Pens’ Thug Matt Cooke checked into the boards by Matt Bradley no one cares…

There is an old saying in hockey you live by the sword you die by the sword; well that sword sliced Matt Cooke in the posterior last night. I was watching the game between Washington and Pittsburgh on Versus last night and during his second game back from his most recent suspension for being a putz on the ice: probably to many fans amusement; the despicable and unlikable Matt Cooke was checked face first into the boards by Capitals winger Matt Bradley, what I find even more amusing that no one is upset about it Cooke getting check head long into the boards.

I spent most of the last hour combing through the major NHL Hockey blogs (Puck Daddy, Kukla’s Korner) and there is no outrage what-so-ever. I even checked a prominent Pittsburg Penguins fan blog and showed little if any empathy or outrage for the Bradley hit on Pens hack Matt Cooke. I think that is a telling story of just how people feel about Matt Cooke.

I think eventually all of the transgressions that Matt Cooke has done on the ice are going to catch up with him, some day someone is going to catch him with his head down and some is going to blast him and he isn’t going to get up. My next question is will anyone but some Penguins fans care?

Fighting in Hockey

Recently, in the last couple of day there has been much discussion about the role of fighting in hockey and whether it should be banned or punished more severely. A research group did a poll that said a majority of Canadians want fighting banned from hockey, I highly doubt it was a poll made up entirely by hockey fans. I would actually like to see the break down of who their flawed poll actually surveyed. I am sure there are a fair number of these people that were surveyed that don’t have a clue what a hockey puck is for and when they see a fight in hockey they are probably clueless to what purpose fighting actually serves in hockey.

Fighting in hockey serves a purpose and keep the players that play by the hockey code honest. If there wasn’t fighting in hockey I would be willing to bet you would see more "guttless pukes" like Matt Cooke or insert your favorite player ___________ skating up and down the ice taking liberties with other teams skilled players because they know they wouldn’t have to fight, they could hide behind the refs and yap because they know they wouldn't have to fight anymore. Basically, I see it all of the time in college hockey now a days where players know they can do bush leagues things because they know that they rarely have to fight. I also think that you would see more questionable checks in retribution for these bush league tactics from players like Cooke.