Monday, September 29, 2008

Henrik Sedin- NHL goon?

As shocking as the mostly humorous tussle between Henrik and Anaheim's Corey Perry late in OT was, even more shocking was this report from an Anaheim blog:
" The rest of the overtime period passed uneventfully except for roughing between Perry and Henrik Sedin with just :24.1 seconds left. Perry took exception to the cheap shot that Sedin threw to the back of Perry’s head and let Sedin know it would not be tolerated. Despite the rare display of chippy behavior, the game ended in a shootout." I will give you a second to wipe the milk off the screen. Where does one begin? From the implication that Perry was just an innocent victim, to the sentence that ends the paragraph (was the writer referring to the game, or Perry. If it was Perry, we need to talk...), it's simply an inaccurate portrayal of the incident. Perry clearly punched Henrik on the way into the boards, and Henrik's pop in the back of the head was a sign that indeed, it would not be tolerated. Henrik and Daniel, being the players teams often focus on when they play the Canucks are used to such abuse, and have become growingly more intolerant of it as they go on in their NHL careers. Perry on the other hand, is a very talented goal scorer, and certainly plays tough. He also has a reputation around the league for being a top notch agitator, in the league of players like Jarkko Ruutu, Darcy Tucker and the league's douchebag champions, teammate Chris Pronger and Dallas' Sean Avery. Perry's shot, while not enough to cause injury, was at best cheap and certainly showing the lack of respect that the NHL wants to get rid of. The question is, are the Canucks going to let it go, or will there be a subtle reminder from a much tougher Canucks squad on Sunday night that not only is this a team that will not be pushed around this season, but one that holds players accountable for their actions against its' star players like the Sedins and Roberto Luongo. My bet is Perry may have a full dancecard at GM Place.

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