Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Interesting comments from Brendan Shannahan

Boston Bruins bench
Boston Bruins bench (Photo credit: slidingsideways)
I find it funny that Brendan Shannahan felt the need to comment on this situation, there is perception around the league that certain teams aren't going to get a fair shake because of his bias against those teams. Whether it's deserved or not, it's a perception that is out there. As a Wild and Bruins fan, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that I have seen things that are questionable and grounds for scrutiny.

Just today the NHL suspended Tyler Meyers for a very similar hit that went unpunished this season, more specifically, these were some of the same kind of hits that the Wild and Bruins players were a victim of but no punishment was levied to the perpetrator. There seems to be one set of rules for Stars and a different set of rules for the goons and third and forth line players.

D.J. Bean, WEEI --- As for the Bruins in general, Shanahan responded to the idea that he has a bias against the B’s when it comes to suspensions. Marchand, Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference have all been suspended this season for various infractions.

“It’s funny, people in Boston might think I have something against the Bruins, which is so absurd and crazy,” he said. “It makes you feel any better I can promise you all I have to do is flip on my Twitter page, or if I ever wanted to venture onto the internet, almost every team in the league thinks there a specific reason I hate their market and hate their city as well.

“I have to defend why I don’t hate Pittsburgh, or why I don’t hate Montreal, or why I don’t hate Buffalo, or why I don’t hate Minnesota. For Boston, it’s even more absurd, quite honestly. Talk about a team I grew up admiring. Cam Neely is probably the one player I tried to model my game after more than anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team you grew up admiring, or a team you played for, there’s so much scrutiny in this job, you can do this job and you can’t sleep at night, if you don’t do it with as much integrity as possible. That doesn’t mean you’re perfect. You would love to have a perfect season in sports. You can objectively look at this hit and disagree with the assessment, and that’s fair. That’s always going to be fair. But it’s absurd to suggest in any market that we have a grudge or have it in against anybody.”
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