March 16, 2010
As rematch looms, Cooke under fire
by Stan Fischler/
Bruins center Marc Savard is carried off the ice after being hit by the Penguins' Matt Cooke in a game earlier this month. (photo: Getty)
Colin Campbell is a good man. His integrity and love of The Game cannot be disputed. But that does not mean that his decisions always serve the NHL’s best interests.
Exhibit A is Campbell’s pardoning of the Penguins’ Matt Cooke for elbow-shouldering the Bruins’ Marc Savard out of the 2009-10 season. The league’s (Colin’s) rationale seems based on a purely legal interpretation. Since the Flyers’ Mike Richards was exonerated for erasing David Booth – and Florida’s playoff hopes – with a gratuitous head bang, it set a precedent in Campbell’s view (no doubt influenced by lawyers on the general staff).
But two wrongs don’t make a right. Furthermore, Cooke is regarded by many as one of the most notorious “dirty” NHL players. And, finally, there is a matter of positive public relations for Campbell to consider. Cooke was responsible for a dastardly act, condemned by his own teammate, Bill Guerin (Wilbraham, Mass.), yet escapes.
Pardoning the culprit is an egregious sin in our book. And we’re not alone:
* Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun writes, “Ignoring the damage done by Cooke, the injury to Savard, the obvious cheap shot involved, the ramifications for a Boston team in peril of missing the playoffs having now lost its best player to a multi-time offender, is fruitless, spineless and simply wrong.
“The NHL shrugs its shoulders and says there is nothing to rule on because nothing happened to Mike Richards when he almost ended David Booth’s career.”
* Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli: “I’m both surprised and angered. I tried to convince the hockey ops staff to take it outside of the current rule. Use the repeat offender criteria and implement an infraction on intent to injure. That infraction and the repeat offender should distinguish it from the Richards hit. They didn’t want to.”
* Tampa Bay forward Vin Lecavalier, who was injured by Cooke two seasons ago when Cooke was with Washington: “This guy’s (Cooke) been doing that his whole career to a lot of guys; he’s hurt a lot of guys.
“I can’t believe they’re doing nothing about it. They’re protecting the wrong guy, that’s for sure.
“He’s got no respect for the players. He knew exactly what he was doing when he came with his shoulder. He knew that he was going to hit his head and that’s how guys get hurt.”
* Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe and New England Hockey Journal: “Campbell, a dutiful foot soldier for years in the NHL hierarchy, must surrender his job or be reassigned. Today.
“If the NHL Players’ Association weren’t still the rudderless laughingstock of all pro sports, it should have stepped in long ago, when Richards was allowed to skate. When Cooke did the same, the NHLPA should have had its executive director (acting, interim, or next to be disgraced) kicking down the door at NHL headquarters in Manhattan, threatening to send the rank-and-file to the bricks until the league demonstrates its willingness to provide a safe workplace.”
Stan Fischler can be reached at FischlerReport@aol.com.
