holds it together enough. Another player, a top player, but one that
you won’t discipline after many dirty knee on knee plays and such; swings a
stick at a players head, misses but hits him with the follow through. NOTHING
CALLED.. This causes him to go off balance and rather than another player
dropping his stick and not planting the guy because the play is dead,
crosschecks him in the god damn head.
Part 1 by Ovi, anywhere else except the WWE, where it is scripted and is
a stunt, would be considered intent to injury if not assault (I do that on the
Dek hockey rink, it can be called assault).
Part 2 by Niskinen is just as bad.
He should have held up, instead he jams his stick to his head, look at
the replay and the pictured posted by Tie Domi and tell me different. It was full of intent! When Tie Domi says
that is not a hockey play, you need to reevaluate what you think of it. James
Harrison took shots, what happened? Suspensions. So what happened after that? He changed how
he played. This is not the game I, as a fan, want to
watch. If Ovi beats us by scoring a hat trick so be it. I guess Tom Brady should be okay with taking
a shot to his knee after completing a pass because it’s “part of the game” and
is a “football play”, or McCutchen should be okay with taking a baseball to the
head at times because it’s “part of the game” and is a “baseball play”. The other leagues protect their stars and
enforce the same rules on the rank and file for their safety. Why? Because that rank and file will one day
sue your billion dollar company for head trauma. Crosby is out for at least 1 game, probably
more. A player cementing himself with the greats with a possible back to back
cup run is now sidelined for “Old time hockey”.
Well “Old Time Hockey” is about to
lose my money. I won’t pay a red cent
for any of your merch, I’ll cancel my cable and Roots Sports subscription and
stream it from NHL streams.
Now the hard questions. Why should I continue to watch this game? Why should I continue, not as just a Pens fan,
but more importantly a hockey fan, watch your product anymore? Why should I devote over 200 hours a year
without play-offs watching my favorite team? How about the other 100 hours a year
of watching other teams? How about all the time watching the playoffs of both
the east and west? Spend the money on
cable to keep the sports packages to watch all the games I can? Why the hell should I spend 400 plus dollars
on 2 damn tickets for tomorrows night’s game?
After all the years and thousands of dollars I have put into this, I
demand an answer! A real answer, not some bull! People put their hard earned money and
more importantly their time and heart into watching this game and when you do
this you sh*t all over it.
Now you
want to move to Vegas; the gambling capital of the world! Or at least North
America. With this officiating you
expect the sportsbooks to push hockey? You
want to expand the game and fix markets that you probably shouldn’t have moved
into. But you want to keep the same old
Original Six game. It’s one way or the
other… Either get your head on right and
showcase the greatest game there is, or allow an old mentality keep it the
niche sport it is. Here is your Pete Rozelle moment Bettman; don’t sh*t all
over it.
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