Proof that Hockey beat writers IN US backwater just don't get the game:
I don't like the Pittsburgh Penguins.
They remind me of how smug the Colorado Avalanche used be when we couldn't stand Patrick Roy, whiny Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg.
The ghost of Claude Lemieux is traveling with Pittsburgh during the finals as this talented bunch of so-called superstars have become an ice gang of crybaby cheap-shot artists. They know they are the weaker team next to the big Red Wings machine.
The good part about the bad blood in this series is Red Wings fans now have a team to hate for the next decade in Pittsburgh. Five games with the Chicago Blackhawks provided a platform for a future regional rivalry but pales in comparison to the ugly side of hockey we have witnessed from the Pittsburgh bench in this series.
A lot of people have been waiting so long to despise a hockey team and individuals as much as we did Colorado back in the day. This is good for hockey and good for the Red Wings.
Watching Detroit crush the Penguins on Saturday night was as fulfilling as anything I have ever witnessed in sports. Even better than when the Red Wings got Roy pulled in that epic Western Conference final Game 7.
The sad part of this story is that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, a Grand Haven native, never played the game the way his team has played in the finals.
The showboating and headhunting has no place in hockey. It's obvious Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are the malcontents who run the show and when their game is on they dance and throw it in the face of their opponents. Did Stevie Yzerman or Wayne Gretzky ever show up other teams?
When the little baby Penguins are frustrated, they can't handle it and lose it on the ice for all to see. Great teams and great players win and lose with class like the Red Wings.
This ridiculous comparison of Sidney Crosby to Gretzky is propaganda spewing out of the NHL front office on the Nothing But Crosby network (NBC).
The Great One respected the game and never would resort to the dirty tactics Crosby delivered in Game 5 and his constant complaining to the officials.
Lets be honest about Crosby. He's got great talent with an immature side to him that probably will never see a Stanley Cup trophy parade as long as the Red Wings are in business. He knows this and it kills him so the little sniper and his Russian buddy Malkin bask in the glory of home ice but have curled into the fetal position on the road in Detroit.
Crosby is no superstar until he gets multiple Cups. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg of the Red Wings are more complete players than Crosby and Malkin.
The Game 5 win was a message to all that the Red Wings still are the class of hockey on this planet and plan on staying at the top for a long time.
The beauty of what will be a win over the Pens compared to last year is that the Red Wings became a better hockey team while Pittsburgh's thuggery lowered the street value of Malkin and Crosby.
If Crosby wants to be Gretzky he had better start winning some Cups and respecting his opponents. Malkin will never be a star outside of Pittsburgh and his homeland because he has no respect for the game.
Maybe one day Bylsma will be able to show them how to win and lose with dignity. If you're a hockey mom or dad you want your kids to be like the Red Wings and not the Penguins.
E-mail Bill Simonson: huge@grpress.com
1 comment:
Seriously, who is this writer. He must be a pal of Bylsma's. Dan Bylsma was a hack player that was lucky to be in the NHL.
And his take on the Finals is way off. There was pretty much no real cheap shots out there.
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