GD: Canucks vs. Bruins

[Wickabee]

Marchand hit was very dirty, but Looch did NOTHING wrong. Was on the ice when the melee occured and showed restraint by his standards for just pulling Bieksa away and throwing no punches. Which is why his misconduct was rescinded. BTW, Horribly officiated game for both sides, yet still very exciting. Game only proved that these teams are still two of the best in the league, nothing more.

In my mind, the right call was made for the wrong reasons.
In the melee, though, Lucic lost his mind yet again. He was in and out, in and out and starting to run around like an oversugared 6 year old again.
While Lucic didn't leave the bench, as replay showed, he was running around like a child, as he tends to do. When he gets like that, all bets are off as to which opponent is going to be walking out and which one won't. There is very, VERY little doubt in my mind that Lucic getting kicked out when he did saved the Canucks from a third serious injury in that game.

As to some other comments:
If the Canucks get rid of Higgins, they'll be losing this season's unsung hero. That would be a stupid, stupid move. Move Wiese or Rome and get an actual fighter.

The game was reffed incredibly well under the circumstances. That game was not about calling penalties and goals and entirely about managing the game. Van Massenhoven and O'Rourke did a bang up job in my opinion. One of the better managed games of the season.

On the topic of Marchand, anyone watch PJ Stock's "brilliant" analysis? He said it was clean because the rule states clipping is throwing your body "at or below the knees" and it wasn't below the knees so it shouldn't have been a penalty.
Even when Ron McLean pointed out that the hit was, in fact, AT the knees, Stock still thought it was a clean hit.

PJ Stock = Mike Milbury for a new generation.

[RGM81]

Stock tried to defend it because Marchand is 5'9" and thus OK. You can take the Bruin out of the jersey, but you can never take the jersey out of the Bruin.

[Wickabee]

Stock tried to defend it because Marchand is...Bruin

Fixed it for ya, Richard

I was actually amazed to see Ron McLean arguing in the Canucks favour on that one. That never happens. Tells me it was a definite penalty.

[JoexBondo]

This game was pretty brutally reffed both ways, but it had to be. If they slacked off at all it would be a very bloodshed violent game.

The only thing Lucic did wrong was get involved in a separate occasion outside of the original, but to the refs since they were changing it looked like he was off the ice. If it were role reversal, I'd be ticked off for the game ejection at first, but would be okay with it after seeing the replay 3 or 4 times. He has definitely lost some class since being with the Giants. I used to be a die hard Lucic fan, but his antics are just disappointing now.

I just don't get it, when does standing up for your teammates in a scrum become antics? Just because hardly any other teams will have everyone on the ice stand up for each other it doesnt mean that the Bruins are a street gang or anything. Never got that whole mentality people have now.

[bojohnson]

i dont get it either, 4 canucks jumped in a meleed thorton, but its antics when lucic, and friends go to protectshawn?
makes no sense, and that is why people hate vancouver.

they whine too much, lol

[Wickabee]

It's not antics because he entered the melee. The antics came once he had entered. He was in the scrum, out of the scrum, in the scrum, out of the scrum over and over. He was grabbing guys, pulling them out and going back for more, then, once it was pretty much done, he grabbed Bieksa (I think?) and put him in a headlock for absolutely no discernable reason.
When Lucic starts acting up like that, it's not long before one of his opponents is laying on the ice after Lucic threw a dirty hit. I've said it several times and I'll say it again; there is VERY little doubt in my mind a major Canucks injury was avoided by Lucic getting thrown out. I like Lucic as a player when he keeps his head and plays the game. But when he gets frustrated/angry/distracted he becomes dangerous and doesn't seem to care. The league hasn't helped him by letting all his offenses go with no suspensions.

When he plays, he's amazing. The other 65% of the time, he's just dangerous, and not in a good way. If something isn't done to reign this kid in, it's going to be less than 5 years before he's the new Matt Cooke.

[Wickabee]

Marchand should have been speared, then beaten senseless.

I've been hearing/reading this a lot in the last 24 or so hours and I completely disagree, here's why.

Here's the situation:
Marchand lays a dirty, dirty hit on Salo. Right away you know Salo is injured, partly because it was such a bad hit, partly because we're talking about a guy who missed half a season due to a floor hockey injury. At this point, there are 3 outcomes:
1 - Marchand gets kicked out. No chance to bash his face in.
2 - Marchand gets a penalty but stays in the game. You get a chance to beat his face in
3 - No penalty. But the ref's arm was in the air, so we knew that wasn't going to happen.

So, we know Salo is hurt, we know Marchand is a d-bag for it and we know he's getting a penalty, we just don't know how long.

At this point, everyone is saying/thinking Vancouver should cut his...let's say "legs" off, but at the end of the day, what is that really going to do? I ask because we also already know that:
1 - Vancouver hasn't spent the game getting pushed around the way they did in the SCF.
2 - Their PP, which was non-existent in the SCF was firing on all cylinders yesterday.

So, with all this in mind, if you were Alain Vigneault, would you rather have a PP with all but two (Ebbet/Salo) of your players, or go even strength missing three of your players?

If Marchand is kicked out, it's taken care of as the rules state it should be. If he isn't kicked out, you can get him next shift. To just mindlessly jump him and "spear and beat him senseless" is exactly that. Mindless. It's THAT EXACT mentality that put the Bruins in the penalty box all game and lost it for them.

You say it shows a lack of toughness? You must have only watched that 20 seconds of the game. If you had watched the whole game you would have seen that the Canucks were, in fact, pushing back in ways they just didn't last season.

If you want your team to go down another guy, give up the powerplay and waste an opportunity for simple retribution I'm sure glad you're not coaching my favourite team. That's mindless, old-school thinking and I'm glad the Canucks don't subscribe to it. I'm also glad the Bruins do, or they would have beat Vancouver yesterday.

[RGM81]

To paraphrase a favourite saying of mine, don't get into the antics with the Bruins. They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. Canucks hockey is based on skill, speed, and intelligence - by avoiding getting sucked into the Bruins' thuggery, they received numerous man advantages and made the Bruins pay for their lack of discipline.

[flopfish]

I just don't get it, when does standing up for your teammates in a scrum become antics? Just because hardly any other teams will have everyone on the ice stand up for each other it doesnt mean that the Bruins are a street gang or anything. Never got that whole mentality people have now.

Once you're in a scrum like that, you pair off with one person, which he was, and I was okay with that. The second you go after another player, it's dirty. It's one of those respect things in the NHL. He never used to get involved in post-whistle antics. The Bruins are hated upon last year and this year because incidents like Chara hit last year and Lucic and Miller this year and how the league did not suspend or fine them. A lot of Canucks fans aren't bitter about losing the Stanley Cup (the only sour note from that for me is how Raymond was hit and injured), but regardless, the Bruins earned it way more than the Canucks and you will hear a lot of them say that.

i dont get it either, 4 canucks jumped in a meleed thorton, but its antics when lucic, and friends go to protectshawn?
makes no sense, and that is why people hate vancouver.

they whine too much, lol

Once again, Lucic's original actions I was okay with. He was coming to the defence of the original incident. The Canucks, a team in which people seem to think they don't defend their players jumped to Burrows defence after Thornton went after him. By throwing Hamhuis, going after Burrows for awhile and then putting Bieksa in a hold he went after 2 people too many. BOTH teams showed a lack of respect towards the game, something that there is very little left in today's NHL, and instead fought out of revenge. Both Burrows and Thornton should've been given at least a 10 minute misconduct to set a standard, Burrows for hitting Thornton in the neck, Thornton for punching Burrows in the face.

The reason why Canucks fans "whine" so much is because there is little support and coverage for them from CBC and they always get the short end of the stick when it comes to broadcasting and scheduling, like why do the Canucks always have to play the Leafs at 4 when they are in town. That's not the decision by them. BC in general is like it's own little country. Also,
a good chunk (depending on how the team is doing) of the "fans" are bandwagoners.


I think it was when one of the twins or someone got tripped up by Boychuk and lost his stick and Boychuk went and gave it back to him during the middle of a scrum without an incident, face wash, etc. That's the type of respect needed back in the NHL.


Bottom line is almost every single player, no matter where they are from or who they are will have a form of their game that people frown upon. Whether it is diving or antics after the whistle, the player is going to do what ever it takes to help their team win, whether it is right or wrong.

[Wickabee]

The reason why Canucks fans "whine" so much is because there is little support and coverage for them from CBC and they always get the short end of the stick when it comes to broadcasting and scheduling, like why do the Canucks always have to play the Leafs at 4 when they are in town. That's not the decision by them. BC in general is like it's own little country. Also,

Just as an aside to this comment, are any other Canucks fans getting sick of CBC's sudden ongoing praise of the Canucks? During the SCF it was pretty obvious Ron McLean hates the Canucks. I mean, it's always been obvious, but after Van took the 3-2 series lead, I though Ron was going to cry on camera.
Then some comments regarding Burrows/McLean were made on a Vancouver radio station a couple weeks ago and McLean responds by making a long-winded explaination about how neither he nor the CBC "hates" Vancouver and promptly follows it up with:
"Vancouver, you're a beautiful city, but let's keep this rivalry about the rivalry, not hatred."
It's a nice thought, but I have to wonder what rivalry is he talking about? The comments related to a basic situation of 'McLean v Burrows' or 'CBC vs The Canucks'. So is he admitting that the CBC doesn't like Vancouver, or that he doesn't like Vancouver? Is there actually a "rivalry" between the CBC and the Canucks. He wasn't talking about Vancouver v Boston or Vancouver v Chicago. What rivalry are you talking about Ron.

Since he made that little speech, the CBC has been going over the top with quote/unquote "praise" for the Canucks. It was kind of nice for a change at first, but now it's just become obvious posturing and I have to guess a memo went around the CBC Sports offices regarding how the Canucks are treated by the CBC.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter, but Ronnie boy likes to think of himself as "a man of integrity". If that's the case, why can't he just admit he hates Vancouver and likes to see them lose? If he'd just admit that, I could have some respect for him. For whatever reason though, he tries to pass himself off as this unbiased, reasonable man of integrity when in reality he's a fake, posturing liar.

I'll be so happy when he retires. That day will be a good day for hockey.