Let me start by saying that I am no fan
of Matt Cooke. I think he's one of the dirtiest players in the NHL
and is up there with the the dirtiest in NHL history. His elbow to
the head of Ryan McDonough, the boarding against Fedor Tyutin, the
elbow to the face of Artem Anisimov, the kick at Chris Osgood's head,
and his numerous other cheap-shots all point to him viciously and
intentionally taking out Tyson Barrie with a knee shot.
But, in my opinion, I think what
happened in the 2nd period of Game 3 was unintentional.
At the 2 minute mark of the 2nd
period between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild, Matt
Cooke of the Wild ran into Tyson Barrie of the Avs, his knee slamming
into the resurgent defenseman's knee. On the surface, it looked like
yet another of Cooke's dirty cheap-shots, a play designed to knock a
player out of the game. But, upon closer inspection, things aren't
so clear. A look from the side shows that Cooke skates in with his
left leg extended, making it look like he was intending to do exactly
what happened. But look at it from a different angle. A shot from
behind Cooke shows that Tyson Barrie saw the Wild winger (heh)
coming. Cooke had him lined up and was preparing to deliver a
powerful open ice check. Barrie scrambled to get out of the way,
pushing off of his left skate and flinging his body to the right.
Cooke reacted to finish his hit, meaning he leaned to his left to
keep the angle. In order to adjust and keep his skates under him, he
extended his right leg and supported his body with his left, forcing
it to bend and lead the rest of his body. This caused his knee to be
directly aimed at Barrie. When contact is made, Cooke is off to the
left of Barrie's body. He doesn't throw an elbow, he only has one
hand on his stick, showing he wasn't trying to cross-check him, and
pushes his arm forward.
Then, there is the fact that Matt Cooke
has not been suspended since his elbow on McDonough in 2011, due to
him actively trying to change the way he makes a hit. And for a guy
like him, 3 years without a suspension for a dirty hit is pretty darn
good.
It's unfortunate that Tyson Barrie was
injured on the play. But it's even more unfortunate that a guy who
is trying to change the way he plays the game and stop the dirty
tactics is going to be hammered for a hit that turned out worse than
he intended. As I said, I don't like Matt Cooke. But I also don't
like demonizing a guy for something that wasn't his fault.
I will disagree with you wholeheartedly. There is no need for that type of stuff in the game at all and many hockey players agree.
ReplyDelete"That type of stuff" being a dirty hit, which, as I said, I don't think Cooke intended. It would have been a clean hit if Barrie hadn't tried to avoid it. I get that you don't want to take a hit on open ice if you can avoid it. But, when he tried to avoid it, he shifted the angle of impact. It was an unfortunate occurrence that left Barrie injured and Cooke suspended.
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