These Playoffs Have Involved the Most Dirty, "non-hockey" Plays in a Long Time.

[therealkoho]

"Playoffs Have Involved the Most Dirty, "non-hockey" Plays in a Long Time."

possibly true but the NHL doesn't give a flying frog

 

[PucksOnNet]

Even Obama is laughing at that one.......

View attachment 114835

Nobody cares what you have to say, go away.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

Bruins fans are furious in here but the fact of the matter is we really just quite simply have not seen a player like Brad Marchand since Matt Cooke.

In addition to that, the thread wasn't even supposed to be about Marchand in particular. Me not mentioning Marchand in this thread would be like if I made a thread about strong tech companies in Silicon Valley, and just didn't mention Apple or Microsoft. It's pretty enough to ignore the player that best exemplifies the issues I'm talking about.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

Maybe try focusing on worthy discussion points like that next time then.

Right, because Marchand's FIFA slide tackle and his slash are not thread worthy discussion points...

Not sure what else you’re looking for here to be honest. The nhl has already made their bed with these incidents in the past. Fines seem to be the biggest punishment a guy will get.

So let them deal with it on the ice. It’s entertaining if nothing else.

Like I said before, just make sure the penalties even up. And move on!

Why should the penalties even up? Why shouldn't a player be penalized for attempting to injure one another?

Do people not realize that the referees are the only reason the NHL doesnt become - Call of Duty Team Deathmatch on ice? If you told me that absolutely no penalties were going to be called in the game, no matter what happened, the first thing I would do is pull a McSorley on every player on the opposing team. Why not? I, who have only played a little bit of hockey, could play 1-on-18 against NHL players and goalies, and if there was no officiating, I could win by destroying every one of them by swinging my stick at their face. If their team decides to retaliate, and fight back, with no penalties being called, then it literally turns into a team fight on skates. That's f***ing stupid.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Right, because Marchand's FIFA slide tackle and his slash are not thread worthy discussion points...



Why should the penalties even up? Why shouldn't a player be penalized for attempting to injure one another?

Do people not realize that the referees are the only reason the NHL doesnt become - Call of Duty Team Deathmatch on ice? If you told me that absolutely no penalties were going to be called in the game, no matter what happened, the first thing I would do is pull a McSorley on every player on the opposing team. Why not? I, who have only played a little bit of hockey, could play 1-on-18 against NHL players and goalies, and if there was no officiating, I could win by destroying every one of them by swinging my stick at their face. If their team decides to retaliate, and fight back, with no penalties being called, then it literally turns into a team fight on skates. That's ****ing stupid.

These are adults who typically are friends or friendly off the ice and part of the same union.[/QUOTE]

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

These are adults who typically are friends or friendly off the ice and part of the same union.

It wouldn't literally turn into a team deathmatch, but if players had no officials to answer to, they would fight one another until one team was unable to continue playing, and then just score as many goals as they could for the rest of the game.

 

[JJ68]

not really, fighting has always been rare in the playoffs. the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the DoPS for not enforcing their rules and then claiming that "suspensions are down"

who came up with the myth that fighting was always low in the playoffs. I remember brawls in most every series up to a certain point of time since I've been born.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I don't know what is wrong with people this year but the crying during playoffs time has never seemed to be so much omnipresent than now.

It's almost always the losing team who's complaining. They're looking for any excuse as to why their team is losing vs just admitting that their team isn't as good.

Happens every year.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Really, so that's what you think should happen? You think that players should just be swinging their sticks at one another's testicles? You're taking a new approach to an eye for an eye, and suggesting a testicle for a testicle, effectively turning the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs into Men's Ice Fencing? You really think that's a good idea? What a ****ing joke.

He literally didn' say that at All? Where did you get "testicle for testicle" from in his post?

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

It's almost always the losing team who's complaining. They're looking for any excuse as to why their team is losing vs just admitting that their team isn't as good.

Happens every year.

There you go. You got me. I started this thread because I am furious that my favorite team is up 3-0 in their series, that they have only scored 14 goals, and that they have allowed all of 3 goals.

He literally didn' say that at All? Where did you get "testicle for testicle" from in his post?

He's saying that if a player gets speared, the victim of the spear, or a teammate of the victim, should retaliate with a spear to the player who speared first.

 

[easton117]

Bruins fans are furious in here but the fact of the matter is we really just quite simply have not seen a player like Brad Marchand since Matt Cooke.

In addition to that, the thread wasn't even supposed to be about Marchand in particular. Me not mentioning Marchand in this thread would be like if I made a thread about strong tech companies in Silicon Valley, and just didn't mention Apple or Microsoft. It's pretty enough to ignore the player that best exemplifies the issues I'm talking about.

Uh Kadri, Burrows, Brown, Kessler, Abdelkader, Perry, Foligno....all say hi.

Skilled guys that cross the line exist all over the league. It happens.

Clearly there is a disconnect between the two types of fans out there. Some would love the refs to call everything, loving every minute of the 5 hour game it’d turn in to. Others are fine with players dealing with things on their own.

That said, of course there are things that should be out of bounds. Really the only one that concerns me is the hitting from behind. That one though seems like a product of coaching in the minor league levels so I doubt we see it disappear any time soon.

As for the rest of the shenanigans that go on who cares. Guys get pissy with each other. It’s hockey. If it’s bad enough the DOPS will step in. If not they move on. Much better than fans do.

There is nothing in this playoff year we haven’t seen before.

 

[easton117]

He literally didn' say that at All? Where did you get "testicle for testicle" from in his post?

Lol maybe I wasn’t clear.

I meant the guy on the ground or teammate should punch Hedman right in the nose. Clear now?

And then yes. They’ll both go to the box. Obviously. There they can discuss things in a more civil manner. That will please the hug it out crowd

 

[BruinLVGA]

There have been just countless plays in these playoffs that have been extremely dirty, with a clear intent to injure. The most recent that I saw was Marchand's sliding tackle on Johnsson. That was not a "good hard hockey play" at all. I see people in every thread saying "if you think this is dirty, watch soccer", and yet, when a player looks like they imported FIFA slide tackle controls into NHL 18, suddenly it's not dirty?

There have been SO many legitimately dirty, suspendable, intent to injure plays in these playoffs that have been completely ignored by the league. It's absolutely hilarious that one of the only plays to actually receive a suspension was Doughty's hit, which, dirty or not, was:

1. A play where it could at least be argued that the player was trying to play hockey and make a play that would help his team regain puck possession.
2. A play where the opposing player was not injured.

I am not a fan of Doughty, and I could understand that hit being 1 game, but I can also see the argument that he was at least PLAYING HOCKEY. His hit on William Carrier, in some way, was an attempt to increase his team's chances of scoring a goal and reduces the enemy team's chances of scoring a goal.

We've got countless plays that are not hockey plays at all - things like Marchand's Paul Bunyon slash, Marchand's slide tackle, Subban's elbow to the head, Haula's butt end, McNabb's ridiculous interference, etc., that haven't even received 2 minute minors in the game!

I'll call it the "Marchand syndrome." I think Marchand does so much dirty **** in nearly every single game he plays that it has gotten to a point where people can't even focus on one dirty play because he just made another one 5 seconds ago. I also think that Marchand is not the only culprit; there are so many players in these playoffs who are doing this stupid **** that it has just become normal, and now any time somebody questions these plays, they are suddenly "good, hard hockey".

Ice hockey is a contact sport in which two teams attempt to score more goals than one another. Due to the physical nature of the game, some plays like Drew Doughty's body check on William Carrier are simply seen as good, hard hockey hits. I don't think anybody on either side of the argument will argue that they aren't on a fairly thin line, whichever side they're on. But things like Hedman's spear to Hischier, Marchand's slide tackle on Johnsson or Subban's elbow to the head of MacKinnon are NOT HOCKEY PLAYS. That isn't hard, old school hockey because it is NOT HOCKEY. It is not an attempt to facilitate a goal for and/or prevent a goal against in any way; it is merely an attempt to injure an opposing player so that they can not attempt to facilitate a goal for and/or prevent a goal against.

Plays like Drew Doughty's hit on William Carrier will always exist in hockey as long as checking is allowed. They may be cracked down on, but as long as players are allowed to check one another, there will be situations in which a player makes an honest error in judgment, believing a body check to both the best play available, and connects with the head, causing potential head injuries. I agree with and fully support the NHL's decision to crack down on these plays. However, these plays will always be a part of hockey - some of them will be honest mistakes, some of them will be "mistakes on purpose", and some of them will be clearly intentional, like Scott Stevens' iconic hits on Paul Kariya or Eric Lindros; hits that have been almost entirely phased out of the game.

However, slamming your stick into the testicles of another player's testicles IS NOT HOCKEY. It is not an attempt to separate an opposing player from the puck with a legal check; not even an accident that results in that check being of the dangerous and illegal variety. It is NOT HOCKEY.

If the NHL sent out a memo tomorrow that any player who ever hit another player in the head would be suspended forever, we would still see a few players hit the heads of opposing players by accident. But if the NHL sent out a memo tomorrow that said any player who intentionally swung his stick at the testicles of an opposing player (spearing) would be suspended tomorrow, WE WOULD NEVER SEE ANOTHER SPEAR.

The department of player safety is supposed to prevent players from intentionally harming one another, and make hockey as safe of a sport as possible. I understand this can be very difficult, given that the fact that hockey is a contact sport; rough in nature, with legal fights between two players occurring quite often, and remaining a part of the culture of the game. Sometimes the lines get blurred on hockey plays like Drew Doughty's hit on William Carrier, or scrums where both players seem like willing contestants. But on plays like Victor Hedman's spear on Nico Hischier, or Brad Marchand's slide tackle on Andreas Johnsson, there is no doubt what happened, there was an INTENT TO INJURE.

The NHL decided to crack down on slashing at the start of the year. We saw almost any very light whack called as a 2 minute minor. How is that after an 82 game season and only 3 (and some change from game 4s currently being played) games into the playoffs, a vicious stick swing to the testicles of another man, a clear disregard of playing the objective of hockey, is suddenly only a 2 minute minor and therefore only as big of a deal as a light whack on the gloves, which was clearly an attempt at a player's stick, in order to play the objective of hockey?

Congratulations. In this mother of all walls of text, you managed to mention Marchand a whole lot, including 3 or 4 times what you called his "sliding tackle", which was just him slipping and falling, complaining about how these are not hockey plays, yet failed to mention even ONCE Mr Kadri who has so far the record for the biggest suspension of these playoffs. All this, while Marchand didn't get anything, not even a peep from the NHL. Bias: confirmed.

 

[nbwingsfan]

There you go. You got me. I started this thread because I am furious that my favorite team is up 3-0 in their series, that they have only scored 14 goals, and that they have allowed all of 3 goals.



He's saying that if a player gets speared, the victim of the spear, or a teammate of the victim, should retaliate with a spear to the player who speared first.

No, that's literally not what he said it all. He's saying someone should have faught him. That' what a "shot in the beak" means unless you think a beak is located on your cock?

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Playoffs haven't changed, but fans like OP have gotten more delicate. Watch Bravo or something .

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

Congratulations. In this mother of all walls of text, you managed to mention Marchand a whole lot, including 3 or 4 times what you called his "sliding tackle", which was just him slipping and falling, complaining about how these are not hockey plays, yet failed to mention even ONCE Mr Kadri who has so far the record for the biggest suspension of these playoffs. All this, while Marchand didn't get anything, not even a peep from the NHL. Bias: confirmed.

Kadri got suspended 3 games for his play. Great call by the league. In the fight for black lives matter, one wouldn't bring up all the times that a police officer didn't shoot a black man in a routine traffic stop, nor would they bring up the times where a police officer did shoot an innocent black manand was convicted and institutionalized for it. Just because the authorities make the right decision sometimes doesn't mean we shouldn't be critical of their many stupid decisions.

I'm honestly torn on the Leafs-Bruins series and who I want to win. There was a point where I said Toronto was my 2nd favorite team due to Patrick Marleau and Auston Matthews but honestly, their fan base has soured me on them to the point where my subconscious wants to see them lose, because this place has become f***ing insufferable. In addition to that, I have to admit that seeing Marleau be eliminated from the playoffs, while the Sharks eliminate their opponent, would make me happy. I wish that wasn't how I felt, but it is.

However, given the fact that my #1 team is a contender, I want to see all the strongest teams lose by way of fluke. That includes Boston. On top of that, I definitely hate Marchand, although at least he didn't do anything to my favorite team; Kadri tried to rip Jumbo's f***ing beard off because he is a bitch.

I don't really have a horse in this race. You are the one that is clearly biased in favor of Marchand. Marchand doesn't get the benefit of the doubt when he "falls" and "accidentally" slide tackles a player, almost causing serious injury to them.

 

[bb_fan]

Nobody cares what you have to say, go away.

Whaaaat? I'm sorry, cant hear ya.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Kadri got suspended 3 games for his play. Great call by the league. In the fight for black lives matter, one wouldn't bring up all the times that a police officer didn't shoot a black man in a routine traffic stop, nor would they bring up the times where a police officer did shoot an innocent black manand was convicted and institutionalized for it. Just because the authorities make the right decision sometimes doesn't mean we shouldn't be critical of their many stupid decisions.

I'm honestly torn on the Leafs-Bruins series and who I want to win. There was a point where I said Toronto was my 2nd favorite team due to Patrick Marleau and Auston Matthews but honestly, their fan base has soured me on them to the point where my subconscious wants to see them lose, because this place has become ****ing insufferable. In addition to that, I have to admit that seeing Marleau be eliminated from the playoffs, while the Sharks eliminate their opponent, would make me happy. I wish that wasn't how I felt, but it is.

However, given the fact that my #1 team is a contender, I want to see all the strongest teams lose by way of fluke. That includes Boston. On top of that, I definitely hate Marchand, although at least he didn't do anything to my favorite team; Kadri tried to rip Jumbo's ****ing beard off because he is a *****.

I don't really have a horse in this race. You are the one that is clearly biased in favor of Marchand. Marchand doesn't get the benefit of the doubt when he "falls" and "accidentally" slide tackles a player, almost causing serious injury to them.

Bolded... I don't know if that's BS or bias or hysteria. To be frank, I think that it's all three of them.

Only hysterical hfboards fans approach this with a "guilty until proven innocent" at all cost.

The DoPS instead looks at the evidence and if it's pointing to him being guilty, they will punish him.
Now, if you think that anyone at the DoPS is doing any favor and/or giving preferential treatment to Marchand, you are sorely mistaken. And I am sure that they looked at this and didn't even say a peep about it. Conclusion: the "sliding tackle to injure Johnsson" is purely and squarely your wet-dream fantasy, not reality.
Drop the witch hunt for a couple of days, breath a little.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

Bolded... I don't know if that's BS or bias or hysteria. To be frank, I think that it's all three of them.

Only hysterical hfboards fans approach this with a "guilty until proven innocent" at all cost.

The DoPS instead looks at the evidence and if it's pointing to him being guilty, they will punish him.
Now, if you think that anyone at the DoPS is doing any favor and/or giving preferential treatment to Marchand, you are sorely mistaken. And I am sure that they looked at this and didn't even say a peep about it. Conclusion: the "sliding tackle to injure Johnsson" is purely and squarely your wet-dream fantasy, not reality.
Drop the witch hunt for a couple of days, breath a little.

Marchand is the king of making it look like an accident. There are plenty of players who deserve the benefit of the doubt when they make a mistake, but Brad Marchand is absolutely not one of them. He has been involved in so many borderline "was that a mistake? I can't tell" type plays that have injured players. No other player has anywhere near as many plays where they "accidentally" injure a player. Similar to Dustin Brown's knee on Sergachev, these players no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt.

To add, can you name one other instance where a player injured another player by falling? And maybe post video evidence?

 

[bb_fan]

Right, because Marchand's FIFA slide tackle and his slash are not thread worthy discussion points....

No they weren't.

Nothing more than a quick comment in the game thread.

Not thread worthy or discussion points at all.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Marchand is the king of making it look like an accident. There are plenty of players who deserve the benefit of the doubt when they make a mistake, but Brad Marchand is absolutely not one of them. He has been involved in so many borderline "was that a mistake? I can't tell" type plays that have injured players. No other player has anywhere near as many plays where they "accidentally" injure a player. Similar to Dustin Brown's knee on Sergachev, these players no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt.

To add, can you name one other instance where a player injured another player by falling? And maybe post video evidence?

I don't understand why you want me to repeat things... Do you think that Marchand has any friends at the Department of Players' Safety (DoPS)? Do you think that if they had any microscopic doubt that he had done anything wrong here, he wouldn't have been handed discipline or a fine? Ask yourself this question.
If he got nothing it's because they deemed it was clean beyond any doubt.

The last phrase is cringe worthy. If a 200 lbs or so human being traveling at 25 or so mph falls and hits another human being, there's plenty of energy that can cause an injury in such a situation. You inferring that it's somehow something that only happens to Marchand, it's just another instance of bias. It's tiring, man. Oy vey...

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

No they weren't.

Nothing more than a quick comment in the game thread.

Not thread worthy or discussion points at all.

Brenden Dillon got suspended 1 game for a very similar slash in the regular season. Let me guess, that slash was also just an accident?

I don't understand why you want me to repeat things... Do you think that Marchand has any friends at the Department of Players' Safety (DoPS)? Do you think that if they had any microscopic doubt that he had done anything wrong here, he wouldn't have been handed discipline or a fine? Ask yourself this question.
If he got nothing it's because they deemed it was clean beyond any doubt.

The last phrase is cringe worthy. If a 200 lbs or so human being traveling at 25 or so mph falls and hits another human being, there's plenty of energy that can cause an injury in such a situation. You inferring that it's somehow something that only happens to Marchand, it's just another instance of bias. It's tiring, man. Oy vey...

What other player is constantly injuring other players "by accident"? I mean, seriously...whom? Maybe Dustin Brown? He's another player that has been suspended for plays that were clearly intentional, and has a long history of injuring players. If he did something like this, I promise you I would be saying the same thing. If a guy like Patrice Bergeron makes that slide tackle, I have no doubt that it was an accident. But, because of Marchand's long and storied history of injuring players with plays that were "accidentally on purpose", I find it very hard to believe that this was an accident. It's also very strange that Marchand, a player who is so talented, and such a great skater, is just falling over the place, making these silly mistakes that just so happen to land exactly where a player would have landed if they were trying to injure players. In addition, if you really want to dissect this play, it is amazing how his legs just purposely seemed to scissor those of Johnsson. Can you at least agree that if this play was a complete mistake, that it was a pretty rare mistake? That this play doesn't happen very often? That it isn't every day that a player injures another by accidentally falling without any pressure on him?

I made a thread about the dirty plays in these playoffs and the majority of responses are Bruins fans responding about Marchand. You are so passionate about this. You keep bringing up the bias of a Sharks fan who doesn't really care for either team in the Toronto-Boston series, did you ever stop to think for a second that you're the biased one? You have "Bruin" in your username, and you jumped into a thread about the dirty hits of these playoffs as a whole to try and defend Marchand's dirty plays, and convince people that he is a clean player.

Do you really think you're the one looking at things objectively here? Do you really think that of the two of us, you are the one who is less biased? I want you to go take a look in the mirror and tell yourself that you are less biased on this topic than the Sharks fan who doesn't care for either team and has over 10,000 posts on this forum, and has never complained about Marchand prior to this thread. Then take a deep breath, and then respond.

 

[Bounces R Way]

If only there existed some outlet a hockey player might utilize for this pent up competitive aggression.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Brenden Dillon got suspended 1 game for a very similar slash in the regular season. Let me guess, that slash was also just an accident?



What other player is constantly injuring other players "by accident"? I mean, seriously...whom? Maybe Dustin Brown? He's another player that has been suspended for plays that were clearly intentional, and has a long history of injuring players. If he did something like this, I promise you I would be saying the same thing. If a guy like Patrice Bergeron makes that slide tackle, I have no doubt that it was an accident. But, because of Marchand's long and storied history of injuring players with plays that were "accidentally on purpose", I find it very hard to believe that this was an accident. It's also very strange that Marchand, a player who is so talented, and such a great skater, is just falling over the place, making these silly mistakes that just so happen to land exactly where a player would have landed if they were trying to injure players. In addition, if you really want to dissect this play, it is amazing how his legs just purposely seemed to scissor those of Johnsson. Can you at least agree that if this play was a complete mistake, that it was a pretty rare mistake? That this play doesn't happen very often? That it isn't every day that a player injures another by accidentally falling without any pressure on him?

I made a thread about the dirty plays in these playoffs and the majority of responses are Bruins fans responding about Marchand. You are so passionate about this. You keep bringing up the bias of a Sharks fan who doesn't really care for either team in the Toronto-Boston series, did you ever stop to think for a second that you're the biased one? You have "Bruin" in your username, and you jumped into a thread about the dirty hits of these playoffs as a whole to try and defend Marchand's dirty plays, and convince people that he is a clean player.

Do you really think you're the one looking at things objectively here? Do you really think that of the two of us, you are the one who is less biased? I want you to go take a look in the mirror and tell yourself that you are less biased on this topic than the Sharks fan who doesn't care for either team and has over 10,000 posts on this forum, and has never complained about Marchand prior to this thread. Then take a deep breath, and then respond.

Dude. Summarize this shit. It's not becoming to have to read walls of text.

You wrote a wall of text, used the word "Marchand" more than any other name by far, you mentioned THREE or FOUR times a supposed incident by him that got not only zero discipline, but not even a peep of any kind from DoPS, had ZERO mention of the incident that got most discipline in these playoffs by FAR (Kadri's)... and you wonder why I might think that you have a bias?!?!? Seriously.

Marchand got a little too optimistic with his capabilities of taking high speed turns and fell. That's all there is to it. STOP. CRYING. ABOUT. IT.

And the BS about the "Sharks fan who doesn't care about yada yada" would fly with me IF you didn't write walls of text about MARCHAND.

 

[bb_fan]

Brenden Dillon got suspended 1 game for a very similar slash in the regular season. Let me guess, that slash was also just an accident?



What other player is constantly injuring other players "by accident"? I mean, seriously...whom? Maybe Dustin Brown? He's another player that has been suspended for plays that were clearly intentional, and has a long history of injuring players. If he did something like this, I promise you I would be saying the same thing. If a guy like Patrice Bergeron makes that slide tackle, I have no doubt that it was an accident. But, because of Marchand's long and storied history of injuring players with plays that were "accidentally on purpose", I find it very hard to believe that this was an accident. It's also very strange that Marchand, a player who is so talented, and such a great skater, is just falling over the place, making these silly mistakes that just so happen to land exactly where a player would have landed if they were trying to injure players. In addition, if you really want to dissect this play, it is amazing how his legs just purposely seemed to scissor those of Johnsson. Can you at least agree that if this play was a complete mistake, that it was a pretty rare mistake? That this play doesn't happen very often? That it isn't every day that a player injures another by accidentally falling without any pressure on him?

I made a thread about the dirty plays in these playoffs and the majority of responses are Bruins fans responding about Marchand. You are so passionate about this. You keep bringing up the bias of a Sharks fan who doesn't really care for either team in the Toronto-Boston series, did you ever stop to think for a second that you're the biased one? You have "Bruin" in your username, and you jumped into a thread about the dirty hits of these playoffs as a whole to try and defend Marchand's dirty plays, and convince people that he is a clean player.

Do you really think you're the one looking at things objectively here? Do you really think that of the two of us, you are the one who is less biased? I want you to go take a look in the mirror and tell yourself that you are less biased on this topic than the Sharks fan who doesn't care for either team and has over 10,000 posts on this forum, and has never complained about Marchand prior to this thread. Then take a deep breath, and then respond.

You really need to put away the 'objective' card.... you kinda wore all the luster off of that thing.

Mmmm kay