Neal suspended 5 games

[nossagog]

And so will the outcome be. It's why people who aren't Pen fans are the way they are. They watch Crosby and Malkin pull their crap and the league looks the other way. Neal joins the team and can make up some bs story that anyone who's NOT a Pens fan just laughs at and he gets a slap on the wrist. Then the next time he does it his history doesn't count. Heck Malkin dopesn't have a history cause the league refuses to give him one. Meanwhile guys like Downie and Rinaldo have their histories follow them from ANOTHER league. I mean have you ever heard them say "We're not going to throw the book at Steve Downie cause his previous history is irrellevant here?"

 

Star player treatment in the NHL, my God, who'd have thought.

 

My only gripe here  . . .okay that's a lie because I have many I'll  take up later, but for now . . . .  is the hate goggles that many people have.  I understand the homerism thing, heck, I'm even guilty of it now and again but you need to look at both sides of the "star treatment".

 

We listen to all the complaints about how the Crosby's and Malkin's can do anything they want, but you can't touch them because the league protects them. Really? Okay, I'm a Pens fan, and I get to watch these two play.   And I also see that game in and game out, they're a target for the Downie's, Marchand's, yesterday it was Dubinsky's with the other side of "Star Treatment".  The little crosschecks in the back, slashes, getting a jab to the head or a facewash or get pulled down after any scrum around the net, the things the other teams always do to try to "get them off their game".  Me, if I had to put up with all the time I'd lose it.  Watch it from that side of the game.

 

That stuff happens constantly, hey its hockey. The other team ALWAYS tries to goad the opposing teams star into a penalty to get them off the ice. They're ALWAYS sending in their pest to do things to get under their skin but doing little things on the edge.  But god help the star player if THEY do it. Fans of other teams will ignore the 10 times that the star player got the "Star Treatment" from their agitator, and immediately start a thread somewhere about how dirty and protected they are because they had the gall to finally get what the other team wanted in the first place, a response.

 

Are they angels? By no means.   But people need to take off the hate goggles, or maybe watch the full game instead of the one or two youtube clips that another biased fan puts out so promote his teams side of the story.

 

So do Crosby and Malkin get away with crap on the ice, absolutely. But they also take even more crap against them that doesn't get called,  and I should know, I saw a youtube clip on the internet that said so, so it must be true.

Edited December 10, 2013 by nossagog

[ruxpin]

@flyercanuck

 

I *think* if I were a Pens fan I would be pretty defensive here.  I kind of am starting to understand @B21 's point here.  Maybe.  Because I'm sure I'm taking some liberties here.

 

Being in podunk north central PA I catch a lot of Pens games and my kid goes to school in Pitt so I guess on a certain level I've been "exposed" to it.

 

If you're a Pitt fan, you have to be aware of the "they watch Crosby and Malkin pull their crap and the league looks the other way" stuff.   Look, from where *I* sit there's an element of truth to that.  But I remember cheering like crazy for Clarke and hearing "oh, he's a dirty little ####."   Ticked me off--element of truth borne from evidence aside.  Because for everything that Clarke did there was something from Sitler or Salming or Nystrom or whomever.    All were doing it but Clarke was winning.  So, truth mixed with some jealousy, quite frankly.

 

Crosby and Malkin are similar to me.  Yeah, Malkin takes some liberties.   Gretzky took quite a few sneaky liberties too.   He had the league look the other way and Marty McSorely and others to help make up for the rest of it.   So, eh.  From the perspective a Broad Street Bullies / Snowball throwing-Eagles fan, I get the little bit of the chip on the shoulder that "Everything is always painted worse in [Philly] Penguin-land."

 

And just so we're clear.  Downie and Rinaldo have their histories held against them because their histories are fairly ridiculous.  Rinaldo is going to take a while to live down when he first came into the league and idiocy like this past weekend will only extend that a few seasons.  Because I'll bet you my lunch this is not the last time we'll see idiocy from Rinaldo.    Downie seems like he's grown a little past that, but maybe wait until the visor comes off for awhile to be sure.

 

All this to say that I don't think that pointing out Downie or Rinaldo or whatever mitigates what either Neal or Thornton did.  They both behaved like punks and at least equally badly if in different ways.   But I can kind of get the concept of "yeah, we'll your city torched the place when you lost (Vancouver, Montreal, etc.) and no one wants to talk about THAT" when faced with "you threw snowballs at Santa!"

[B21]

@flyercanuck

 

And so will the outcome be. It's why people who aren't Pen fans are the way they are. They watch Crosby and Malkin pull their crap and the league looks the other way. Neal joins the team and can make up some bs story that anyone who's NOT a Pens fan just laughs at and he gets a slap on the wrist. Then the next time he does it his history doesn't count. Heck Malkin dopesn't have a history cause the league refuses to give him one. Meanwhile guys like Downie and Rinaldo have their histories follow them from ANOTHER league. I mean have you ever heard them say "We're not going to throw the book at Steve Downie cause his previous history is irrellevant here?"

 

Yes.

 

$1,000 fine and no suspension for his slew foot on Crosby.

 

$2,500 fine and no suspension for leaving the bench during a line change to engage in an altercation.

 

As for the rest....

 

Neal just got 5 games because the league didn't believe his story.  Sure - they bought his argument from the ECF a few years back and he still got a game the same way they bought Steckel's BS story about knocking Crosby out in the WC.  Matt Cooke - who you have made it clear has been a POS since Juniors - didn't start seeing suspensions until he got to the Pens.  Something like 25 of the 27 games he's been suspended for occurred while he was in the Black and Gold. Rinaldo has been suspended once by the league for a hit that deserved it and for a fair amount of games. How is history following him?  I posted a laundry list of things he's gotten away with about a year ago and low and behold he's proven to be 1) a punk and 2) worthy of this reputation. 

 

Downie's 20 games we've agreed to disagree on. No need to rehash that again but based on the above, I don't see his history hurting all that much if at all.

[B21]

@ruxpin

 

Nice post. Very well said.

 

Where does your kid go to school?

[ruxpin]

@B21   Art Institute of Pittsburgh.  She's a freshman.

 

So, I've spent some time in Market Square, the ice rink, Point Park, Station Square and Southside Works (sorry if I'm screwing up some of the names).   I actually do like the city now that I've spent a little time there, but don't tell anyone.

[flyercanuck]

@nossagog

 

Gretzky and Lemieux were star players who got stat treatment. They weren't slew footing, elbowing guys in the face and punching guys in the balls. Lindros was a star player who had to fight his own battles (on the ice). Crosby and Malkin take abuse...just like EVERY other teams star players do. I mean when the Bruins aren't playing the Pens, does Marchand become an angel? Does Rinaldo have a Lady Byng worthy season other than in games against the Pens?

 

Not that I've seen.

[flyercanuck]

@ruxpin

 

If anyone thinks a Pens fan is going to get fair treatment on a predominantly Flyer fan filled board, they're an idiot. (lol) I respect all the guys on here who post in the Pens forum. Just don't tell them I said that.

[ruxpin]

@ruxpin

 

If anyone thinks a Pens fan is going to get fair treatment on a predominantly Flyer fan filled board, they're an idiot. (lol) I respect all the guys on here who post in the Pens forum. Just don't tell them I said that.

 

 

Oh, well then, yeah.   Kill all the Penguins and roast them on City Island in Harrisburg.

[flyercanuck]

@flyercanuck

 

And so will the outcome be. It's why people who aren't Pen fans are the way they are. They watch Crosby and Malkin pull their crap and the league looks the other way. Neal joins the team and can make up some bs story that anyone who's NOT a Pens fan just laughs at and he gets a slap on the wrist. Then the next time he does it his history doesn't count. Heck Malkin dopesn't have a history cause the league refuses to give him one. Meanwhile guys like Downie and Rinaldo have their histories follow them from ANOTHER league. I mean have you ever heard them say "We're not going to throw the book at Steve Downie cause his previous history is irrellevant here?"

 

Yes.

 

$1,000 fine and no suspension for his slew foot on Crosby.

 

$2,500 fine and no suspension for leaving the bench during a line change to engage in an altercation.

 

As for the rest....

 

Neal just got 5 games because the league didn't believe his story.  Sure - they bought his argument from the ECF a few years back and he still got a game the same way they bought Steckel's BS story about knocking Crosby out in the WC.  Matt Cooke - who you have made it clear has been a POS since Juniors - didn't start seeing suspensions until he got to the Pens.  Something like 25 of the 27 games he's been suspended for occurred while he was in the Black and Gold. Rinaldo has been suspended once by the league for a hit that deserved it and for a fair amount of games. How is history following him?  I posted a laundry list of things he's gotten away with about a year ago and low and behold he's proven to be 1) a punk and 2) worthy of this reputation. 

 

Downie's 20 games we've agreed to disagree on. No need to rehash that again but based on the above, I don't see his history hurting all that much if at all.

 

I'm not sure slew footing is a suspendable offence, is it? A penalty is all I ask for when Sid does it. (I know, I ask too much)

 

Neal got a game for a 2nd headshot on the same play that he dealt out to Giroux. He got nothing for his ridiculous excuse of headhunting ON THE SAME PLAY. Cooke got off on so many instances it was pathetic. He was, at the time, the worst player in the league when it came to "intent to injure". He just did it so often he HAD to be suspended. The guy was voted dirtiest player in the league over and over and over. Funny how his grand total of suspensions are similiar to what Downie was handed for his first ever NHL offence..

[B21]

@B21   Art Institute of Pittsburgh.  She's a freshman.

 

So, I've spent some time in Market Square, the ice rink, Point Park, Station Square and Southside Works (sorry if I'm screwing up some of the names).   I actually do like the city now that I've spent a little time there, but don't tell anyone.

 

Your secret is safe with me.  I work in PPG.  The Ice Rink/PPG Plaza and Market Sqaure are beautiful this time of year.

[ruxpin]

Your secret is safe with me.  I work in PPG.  The Ice Rink/PPG Plaza and Market Sqaure are beautiful this time of year.

 

I've only been there a handful of times but it's usually been in the winter when the rink is up.   The last time I was there they were actually putting it up.  I've been there in June and September, too, and it's really pretty cool any time of year.  It's the "old folk" in me but I like sitting outside at Primanti Brothers and I like doing the flea market stuff they have in the square.

[B21]

I'm not sure slew footing is a suspendable offence, is it? A penalty is all I ask for when Sid does it. (I know, I ask too much)

 

Neal got a game for a 2nd headshot on the same play that he dealt out to Giroux. He got nothing for his ridiculous excuse of headhunting ON THE SAME PLAY. Cooke got off on so many instances it was pathetic. He was, at the time, the worst player in the league when it came to "intent to injure". He just did it so often he HAD to be suspended. The guy was voted dirtiest player in the league over and over and over. Funny how his grand total of suspensions are similiar to what Downie was handed for his first ever NHL offence..

 

@flyercanuck

 

Apparently it is - don't tell me you missed all the calls for Crosby to be suspended when he (allegedly) slew footed Callahan? And there were even fans of other teams saying that it looked like they just got tangled up. In other words, not a clear case like say....Downie??? Of course all of the Flyers fans bought Downie's version that they just got tangled up. See what I am getting at?  Crosby and Callahan get tangled? Blantant slew by Crosby.  Downie blatant slew on Crosby? They just got tangled.

 

In Cooke's "defense", he never attacked a teammate either.  Something that bad should follow you everywhere no matter what league you were in when it happened. Let's not forget, the McCammond hit that he got the 20 games for happened in preseason before the guy even took his first NHL shift.  I have no issue with the league sending a message with a lengthy suspension in that case. 

 

Again with Neal - he got a game for the hit on Giroux (just like Giroux got a game for the hit on Zubrus) and they bought his explanation during their review of the Couturier hit.

 

Just like Rinaldo was not suspended after his hearing for his shot to Michalek's head....

 

Just like Carcillo was not suspended after a league review for shoving an official...

 

Just like Downie was not suspended after his hearing for sucker punching Jason Blake...

 

Didn't Mike Richards escape further discipline after league review when he plowed Tim Connolly head first into the boards and elbowed Patrick Kaleta in the head in the same game?  And here I thought only Pittsburgh Penguins get away with things like that come playoff time.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but aren't these three of the Flyers who you feel have been so unfairly treated by the league?

 

Wasn't that sucker punch 4 games after Downie had just finished his 20 game suspension for the McCammond hit? There's that history hurting him again.

 

That last one bears repeating - if Downie is treated sooo unfairly and his history is following him when it shouldn't, how can you explain NO SUSPENSION for that sucker punch FOUR GAMES after he served his 20 game suspension?

 

(And yes - you can be suspended for a sucker punch. Ask Ben Eager and Matt Carkner).

Edited December 11, 2013 by B21

[yave1964]

Boston:

 

Lost Loui Eriksson

Lost Chris Kelly

 

Will lose Shawn Thornton

 

Pittsburgh:

 

Lost Brooks Orpik

Lost James Neal for five games

 

  Gosh I wish they played again this year.

[nossagog]

@ruxpin

 

If anyone thinks a Pens fan is going to get fair treatment on a predominantly Flyer fan filled board, they're an idiot. (lol) I respect all the guys on here who post in the Pens forum. Just don't tell them I said that.

 

Wait a minute, I'm a Pens fan and I most certainly did NOT expect fair treatment here.  But don't sell me short, I'm still and Idiot!!!!

[nossagog]

Boston:

 

Lost Loui Eriksson

Lost Chris Kelly

 

Will lose Shawn Thornton

 

Pittsburgh:

 

Lost Brooks Orpik

Lost James Neal for five games

 

  Gosh I wish they played again this year.

A couple more games and it will be all minor teams

Edited December 10, 2013 by nossagog