Milan Lucic is a craven thug, who runs amok in the National Hockey League because of incompetent refereeing, and an impotent Department of Player Safety. The League is run by former thugs such as Colin Campbell, and by an ignorant troll who knows spreadsheets more than he does hockey. The league is proselytized by blood-thirsty former goons such as Mike Milbury, P.J. Stock and Don Cherry, who equivocate and dissemble, and trumpet a 'style' of play that validates their shameful playing careers.
So what did he do now, our black-and-diarrhea-yellow-clad orangutan? He did this.
Irked at having been cleanly bodychecked by Danny Dekeyser, he responded in a dirty, underhanded way, spearing him from behind in the groin. Which is shocking, but not really surprising, seeing as he already pulled the same dirty deed on Alexei Emelin a couple weeks prior to this. And, in the grand tradition of the Bruins, or Andrew Ference and Zdeno Chara and Claude Julien, lied about it afterwards, denying he'd speared Alexei. No way no how.
Like when he ran 170 lbs. Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, then lied how he only had time "to brace himself" before contact, pretending he didn't take two extra steps to deliberately knock him out of the game.
Some analysts will slurp Milan Lucic, about how tough he is and what a good player he is, but that's just the twisted narrative of the NHL, where great transgressions are glossed over, and Zdeno Chara is a 'leader'. Tough is one thing. Tough is Jarome Iginla, or Scott Stevens, or Larry Robinson. Tough is Chris Chelios, playing hard in every rink, against every opponent, all the time.
Milan Lucic fakes being tough. He's mean, he's nasty, he's big and strong, but he's not tough. He's a bully. He cheapshots, he picks his targets, but he doesn't play tough.
Milan Lucic will run away from Georges Laraque, claiming that his coach told him not to fight with him. So Milan scrupulously follows his coach's instructions. When it means not having to take on someone at least as big or strong as he is.
Which leads us to believe that Claude Julien never specifically told him not to crosscheck Dominic Moore in the face. He was free to do that. Go for it Milan. Don't mind the fact that you outweigh him by fifty pounds. All's fair and all that jive. You don't want to mess with a fourth-liner like Georges Laraque, don't waste your time, but go ahead, mess up a fourth-liner Dominic, fill your boots. Eric Brewer, size him up, make sure you're not taking on someone you can't handle, but if it's to your advantage, make juvenile mouthpiece Jack Edwards so happy he wets his pants.
But when you bite off more than you can chew, when Zdeno Chara isn't around to save your bacon, and you have your hands full, as when you foolishly took on Colton Orr and it wasn't to your liking, by all means, run away from him, and hide behind the referee.
I've had it with the faux-tough Bruins, who beat on Jaroslav Spacek and Raphaël Diaz, but are wittle purring kitty-cats when they're up against George Parros, Douglas Murray, Brandon Prust, Ryan White and Travis Moen. They're opportunists who gang up on hockey teams who want to play hockey, but cower when they're facing Chris Neil and Matt Kassian, or Colton Orr and Mark Fraser and Frazer McLaren. Don't think we didn't notice how well-behaved you were against the truculent Leafs during the playoffs last year, Milan.
Again, I'll call on the NHL to scrupulously enforce its own rules. Spearing another player in the groin should be something that isn't tolerated, in terms of defending its image, in terms of player safety, and in terms of fair play. Milan Lucic is a repeat offender, with no valid defence for his actions. Just because the referees didn't call a penalty shouldn't whitewash his actions. It's time the NHL entered the 21st century, made use of the video evidence, and threw the book at one of its most egregious cheaters.
As Habs fans we get a perspective on the Bruins that no other fan base does. We've seen Chara take out Montreal's hottest player at the time in 2011, come damn near to killing him--Max Pac was hot at the time--and thus the Bruins win in game 7 overtime. There's a different conclusion to that series with Max playing. There's a different conclusion as well if the person in charge of handing out suspensions isn't the father of one of the Bruins marginal thugs.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the rest of this lineage of sub par professional hockey personalities(sic)--big mouths for the most part--who I think you have justly looped in altogether, including Cherry, Ferrence, Julien, Milberry, Stock, etc.. The league is changing the last few years. Fan bases in other parts of the US, away from Boston and Philadelphia, are liking clean hockey. The biggest holdouts, apparently, are the Hockey Night In Canada crew with their rah-rah Boston alumni and their let's make NHL hockey like real hockey, like how it was played in the 1970's AHL. (Actually, I'm kind of surprised sometimes that Jack Edwards isn't calling the CBC games.)
Anyway, regardless, this Bruins cabal on Hockey Night in Canada is now coming to an end, thank the gods. And that was probably inevitable. Not because our national broadcaster had the taste and good sense to kick them out but because of politics. The sad thing is that we'll remember the last ten years of Hockey Night in Canada as a disgrace to all the great hockey people who were associated with the show in the past, as well as some of the good ones still on the show. I'm not sad the broadcast is going off the air, I'm just sad that I don't care about its fate so much, as, between the Bruins and Leafs bias, it had lost all integrity. It's hard to mourn something that had already killed itself.
As for the Bruins, how many games and series have they lost to the Canadiens because of bullying and poor sportsmanship? Which only seems to make them more and more angry. And the only cup they did finally win in my lifetime they cheated and bent the rules, with a complicit NHL turning their eyes the other way. (As you noted in another post, I believe that also that season Colin Campbell was found out for reprimanding referees who gave his son penalties. And isn't he still in charge of officiating for the NHL?) In my eyes, the Chara assault on Max Pac will always be footnote to the Bruins' last cup.
Anyway, thanks, excellent post. It was interesting to see you connect Lucic's antics and bullying, largely condoned by the league, and Hockey Night In Canada, to the greater thug-Bruin philosophy given so much air time on our national broadcaster.
I agree with ever world.
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