At first, I wasn’t going to comment on Colin Campbell’s decision not to suspend Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke. Part of the reason was that I understood his rationale, the appeal for “consistency.” Then I read this excellent article by NESN writer Michael Hurley, and found myself both agreeing with his reference to Milan Lucic and questioning my earlier agreement with at least part of Campbell’s thinking.
Next, I read this lovely summation of hits thrown by Matt Cooke which caused injuries to his opponents. It leaves out non-injury plays, some of which Hurley references above. Even so, Matt Fenwick lists five concussions Cooke has cause since 2007-08 – not including Savard. In other words, Cooke is averaging two concussion-causing hits per season. I’m in total agreement with Fenwick’s thoughts on the matter:
My take on “respect” is that, both in the old days and today, the large majority of players have it for one another, and a notable few do not. Matt Cooke is one of those few. He is not entitled to the benefit of the doubt — indeed, if there’s one person who you could justify suspending for intent to injure on a legal hit, it’s him — and anyone who’s ever employed him, or defended him in earnest, is part of the problem.
It boils down to doing the right thing. Isaac Asimov once wrote to “never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right,” and it would seem to apply in this situation: in Campbell’s desire to adhere to the fine line he sees in the grey mess that is the NHL’s disciplinary policy, he’s done the wrong thing: failing to punish a player who time and again has shown that he has no compunctions about injuring his opponents.
Matt Cooke should have been suspended.
Exactly. I’m so glad he’s not playing for the Canucks anymore.
Well said Jonathan. Far more articulate than my main argument for his suspension “That guy is a huge d-bag”.
I think Matt Cook should be sent home for a year with out pay and the Best player on his team should have to sit out until the injured player returns to playing again, and if he is out for the rest of the season then so be it. This will stop the head hit’s for sure.
Maybe Colin Campbell should get hit in the head a few times and see if he likes it.
I played and was not good enough to play in the NHL but have been a fan for over 58 years and that kind of goon should be put out of hockey.
wow,now the canucks fans don’t like’ the cooker’.he was a hero in vancouver. matt cooke is SCUM, and always has been.colin campbell is a joke,he make one stupid decision after another.maybe someone should take off crosbys head and see what happens.colin campbell will be quick to suspend if any of the bruins go after cooke and we know he wont fight because he’s a turtle.cooke needs to be put thru the boards, then he’ll get what he deserves.
A very succinct, calm explanation of why it works to suspend him. This explains why none of those thought processes were employed by Campbell in making his judgement.
Plus, a very nice Asimov reference (one of the best writers of the century, imo).
Colin Campbell stated there is no rule against what Cooke did. Two things: 1) Shame on the NHL for not having a rule against head shots that result in players leaving the ice on stretchers. 2) There IS a rule called “deliberate attempt to injure” which this clearly was in my view. Cooke has injured many players in his career with dirty, dangerous and/or malicious hits to the head, from behind, knee on knee, slewfoots. Yet he constantly gets the benefit of the doubt, as if there’s any f****** doubt. There is no place in the game for scum like Matt Cooke.
One of these days he is going to piss off the wrong guy or team. Boston with Chara and Lucic is a very likely possibility. If/When something happens a la Paiement-on-Polonich, McSorley-on-Brashear, or Bertuzzi-on-Moore, it will be another black mark on the game, but I for one would be unlikely to shed too many tears for the victim. The league would be better off minus one Cooke rather than all the skill players he injures. To me a Howe-on-Fontinato denouement would be preferable to one of those other scenarios, but that’s just me.
@ Bar Qu: Agreed on Asimov. I’ve never read anything by him that simply blew me away, but his body of work taken as a whole is astounding.
@ Bruce: I had to look up the Leapin’ Lou incident, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to call for that kind of beating I’ll admit how it might be satisfying.
I think Cooke should have been suspended for at least 3 if not 5 games. I also think Mike Richards should have been suspended for a similar hit. Richards may not have the same past as Cooke, but let’s be honest, this is not Richard’s first time making a play like that either. A one game suspension would have been enough I think. I am glad the league is realizing that you can have hitting and excitement but still protect players from blindside hits. This is the same league that never penalizes for leaving your feet and barely calls charging but we know several top players that at least in the near past (rhymes with monechkin) that notoriously get leeway in that regard. Anyway, any step to give more protection to vulnerable players on plays that don’t add to the game is a step in the right direction. Now if we could fix ties and the give the MVP to the most deserving player instead of the one who has the most goals, that’d be a real change.
Dude, watch the fricken replay, compare it to Booth/Richards (far worse), read Cooke’s comments (he thought it was a shoulder to shoulder hit)… Cooke just has a bad reputation. Forget about reputation. Watch the replay. Make a conclusion. and who cares what some author wrote 70 years ago. I’d suspend Richards long before Cooke.
Sean: I’ve seen the replay about 50 times now. Matt Cooke came from a blind spot, aimed for the head, and did his level best to decapitate a player who had just shot the puck.
And reputation matters. If Pavel Datsyuk throws that hit and says, “I thought it was shoulder to shoulder, I feel bad for Savard, I didn’t mean to do it,” we probably take him at his word. When Cooke does it we look back at the other five players he’s concussed in the last 2-1/2 seasons and conclude he has a pattern of trying to injure guys.
JW: Fontinato was the bully of the NHL pretty much until that moment. I’m sure it sucked for him to have his nose in a hundred pieces or so, but it was for the greater good near as I can determine. It is on the backs of such incidents that the argument “let the players police themselves” became axiomatic.
Btw, I thought Bill Guerin had some interesting comments on this. Very rare that a teammate does anything more than show support for the perpetrator or try to avoid questions at all costs, but Guerin addressed it directly and honestly:
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“If a guy gets hurt like that with a shot to the head, there’s got to be something. Actions happen. Guys don’t mean to hurt each other, but they do. You got to pay a price for that.”
Guerin said players must know they can play the game with protection against hits to the head, especially those that a player can’t see coming.
“We’re all under the same umbrella, whether the guy’s on my team and I’m sitting right next to him or he’s playing in California,” Guerin said. “It doesn’t matter. We’re all playing in the same league. We all want the same safety. We all want to be looked after the same way. I understand [Cooke] is on my team but, hey, he’s in a tough spot.”
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http://www.nesn.com/2010/03/matt-cookes-hit-not-supported-by-teammate-bill-guerin.html
Good for Guerin to come out and in not so many words say that ‘the cooker’ is going to get what he deserves. we all know cookes reputation and so do the players. i’m sure there won’t be too many guys on the penguins that would feel sorry for that SCUM if he ever gets what he deserves. too bad he won’t fight,and i’m sure he really feels sorry for Savard as he’s smiling when he said it in the interview,SCUM,thats what he is.
Matt Cooke might be the only player I’d be happy to see take a two-hander square in the face. To hell with the suspension, it’d be worth it.
Doogie: That’s exactly what happened to Dennis Polonich, who was the Matt Cooke of his day, or one of them. (There’s always a few d-bags around the league, and there are today, although Cooke is #1 on my personal list with a bullet.) One day he pissed off the wrong guy, namely Wilf Paiement.
P.S. Not saying I’m condoning a two-hander in the face, but a punch in the nose wouldn’t go amiss.
Last night Ovie got 5 and a game for his hit on CAMPBELL. Matt COOKE as we know got naada!…..Where were the refs when COOKE did his deed…probably preening in the glass…the officiating this year in the NHL has been atrocious….CAMPBELL dropped the ball on the COOKE call and no doubt followed the direction of his masters and his direct boss BETTMAN…my NHL following days are over….I have cancelled my NHL pkg. and sent most of their sponsors a letter of protest….join this movement of protest if you are a true hockey fan and lets get the game back to respectability……
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