NHL 2013 - 2014 Season Thread

Yeah, the Bruins are the good guys in all these scraps they get in to!

Orpik's hit earlier in the game was clean. Of course, if you're from Boston it was the dirtiest hit of all time.

All I was saying is that when someone on your team gets cheap shotted, you gotta expect some retaliation. That's what the enforcer has always been there for. I'm not even a Boston fan at all. I hate Boston, and I don't believe Thornton set out to injure orpik, he was just trying to make a statement.

Orpiks hit was borderline, and Neals hit was clearly a cheap shot.

Burnesto_sl said:

Orpik's hit earlier in the game was clean. Of course, if you're from Boston it was the dirtiest hit of all time.

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I don't really agree. It was a 2 minute interference call, in my opinion, and other commentators have said much the same (TSN's McKenzie offers thoughts on Neal, Thornton actions). Eriksson never had possession of the puck. He wasn't eligible to be hit. On the other hand, Orpik didn't jump, didn't target the head etc. So 2 minutes for interference.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

All I was saying is that when someone on your team gets cheap shotted, you gotta expect some retaliation. That's what the enforcer has always been there for. I'm not even a Boston fan at all. I hate Boston, and I don't believe Thornton set out to injure orpik, he was just trying to make a statement.

Orpiks hit was borderline, and Neals hit was clearly a cheap shot.

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Bob Mackenzie disagrees with you:

"Orpik's hit on Eriksson was hockey play, could've been minor for interference, but well within context of game action. Orpik shouldn't necessarily be obliged to answer the bell to Thornton on that hit. It wasn't that egregious."

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The hit was a teeny bit early, otherwise it was a clean hockey play. It wasn't a cheap shot. Thornton can challenge Orpik if he wants, but when Orpik declines that doesn't give Thornton license to fucking mug him. And Thornton is way out of Orpik's weight class (which isn't actual weight, but fighting proficiency). If someone else on Boston that isn't an enforcer challenged Orpik, he'd likely have dropped the mitts. One of the other unwritten rules of "the code" (which is mostly bullshit), is that enforcers generally only fight each other. Expecting Orpik to fight Thornton is stupid. But maybe he'd have dropped with Lucic or someone else.

There's zero justification for what Thornton did. Orpik didn't "have it coming" as you originally said. It's not as bad as the Bertuzzi or McSorley incidents, but it's close.

I said orpik had it coming because I thought he was the one who kneed Marchand also. The game was pretty chippy and when it gets like that and a team doesn't have a true enforcer, that's what happens. Dupuis broke Kelly's ankle with a slash, how is that not a suspension or fine? When you have guys running around the ice taking runs at people then they won't drop the gloves, shit like this happens.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

I said orpik had it coming because I thought he was the one who kneed Marchand also.

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Even if it was Neal who got mugged, he still wouldn't have "had it coming". What he had coming was a suspension, which he got by the way.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

The game was pretty chippy and when it gets like that and a team doesn't have a true enforcer, that's what happens.

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That's pretty retarded logic. Because the Pens didn't have a useless hockey player like Thornton on their team, it means that Thornton had no choice but to go out and try to seriously injure a real hockey player by mugging him? How about we just get rid of the Thornton's of the world entirely, instead? If guys like Iginla, Lucic, and so on still want to fight, great, more power to them. But the days of guys like Thornton who can barely play hockey staying in the NHL are quickly coming to a close, thankfully.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

Dupuis broke Kelly's ankle with a slash, how is that not a suspension or fine?

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I don't really know. I agree that it should be. I haven't actually seen the slash, but it must be pretty bad.

But that proves my point above about enforcers. The Pens don't have one, Boston does. Yet the Pens fearlessly ran around doing absolutely retarded shit (less so the Orpik hit, but definitely the slash and knee). Neal and Dupuis and Orpik don't give one single fuck about Thornton, becausethey don't have to fight him. His presence prevents not one single fucking thing. This notion that enforcers somehow police the game and prevent bad shit from happening is fucking stupidity,because they're the ones most often doing the stupid shit. I don't support banning fighting or making it an automatic ejection, and I agree that it's a good "safety valve" so to speak, to allow a couple willing guys to beat the shit out of each other if they so choose instead of swinging sticks or jumping each other from behind. But fighting doesn't prevent shit like what Neal did, or what Kelly did. Suspending guys will, if the suspensions are harsh enough. Which they still aren't.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

When you have guys running around the ice taking runs at people then they won't drop the gloves, shit like this happens.

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Totally faulty logic. Thornton's presence didn't prevent any of the ugly incidents that happened, and he then committed the ugliest of them all. Take Thornton out of the game and nothing changes, other than his mugging. Enforcers don't prevent dirty plays. Period. Not in today's NHL anyways. Maybe back in the 80's and earlier where Dave Semenko WOULD beat the shit out of a smaller player without giving him the option. But in today's game? All a guy like Orpik, Neal, Dupuis, Marchand, Cooke, Avery and so on has to do is skate away or turtle and the linesmen will break it up. Back in the day they'd probably have let the guy get beaten for awhile first. But that's not the reality these days. Not to mention that prior to the 80's, the stars often defended themselves. Fuck with Howe or Richard, and they'd break a fucking stick over your head. The 80's and Gretzky/Semenko changed that in a big way, where there were "skill guys" who can't or shouldn't be touched and didn't have to answer for doing dirty shit themselves. And it's changed again since then, because that level of violence just will not be tolerated by the league, it's sponsors, or society at large.

Do you really believe that Thronton went out there to severely injure Orpik? Sure, he wanted to punch him in the face a few times, but Thronton didnt even drop the gloves to punch him. It was a gloved punch to someone with a helmet still on. Same goes for Bertuzzi. I dont think that Bertuzzi thought, "Im going to jump Moore from behind and break his neck on the ice" but it happened that way. Sure he wanted to jump him, but not break his neck.

Nothing is short of banning fighting all together is going to stop stuff like this from happening. Why not just ban checking also because people get injured all the time from that also.

You know the gloves make it worse, right? There's a reason players get in so much trouble if they keep them on in a fight.

And Thornton's intent is fucking meaningless. He yanked an unaware guy down from behind, which is bad. Slew footed him, which is worse. Then sucker punched an unconscious player laying on the ice while wearing his gloves still, which is unforgivable.

He's a piece of shit. Even the most in the bag Boston homers aren't backing him on this, what the fuck is wrong with you that you still are?

The gloves make it worse? Obviously youve never played hockey. You cant even make a correct fist with a glove on.

Im not backing Thornton, Im just saying that Pittsburgh was playing pretty wreckless too. How is what Neal did to Marchand any better? If Marchand was knocked on on the Neal knee, should he get whatever Thronton gets?

Yes.

Neal thing was scummy as fuck.

As for the gloves, I don't make the rules and get the fuck out of here with that faggot-ass "You must not play" shit.

Fighting in ice hockey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The rulebooks of the NHL and other professional leagues contain specific rules for fighting. These rules state that at the initiation of a fight, both players must drop their sticks so as not to use them as a weapon. Players must also "drop" or shake off their protective gloves in order to fight bare-knuckled (essentially, "throwing down the gauntlet"), as the hard leather and plastic of hockey gloves would increase the effect of landed blows.

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So yeah, Thornton basically did everything short of Happy Gilmore style trying to stab him with his skate.

So I hear tuco is the maintenance guy for the Panthers. Panthers organization felt they didn't need back up glass. So they used a protective sheet of paper. Christ.

Err, is it paper or is it glass just with the paper cover thing still on it?

Yeah it's glass, they couldn't get the cover off it though so just threw it up like that.

Florida Panthers replace broken pane of glass with one you can't see through (Video) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports

Here's the Dupuis slash for those interested. He appears to be going for the puck midair.

Mike Cole's post on Vine

Obviously going for the puck, shit is overblown like every little thing when the Pens and Bruins play. From both sides, I've been guilty of it in the past.

The only things worth getting worked up over are Neal and Thornton being piece of shit.

Going for the puck? Yeah, just like Neal didnt see Marchand on the ground.