Better to be Thought the Fool: A Final Word on the Cody McLeod Hit

"It is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

Since Russo got Shanahan on the record, we have his reasoning, however mind boggling it may be. We also have the opinions of a couple of the most objective members of media one could ever meet. All told, we have one of the greatest collections of absurd reasoning and passing of the buck we have ever seen outside of Washington, DC.

Make the jump for the walk through crazy land.

Let Him Know He Was There

Indeed, Paterell's hand was just sort of there. As Jim Mattheson in Edmonton wrote:

With the hit from McLeod on Spurgeon, Shanahan himself had this to say, via Russo:

Again... his hand is there to let Spurgeon know he is there. Uh... OK. It is always amazing to read some of the reasoning thrown around in these cases. This one is classic. When did forecheckers start warning players they were coming? Does that warning need to include a push from behind into the boards? How about instead a of a warning, the players simply makes a play for the puck, rather than slamming a guy face first into the glass?

Just a thought.

Brendan Shanahan seems to think that players making plays for the puck along the boards are fair game, just so long as you tap them on the shoulder first to give them the 3 milliseconds of a warning that they are about to get slammed into the wall with the only thing between their brain and the glass is their nose.

Applying the Brakes

This logic eludes me completely. Shanahan says that Spurgeon was applying his brakes. Of course he was, he was skating full speed toward a wall. What would you do, Mr. Shanahan? When did the onus shift back to the player being hit? I believe the rule now says the onus is on the hitter. Unless, of course, the rule changed again.

Of course, Shanahan is not alone in blaming the victim. We have two of the most highly objective reporters ever to pick up an pen to back up his reasoning:

Oh, and Mike Yeo is a whiner. It's OK, coach, according to other fans (note - not reporters... fans like Dater), Russo and I are also whiners. Just trying to take the focus off of his skidding team. Indeed, because the reporters asked a question about the hit, and Yeo didn't immediately respond with "My team sucks right now." Solid journalism there, Dater.

But wait... Dater's partner at the highly creatively named All Things Avs, one Mr. Mike Chambers (no relation to Diane I am guessing), had these comments about the fact that McLeod went unpunished.

First:

"Had his brakes on." Referring to McLeod. Let's look at a screen shot from the video, shall we? You know, since the moving pictures seem to be too much for Mr. Chambers.

How many NHL players "put their brakes on" by moving into a duck foot stance? Could it be that maybe McLeod was bracing himself to lay a dirty hit? Nah. Can't be. He was just "putting his brakes on."

But then, magically, the tune changed just minutes later:

Now both guys are braking. Still only see one guy breaking in that picture, but OK, believe what you want. Spurgeon caught an edge? This is the magical "toe pick" from your first tweet? If a skater toe picks, he will fall in the direction his toe is facing. Look at the picture above. Spurgeon's skates are parallel to the boards. If he toe picked, he would have fallen toward the corner. Not exactly what happened.

Total accident as McLeod first "warned" spurgeon he was coming with the hand across the numbers. McLeod then "put the brakes on" by turning into a duck foot stance. Then, Spurgeon caught an edge, or "toe picked," while McLeod gently guided him into the boards from behind. I can see how this all happened. All you have to do is remove your brain, put on your fantasy land glasses and shut off all higher reasoning.

Deal, right?

Lessons Learned

We have new set of lessons to incorporate into our book for what is clean and what isn't:

1. When about to make a dirty hit, simply let the player know first by placing your hand on his back.

2. Never attempt to stop before running into the end boards. This is no longer considered safe, especially if you received what we shall affectionately call the "love tap" from the man about to crush you head first into a non moving surface.

3. When beginning a "hockey stop," avoid everything you have been taught since you were four or five. Turning your skate in the same direction is the wrong way to stop, should you wish to avoid supplemental discipline. Instead, learn from the kid next you and do a duck foot style "stop," allowing your media backers to claim you were stopping, yet allowing you to get full force into your hit.