Cheers and Jeers – Apr 20th

The Good and the Bad of this past week.

It’s Friday. So we close out the "Week That Was" with our latest volume of… "Cheers and Jeers!"

This week, I given an indefinite suspension to the Torres hit, Jordin Tootoo and "4/20" while I score a pair of overtime winner for Boedker, Flyers/Penguins and the return of Daniel Sedin.

JEERS to the Raffi Torres hit. And I mean, EVERYTHING about the Raffi Torres hit. I hated the hit. I hated Torres insanely claiming that he was just finishing a check and that it was a hockey play. I hated Joel Quenneville’s hypocrisy as he screamed for Torres’ head, conveniently forgetting that he coaches a guy who laid the dirtiest head shot of the year. I hated that the hit was bad enough to send Hossa out a stretcher. And I especially hate the fact that Coyotes fans started a "#WinItForRaffi" hashtag. Are you f*cking kidding?! You want to rally to support a noted headhunter and repeat offender?! That’s shameful.

It’s shameful that even a small bunch of complete clowns have enough of a voice that that hashtag reached the light of day. That organization, the coaches and the fans should not be doing anything to support those actions. Not a thing. And if you’re a Canucks fan, and you thought to yourself for one second, "That’s what the Canucks are missing!" you need to GTFO. NOW.

CHEERS to the Flyers/Penguins. And I mean, EVERYTHING about the Flyers/Penguins. I love the physicality (the non-suspendy stuff, anyway). I ABSOLUTELY love the calamitous goaltending. I love the insane box scores. I love Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro calling the games. And most of all, I love the complete lack of predictability of the entire damn thing.

During Game 4, as the Penguins began to ventilate Sergei Bobrovsky (since everyone’s favourite bear-fearing goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, had already been pulled), I started howling with laughter. I couldn’t believe that I was watching this sort of hockey in this day and age. There is absolutely no possibility that this will happen in the Vancouver/Los Angeles series, because the goalies are too good and there isn’t nearly the same level of animosity or emotion between the Kings and Canucks. The Flyers/Penguins series is purely visceral and surreal, and is therefore objectively awesome.

JEERS to Jordin Tootoo for being a selfish, terrible hockey player. He was told flat-out that he was not playing well to end the season and has basically been benched for Nashville’s first round series against Detroit. In an interview with the Tennessean (via Joe Yerdon at NBC Sports’ Pro Hockey Talk), Tootoo complains about not playing despite all his hard work in practice. So his team is one win away from moving on to the second round, and all he can do is bitch about his lack of ice time. That’s a team player, ladies and gents. 

"After doing everything right, it just (expletive). … I’m (ticked) off because I’m not able to do what I love to do and that’s playing the game." What a clown. How about you support your team and suck it up, dummy? Are you really this selfish that you can’t see that your team is on the verge of a series win and all you can do is sound off about not getting back in the lineup? Listen, pal. Your team is winning without you in the lineup. If this was me, I’d be looking long and hard into the mirror right now and doing nothing but publicly congratulating my team and my teammates.

CHEERS to Mikkel Boedker for scoring game-winning, overtime goals two games in a row against the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s one thing to score an overtime winner in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I personally think that it’s the most exciting thing in pro sports. No matter what game I am watching when a game goes to overtime, I am glued to the set and my heart starts pounding. It happens even when I’m watching two teams about which I haven’t a care in the world. So for Boedker to score a game-winning overtime goal in back-to-back games is just completely amazing.

JEERS to all you 4/20 idiots. As if we didn’t already think you goofs were unemployed slackers, you decide you need an entire DAY to celebrate this fact and obnoxiously parade it around town. GO AWAY. And OF COURSE, nowhere is this worse than Vancouver, as hordes of hackysacking pinheads make their way downtown to set up camp and spark one up. Now let me say this. I have no problem with smoking weed. Nope. No problem at all. I read everything Drance writes, and I’m pretty confident he’s perma-fried. But what I *DO* have a problem with is basing one’s entire lifestyle and priorities and the choices one makes on smoking pot. Grow up, folks.

CHEERS to Daniel Sedin. And I’m willing to eat some crow on this. I was vehemently opposed to Daniel coming back, because I wrongly assumed he was coming back too soon. That’s clearly not the case, and it’s obvious that Daniel and the whole Canucks organization did things right with his recovery from a concussion. As I look back on what’s happened over the last 10 days, it’s clear to me now. He practiced last Monday, and felt symptoms afterward so he shut it down for a couple of days. Good. Once he started feeling better, he got back at it and things improved for him. Better. And after a few more practices, he felt like he was ready to play. Best. And if his game on Wednesday wasn’t proof that he’s ready to play, then there is no convincing. So good on Daniel, and good on the team for playing it safe with his recovery and doing it right.