If you could somehow get me to believe that the hit on Chris Drury by Chris Neil last night was “legal,” it wouldn’t make one bit of difference to me. I wouldn’t see Buffalo’s actions any differently than I saw them last night. This team stood up for itself and doesn’t have to make any excuses about it.
Not counting Timmy Connolly, this team was missing five forwards when they suited up last night. They watched their captain and leading scorer get knocked unconscious by an unnecessarily violent and late hit. They took a giant step last night to ensure that recklessness like that doesn’t happen again.
Bryan Murray can make comments after the game about the problem being with Drury’s helmet, and he can hide behind the fact that he put his finesse players out on the ice after the incident while Lindy Ruff responded with muscle. It doesn’t change a thing Bryan, because the Sabres decided that they had seen enough and they were going to dictate the terms of the game from then on.
Regardless of any interpretation of the rules or any resulting suspensions and fines, I would say that the biggest takeaway from this for Chris Neil and the rest of the league is the following: Don’t try this again. The next time someone thinks about being so reckless against Buffalo, I hope they think twice. Your Stanley Cup chances can melt away while you wait for the league to do something. If the league thinks this behavior is all right, then the Sabres need to let everyone know that there are consequences regardless. Hopefully what happened last night made the point and it won’t need to be reinforced.
One thing about the incident that I found utterly hilarious was watching Rob Ray stand at ice level between the two coaches screaming at each other. He looks straight ahead trying to control his expression and doesn’t move a muscle. The best way I can describe is that he looks like a fourth grader standing in between two of his teachers who are screaming at each other. That’s the level of discomfort and confusion I’m sensing.
Take a break from watching hockey fights on YouTube and check out the YouTube music video of the week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwre_xhx6ow
This is a band that we played on the old college radio station back in the day. I think this particular song came out after graduation, though. It was included on a record label mix cassette that my friend Joey Guisto sent me. I think the melody is exquisite, the song rocks quite well, and the singer’s face matches her gorgeous voice. If you like this song, check out “Swim” as well, which we had in heavy rotation at WGSU.
Not counting Timmy Connolly, this team was missing five forwards when they suited up last night. They watched their captain and leading scorer get knocked unconscious by an unnecessarily violent and late hit. They took a giant step last night to ensure that recklessness like that doesn’t happen again.
Bryan Murray can make comments after the game about the problem being with Drury’s helmet, and he can hide behind the fact that he put his finesse players out on the ice after the incident while Lindy Ruff responded with muscle. It doesn’t change a thing Bryan, because the Sabres decided that they had seen enough and they were going to dictate the terms of the game from then on.
Regardless of any interpretation of the rules or any resulting suspensions and fines, I would say that the biggest takeaway from this for Chris Neil and the rest of the league is the following: Don’t try this again. The next time someone thinks about being so reckless against Buffalo, I hope they think twice. Your Stanley Cup chances can melt away while you wait for the league to do something. If the league thinks this behavior is all right, then the Sabres need to let everyone know that there are consequences regardless. Hopefully what happened last night made the point and it won’t need to be reinforced.
One thing about the incident that I found utterly hilarious was watching Rob Ray stand at ice level between the two coaches screaming at each other. He looks straight ahead trying to control his expression and doesn’t move a muscle. The best way I can describe is that he looks like a fourth grader standing in between two of his teachers who are screaming at each other. That’s the level of discomfort and confusion I’m sensing.
Take a break from watching hockey fights on YouTube and check out the YouTube music video of the week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwre_xhx6ow
This is a band that we played on the old college radio station back in the day. I think this particular song came out after graduation, though. It was included on a record label mix cassette that my friend Joey Guisto sent me. I think the melody is exquisite, the song rocks quite well, and the singer’s face matches her gorgeous voice. If you like this song, check out “Swim” as well, which we had in heavy rotation at WGSU.
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