At least saying it anyways...
Hot off the presses, Dallas Stars' superpest Sean Avery has been suspended indefinitely by the NHL for "conduct detrimental to the League or game of hockey."
In this case, conduct detrimental to the game of hockey were the words"sloppy seconds." That phrase was used to describe Calgary Flames' defenseman Dion Phaneuf's relationship with actress Elisha Cuthbert, Avery's ex-girlfriend.
Avery's comments came hours before the Stars played the Flames tonight in Calgary.
The NHL reacted quickly. The NHL reacted irrationaly.
In a league that sorely lacks regular season drama, Avery's comments provided a spark to a game that would otherwise be an uneventful meeting featuring a last place team.
Queue the NHL's brass. Gary Bettman and his cronies have orchestrated yet another pre-game anticipation meltdown. And whereas a typical NHL rainstorm would involve pre-game phone calls to both locker rooms and to the night's referee's, the NHL has set another unjustified standard with this bold move.
The question remains, will the NHLPA stand for the unprecedented action? Or will NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly step up and support Avery and actually stand his ground against the league office for once?
Regardless, NHL fans will be the ones paying the price.
NHL message boards are buzzing tonight; and they all agree that the league has acted irrationally and stolen away a game the offered anticipation and excitement.
No comments:
Post a Comment