Burrows’ Stick, Staal’s Balls and Tortorella’s Response

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Jan 142011
 

Alex Burrows waded into the controversy pool again last night with this spear on Rangers defenseman Marc Staal’s Sami Salos.

After the game, Rangers coach John Tortorella wasn’t happy with the non-call and Deadspin called it a dick of a move.

“It’s ridiculous,” Tortorella said. “It’s dangerous. That, that – the thing that bothers me is, how don’t you see it? And that’s what was told to me. That’s what agitated me is they didn’t see it. Then Sean Avery chips a puck in, and it’s interference. That’s a dangerous play on Marc Staal, and it’s beyond me how two guys – one guy in the corner, and one out at the neutral zone, can’t see it. And we end up down, which usually happens if you retaliate. But if I’m Marc Staal, I’d retaliate too. I’d try to break his ankle, on something like that. It’s ridiculous.”

Obviously, Staal wasn’t pleased either.

“He speared me in an area where nobody likes to get hit,” said Staal, who celebrated his 24th birthday today. “I two-handed him as hard as I could on top of the feet. … I thought at least it was gonna be a (4-on-4). I don’t know if (the referee) didn’t see it, what was going on in front. Then it was an unfortunate play by Dru, making a good play, and it goes off his stick into the stands. We did a really good job of killing that.”

This play actually happened so fast that I missed it until Sportsnet showed the replay. It seemed innocuous enough and I’m obviously not in the position to determine whether or not it was intentional. Remember that Burrows and Staal were both involved in a pretty good battle in front of the net at the time. At the very least, Burrows probably deserved to be penalized on the play. (I’d say I’m surprised that Burrows didn’t get at least a penalty, but is it really surprising that the officials blew yet another call?)

*****

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  • Three Chord Monte

    “not in a position to determine if it was intentional”? Hmm. Try doing that without intent.

  • Idnotwannahearit-invisible

    “Not in a position to determine if it was intentional” you say. That is the most disingenuous, passive-aggressive, mealy-mouthed rationalization designed to excuse a blatant attempt to injure I’ve ever heard. Did you even read what you wrote? Were you able to do so without cringing with douche chills?

  • Idnotwannahearit-invisible

    “Not in a position to determine if it was intentional” you say. That is the most disingenuous, passive-aggressive, mealy-mouthed rationalization designed to excuse a blatant attempt to injure I’ve ever heard. Did you even read what you wrote? Were you able to do so without cringing with douche chills?

  • Idnotwannahearit-invisible

    “Not in a position to determine if it was intentional” you say. That is the most disingenuous, passive-aggressive, mealy-mouthed rationalization designed to excuse a blatant attempt to injure I’ve ever heard. Did you even read what you wrote? Were you able to do so without cringing with douche chills?

  • Idnotwannahearit-invisible

    “Not in a position to determine if it was intentional” you say. That is the most disingenuous, passive-aggressive, mealy-mouthed rationalization designed to excuse a blatant attempt to injure I’ve ever heard. Did you even read what you wrote? Were you able to do so without cringing with douche chills?

  • http://twitter.com/vOyAgEr57 Laura Daniel

    Jesus, if a Ranger player does something below the belt, I acknowledge it and say it was a bad decision and uncalled for, regardless of my love for the team and the players in it. I support them, but I can see a bad play when it happens. ‘Not in a position to determine if it was intentional?!’ REALLY? To coin an old sports phrase, what game were the refs (and more to the point, you) watching? If a Blueshirt player had speared a Nuck like that, I’d have been disappointed in him. Call your players out! Battle in front of the net or not, you don’t spear a man in the balls.