The other night against the Flames there was a wide discussion among fans about how too many times now on perfectly clean and legal hits someone on the other team is taking offense and wanting to fight over the play. In my analysis of the Marc Staal hit I was challenged by a comment that if it had been a Ranger player who took instead of delivered the hit that I would be outraged over the play instead of deeming it as a clean play. Obviously I would like to believe that is not true, but tonight is an example of me showing that and also calling out some fans who are playing hypocrisy on an incident in tonight’s Rangers game.
In the third period there was yet another incident of a guy making a perfectly clean hit and having to have a fight because of it when Mattias Ohlund stepped up and crunched Erik Christensen in center ice and Sean Avery decided he actually wanted to care tonight and fight about it. This is the point where I will call out fans who are praising Avery for the play. I do not want to hear about you have to defend your teammates or any of that garbage because you have no need to defend a guy from a perfectly clean it because you know what they are playing hockey and hitting is part of the game. If it is an illegal hit I am all for defending your teammate and even dropping the gloves over it, but this garbage of fighting over clean hits has to end no matter what team is guilty of it.
Yes, the story will probably get more attention in the media now because Avery was the one that did it, but that does not make the story any less right. What I want to know from the people who will say it is about sticking up for teammates, where was that fire and passion before the game was over at 5-0? Where is that desire to defend teammates every time the Rangers stand around and watch Henrik get run and do nothing about it? So while the media will blow the story up because it was Avery, let us not also defend it because it was Avery.
