Crosby the Diver? Not a Chance....
There has been a recent backlash in certain circles regarding the play of Sidney Crosby. Tim Panaccio wrote about it in his blog on www.hockeybuzz.com and Eklund himself seconded the opinion. Interesting that two people who are based in Philadelphia would speak out against the "new face" of the NHL, a face that was rearranged by Derrian Hatcher just before it went on to single handedly hand the Flyers their first defeat on home ice since opening night.
These gentlemen have gone on record stating that Sidney Crosby has become a diver and a whiner. I will agree to some extent with the latter. Sidney has got to learn to control himself in situations where he could cost the team a goal. There are going to be numerous occasions where Sid gets abused and the ref is not always going to make a call, we have seen this happen to the best players in the league for years. Sidney, well on his way to becoming one of the best, will be in this situation his entire career and needs to learn to combat it the way he did later in last evenings tilt again the Flyers, on the scoreboard. Sidney picked his game up in the third period scoring one goal and setting up another in regulation. He then took a pass in stride from Ryan Malone with less than a minute in the overtime period, and beat Antero Niittymaki to clinch a victory for the Penguins. Sidney finished with 2 goals and 1 assist.
I have watched all but one Penguin game this season and have not seen evidence of Sidney Crosby diving. I have seen an awful lot of him being shoved to the ice, tripped, slashed, having his helmet knocked off, being face washed etc. Sidney isn't exactly a huge man, but he is strong on his skates. He doesn't just fall to the ice, or look to be embellishing all that often. I am not saying that he hasn't done it at all, what player hasn't. Throughout the first month or so of this season, I saw many players fall to the ice as soon as they felt an opponents stick on them, especially against the Penguins, who seemed to be one of the most heavily penalized teams in October. During this time I had seen only a couple diving calls, and they had all been tacked on to a penalty to the player committing the infraction. Sid has been mauled often this season and has only recently grown frustrated with the officials.
It was very surprising to see Derrian Hatcher get away with 2 consecutive high sticking penalties last night. If Sidney embellished the injury I didn't see it. Those broken teeth and cut lip were not the product of a special effects team. Sidney laid there because he was in obvious pain. He didn't bark at the referee and went to the bench, though he was disgusted. When he came back on to the ice and Hatcher caught him in the mouth a second time, he was visibly upset. I personally cannot blame him for that, I have played enough hockey in my day to know that getting high sticked, especially back to back times is not a pleasant experience. I was quite shocked that the penalty wasn't called. Granted, Sidney needs to learn how to handle those situations without taking a penalty.
I wouldn't say that the league is letting Crosby get away with anything or not penalizing him. I have seen him called for several Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties this season and if anything, the referees seem even quicker to blow the whistle on Sidney. If Sidney Crosby needs a sitdown with Colin Campbell, so does Marian Hossa, Joe Thornton and a host of other very skilled young players that have spent a lot of time griping about being hit, slashed and tackled. I have even seen Peter Forsberg lay on the ice and look to the referees when a call was missed.
I haven't seen anything this season from Sidney that I would call cheating. All I have seen is a dynamite young player that 29 other teams aren't lucky enough to have and who has been placed under the biggest microscope that I have ever seen. This young man is going to have some ups and downs, but I don't think that he is supposed to take abuse with a smile. He fights through hooks and holds as much as any young player I have seen in the league, sure he may not be doing it as well as a player almost 2 full years his senior, Alexander Ovechkin, but he does it. Check the highlights of the November 7th game against the New York Rangers and you will see him split the defense, get tripped, leap over two sticks and still put a shot on net. Sidney seems to be held to a higher standard than any of the other rookies in the league. He is delivering on what was advertised, leading the league in Rookie scoring, drawing penalties, creating scoring chances, leading when asked too, and most importantly, winning games. All of this and it still isn't enough.
Tim Panaccio's Blog Entry:
http://v2.hockeybuzz.com/blogworld/blog.aspx?blogger=2&post=616
Eklund Blog Entry:
http://v2.hockeybuzz.com/eblog/Default.aspx
These gentlemen have gone on record stating that Sidney Crosby has become a diver and a whiner. I will agree to some extent with the latter. Sidney has got to learn to control himself in situations where he could cost the team a goal. There are going to be numerous occasions where Sid gets abused and the ref is not always going to make a call, we have seen this happen to the best players in the league for years. Sidney, well on his way to becoming one of the best, will be in this situation his entire career and needs to learn to combat it the way he did later in last evenings tilt again the Flyers, on the scoreboard. Sidney picked his game up in the third period scoring one goal and setting up another in regulation. He then took a pass in stride from Ryan Malone with less than a minute in the overtime period, and beat Antero Niittymaki to clinch a victory for the Penguins. Sidney finished with 2 goals and 1 assist.
I have watched all but one Penguin game this season and have not seen evidence of Sidney Crosby diving. I have seen an awful lot of him being shoved to the ice, tripped, slashed, having his helmet knocked off, being face washed etc. Sidney isn't exactly a huge man, but he is strong on his skates. He doesn't just fall to the ice, or look to be embellishing all that often. I am not saying that he hasn't done it at all, what player hasn't. Throughout the first month or so of this season, I saw many players fall to the ice as soon as they felt an opponents stick on them, especially against the Penguins, who seemed to be one of the most heavily penalized teams in October. During this time I had seen only a couple diving calls, and they had all been tacked on to a penalty to the player committing the infraction. Sid has been mauled often this season and has only recently grown frustrated with the officials.
It was very surprising to see Derrian Hatcher get away with 2 consecutive high sticking penalties last night. If Sidney embellished the injury I didn't see it. Those broken teeth and cut lip were not the product of a special effects team. Sidney laid there because he was in obvious pain. He didn't bark at the referee and went to the bench, though he was disgusted. When he came back on to the ice and Hatcher caught him in the mouth a second time, he was visibly upset. I personally cannot blame him for that, I have played enough hockey in my day to know that getting high sticked, especially back to back times is not a pleasant experience. I was quite shocked that the penalty wasn't called. Granted, Sidney needs to learn how to handle those situations without taking a penalty.
I wouldn't say that the league is letting Crosby get away with anything or not penalizing him. I have seen him called for several Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties this season and if anything, the referees seem even quicker to blow the whistle on Sidney. If Sidney Crosby needs a sitdown with Colin Campbell, so does Marian Hossa, Joe Thornton and a host of other very skilled young players that have spent a lot of time griping about being hit, slashed and tackled. I have even seen Peter Forsberg lay on the ice and look to the referees when a call was missed.
I haven't seen anything this season from Sidney that I would call cheating. All I have seen is a dynamite young player that 29 other teams aren't lucky enough to have and who has been placed under the biggest microscope that I have ever seen. This young man is going to have some ups and downs, but I don't think that he is supposed to take abuse with a smile. He fights through hooks and holds as much as any young player I have seen in the league, sure he may not be doing it as well as a player almost 2 full years his senior, Alexander Ovechkin, but he does it. Check the highlights of the November 7th game against the New York Rangers and you will see him split the defense, get tripped, leap over two sticks and still put a shot on net. Sidney seems to be held to a higher standard than any of the other rookies in the league. He is delivering on what was advertised, leading the league in Rookie scoring, drawing penalties, creating scoring chances, leading when asked too, and most importantly, winning games. All of this and it still isn't enough.
Tim Panaccio's Blog Entry:
http://v2.hockeybuzz.com/blogworld/blog.aspx?blogger=2&post=616
Eklund Blog Entry:
http://v2.hockeybuzz.com/eblog/Default.aspx
posted by Bmetzer66 at 12:10 PM
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