I cant remember watching a year of playoff hockey and getting as annoyed as I have. For starters we have amazingly everyone’s new favorite team in the Pittsburgh Penguins. I commented on it awhile back when Pittsburgh was in Edmonton about how there were so many Penguin fans scattered throughout Rexall place that night yet in Pittsburgh’s previous visit to Edmonton there wasn’t a Penguin fan to be found. Oh that’s right this was back when they were utterly miserable and basement dwellers.
Then along comes players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The year Crosby broke into the league he was neck and neck with Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin for the NHL’s Calder trophy. Ovechkin eventually ended up winning but fans of the Pens, Caps, and NHL for that matter were excited as a fresh breed of superstars began to take shape and mold the “new” NHL.
Fast forward to today and why I’m in utter chaos.
A team full of exceptional talent but a team sending the wrong message to kids and the new hockey fan. For the past few years I’ve had the North American media shove every positive thing about Sidney Crosby down my throat. Day in and day out it’s about how great of an ambassador Crosby is for the game. Is he a phenomenal hockey player? Absolutely. Is he a good person? Probably. Is he the great ambassador the media says he is? No.
Why?
Everyone remembers being a kid watching and imitating your favorite NHL player. With Sidney Crosby being arguably the biggest marketable player in the game today one has to wonder how many kids out there actually believe diving is a good thing. Do you ever see a guy like Burnaby Joe Sakic taking a spill like that? How about now retired Steve Yzerman? This so called new breed of NHL superstar is making me sick and I just about flipped my lid seeing Ovechkin take a over-reacted spill in the first round against the Flyers. In all the games I watched of Ovechkin that was the first time I’ve ever seen him embellish a call.
I played hockey for 20 some years and even though I played goal I can proudly say I never once complained, took a dive, or faked an injury to try and draw a call. On numerous nights I see Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson faking an injury after getting slashed on the blocker of all places. If stopping a 100 mph piece of rubber doesn’t hurt, obviously a little love tap after the whistle doesn’t warrant some sell job on your hand being broken. Then again maybe that’s just a Western Canadian thing, after all Crosby played in the QJMHL and the most notorious splashers come out of that league or overseas.
Yet despite being called out by Jaromir Jagr of all people Crosby continues his assault for an Olympic gold in men’s diving. Whats worse is some of his teammates actually seem to be following his lead. One wonders why I’m not on the Pittsburgh bandwagon like the rest of North America, well one look no further then game 3 tonight against the New York Rangers when Marian Hossa got an 8.7 for his splash midway through the first.
I ask all you “so called” Pittsburgh Penguin fans to enlighten me on how you can continue to respect this clown? An exceptional hockey player yes, but a true Canadian hockey player….absolutely not.
If you still need more convincing watch this…OR this or at the very least watch this one…
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