Tales of the Tape: Guess who?

by JDunman on Mar 19, 2010 9:08 AM EDT in Fights

Is there really any setup necessary here?

As soon as Matt Cooke hit the ice (to a chorus of boos), Shawn Thornton skated up to him and it was ready to go. Whatever your thoughts on Cooke's hit to Marc Savard, you have to give it to him - he didn't avoid the situation. He immediately dropped the gloves and accepted the fight. Cooke got a brief offensive in, but quickly lost it (as well as his helmet) to Thornton's rights. Cooke went down, the linesmen jumped in, and that was that.

Well, except that Thornton kept punching and the two had to be pulled apart. Now, defending your fallen player from a hit like Cooke's is one thing, but Thornton had Cooke cleanly beaten. Honor guarded and fight won. Cooke was down and out. There was no reason to keep going once the linesmen were in, and it won Thornton a 10 minute misconduct penalty. Now how did he manage to come out of that with Cooke looking like less of a jerk? That's talent.

The other fight came in the 2nd period with Boston down 1-0 in an attempt to get some momentum going for the Bruins. Captain Zdeno Charadropped the gloves with Mike Rupp.

This was not a good fight for Rupp. Starting off unbalanced on his skates, Rupp tried to match swings with Chara, but couldn't get any of his shots to connect. Chara mixed some solid shots to the helmet (brutal on the hand) with some Jody Shelley-style jersey jabs which clearly shook Rupp up. A couple shots later, Rupp was face down on the ice, and the linesmen broke the thing up.

The momentum boost didn't work, though. Despite losing the fight, Rupp answered back with a goal in the third period. So who's really the winner here?

With these two pretty obvious losses, I'm going to do something different in the poll. Rather than asking who won the fight, I want your opinion on the effectiveness of Thornton's 'revenge' fight against Cooke. Fans were yelling for some retribution - I even saw several calls to injure Sidney Crosby which totally makes complete sense. Cooke hit the ice, dropped the gloves, and that's that. Right? Did Thornton go about it right? Is this thing really over?

Next up is the Hurricanes, who only have 29 fights for the season (24th in the league). Their only fight this season against the Penguins involved Tim Gleason fighting Bill Guerin. Not expecting anything from them this time around.

Poll

How effective was Shawn Thornton's action against Matt Cooke?

Thornton did a great job defending Savard.

32 votes

Thornton did good, but could have done without the misconduct penalty.

119 votes

Cooke deserved worse than he got.

53 votes

The Bruins should have focused less on revenge and more on winning the game.

185 votes

BAN FIGHTING!!!!!!!

21 votes

410 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

I think Thornton only got a 10-minute misconduct. He was skating (ineffectively) later in the game.

by RCheli on Mar 19, 2010 10:31 AM EDT reply actions

You’re right, and I swear I knew that. That’s what I get for typing before 9am.

It’s fixed – thanks!

Balancing that fine line between genius and insanity.

by JDunman on Mar 19, 2010 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions

WOW!

The 4 people who voted to ban fighting should immediately unregister from hockey blogs and never watch the sport again and switch to a wussy sport like basketball. Fighting has always been a part of this game! And it should always be a part of the game IMO.

by TonyAndrock on Mar 19, 2010 11:21 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I tossed it up there because it’s been a while since someone’s tried to convince me that fighting should go.

Balancing that fine line between genius and insanity.

by JDunman on Mar 19, 2010 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree with the point of your statement, but do you even watch basketball? A lot of dirty stuff goes on under that basket. Now if you’d have said baseball…

by Hatt the Moople on Mar 19, 2010 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, but actual basketball fights are the worst. The only thing in hockey even remotely similar is an Alexander Semin fight.

by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 19, 2010 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I know I'm in the minority

Come on now, no pro-Cooke option in the poll?

by eurydice_krg on Mar 19, 2010 12:13 PM EDT reply actions

Does there really need to be an anti-humanity option? I voted for he deserved more. And in typical gutless Cooke fashion he wouldn’t take off his visor before the fight. Thornton wanted both of them to take off their helmets.

Jibbles is an older man so you can trust what he says.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 19, 2010 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Bla bla bla. It’s stupid to take off your helmet, that’s how people die on the ice. If your so worried about hits to the head and players safety you should be encouraging players to keep their hats on during a fight. Not to mention you don’t seem to unhappy with Thornton getting those extra shots in once the fight was over. No matter what happened you people would be bitching.

by PensFan024 on Mar 19, 2010 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Please leave my “so worried” out of this.

Jibbles is an older man so you can trust what he says.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 19, 2010 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I’ve never given the taking off helmets before fighting much thought. Personally, with all the rage aimed towards Cooke lately and coming from a guy like Thornton, I can’t blame him for wanting to keep his helmet on. Obviously from the end of the fight, Thornton was looking to do a lot of damage.

Balancing that fine line between genius and insanity.

by JDunman on Mar 19, 2010 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions

The poll was judging what you thought about the response Thornton gave. I suppose an option of leaving Cooke alone could have fit with focusing on winning rather than revenge.

Balancing that fine line between genius and insanity.

by JDunman on Mar 19, 2010 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions

You know, it’s strange. I think if Cooke had been suspended, the blood lust would have been a bit more manageable for the fans and the media.
That fight needed to happen.
Even after reading the question, I was thinking more about the game as a whole and the response of the entire Bruins team. I did choose that answer, but instead of focusing on revenge, I think the Bruins should have focused their revenge by playing a spirited game.

by eurydice_krg on Mar 20, 2010 12:17 AM EDT up reply actions