Here is an interesting article that I found in a Chicago newspaper the Daily Herald, to be honest with you, this is how I have felt for a very long time when it comes to the new NHL. I blame the instigator penalty for much of this.
The crap that goes unanswered today is ridiculous, in the old days if you ran hit someone with a questionable hit you had to answer for it, for example Matt Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard would have caused a bench clearing brawl in the 1970’s, now the refs go out of their way protect the agitators and the punks that skate up and down the ice taking liberties that many times go unanswered...
Daily Herald --- The Vancouver Canucks have long been known as a team that will crack under the strain, succumb to the pressure and ultimately choke away a chance to win the Stanley Cup.
But now they've shown the entire NHL they're gutless, too. Raffi Torres tops the list and Kevin Bieksa isn't far behind.
They're both fairly typical of the “new” NHL, which has created an environment where players aren't held accountable.
The players used to police these matters and settle scores — think Darren McCarty-Claude Lemieux and Dirk Graham-Vlad Konstantinov — and the game was safer because of it, but now the league would rather have Torres running around trying to end careers and never force him to answer for it.
John Scott had every intention of putting Torres in his place Tuesday night late in the game, but as he engaged Torres at the faceoff circle, referee Dan O'Rourke tossed them both, robbing the Hawks of a chance to set things straight.
That's maddening enough — and you wonder why Scott didn't wait until the puck dropped — but then Bieksa suddenly became a tough guy with Scott gone for the night.
He jumped legendary enforcer Viktor Stalberg and began throwing punches before Stalberg even knew he was in a fight.
Wow, Bieksa is some brave man. Does he kick kittens, too?
About 10 minutes earlier, Tanner Glass refused to fight Scott, and when he couldn't get Glass involved, Scott waited too long to have a conversation with Bieksa, who feigned hearing loss and wouldn't even look at Scott — the equivalent of going into the turtle.
