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NHL Finally Delivers Justice

Terp Fan Written by Terp Fan, Tuesday March 22 2011
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The NHL has finally suspended Pittsburgh Penguins winger Matt Cooke, the dirtiest player in hockey.  It was only a few weeks ago when Penguins owner Mario Lemieux challenged the NHL to discipline players who make blatant cheap shots to the head after he watched the NY Islanders give a beating to his Penguins.  The NHL suspended Cooke for the remainder of the regular season and also for the first round of the playoffs.

The suspension will cost Cooke, a repeat offender, nine regular season games where he will forfeit $219,512.20 of his 2.15 million yearly salary.  This is Cooke's fifth suspension and his second in the last six weeks. It has to be noted Cooke has been suspended four times since joining the Penguins in 2008.  He recently received a four game suspension for checking Columbus Blue Jackets defensemen Fedor Tyutin from behind.

Cooke's unpenalized hit last season on Boston Bruin Marc Savard started an uproar that led to the creation of a rule that bans blindsided hits to the head. The rising rate of concussions in the NHL has the league on high alert and was the biggest topic of conversation at last week’s general managers meeting.

This is exactly the kind of harsh punishment Lemieux challenged the league to hand out.  NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell stated that "Mr. Cooke, a repeat offender, directly and unnecessarily targeted the head of an opponent who was in an unsuspecting and vulnerable position," Campbell said in a statement.  "This isn't the first time this season that we have had to address dangerous behavior on the ice by Mr. Cooke, and his conduct requires an appropriately harsh response."  Campbell had to make a move like this or risk losing his credibility within the hockey community.

Lemieux just got his message from the league.  Perhaps if Lemieux spoke up sooner about dirty players like Matt Cooke maybe his starplayer Sidney Crosby would still be playing.  Crosby has been out of action since January 5, 2011 because of a lingering concussion caused by hits to the head in successive games from Washington’s Dave Steckel in the Winter Classic and then by Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman four days later.  Make no mistake hockey fans, out indefinitely due to lingering concussion symptoms means Crosby will be out for a long time.  When there is a chance for brain damage Sid the Kid will be on the shelf until he has a full medical clearance.  Other teams in the league got sick of guys like Cooke and the passive aggressive antics of owners like Lemieux.  Opposing players decided to take matters in their own hands by making extra clean, hard hits to Penguin star players like Evgeni Malkin and Crosby.  

The last contest between the New York Islanders and the Penguins ended with a combined 346 penalty minutes, 10 ejections, 15 fighting majors, and 20 misconducts. The Islanders took matters into their own hands handing Pittsburgh a crushing defeat and gave them a beating in the process.  This was a wake up call for the Penguins that the league was fed up with their dirty play.  Someone had to respond and the Islanders decided they had enough.  Hockey fans are anticipating the rematch between the two teams on April 8th.

The last two weeks of the hockey season will be fun to watch with teams fighting to make the playoffs or put themselves in a better position to get a higher seed.  It will be even better now that the dirtiest player in hockey is now out until at least the second round of the playoffs.  Cooke may have played his last game of the season against the Rangers last Sunday.  


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