I enjoyed last night’s game from the cheap seats, taking a bird’s-eye view from section 210, and I had the rare opportunity to bring my wife down to the rink. She’s not really a hockey fan, which helps balance out my obsession with the sport. In fact, despite my best attempts, she doesn’t really know a whole lot about the game or its players, pushing back against it the same way I reject tofu and musical theater. After 5+ years of marriage this is the extent of her hockey knowledge:
1) We hate the Ducks. Every time the Ducks are on television, without fail, one of us will turn to the other and say, “We hate the Ducks.” We were at a park last summer and watched a group of ducks swim by. Like a champ, she turned me and said, “We hate the ducks.” Indeed, we do hate the Ducks.
2) Wayne Gretzky is the greatest NHL player of all time. Read my blog long enough and you’ll realize everything can be debated. Everything but Gretzky’s status as the greatest player of all time.
3) Brad Staubitz wears number 59. Staubitz caught her eye during training camp last season and she remembered him when camp rolled around this year, right down to his number. She couldn’t pick Devin Setoguchi out of a lineup if he was wearing a name tag, but she would know Staubitz by his skating stride from 300 feet away. I can’t explain it.
I’m not complaining at all. Actually, her naivety helps keep me balanced and her questions actually help me understand the game better. Take last night, for instance. Claude Lemieux was engaged in a tussle with Oilers defenseman Theo Peckham in the second period. You can check out the entire thing below.
Shark fans were cheering while Lemieux got pummeled, and I can understand that. Everybody loves a scrap. No problem there. However, the capacity crowd absolutely lost its mind when he was assessed the 10-minute misconduct and headed off to the dressing room. You’d think he’d actually landed a punch. At that point, my wife turned to me and asked the exact same thing I was thinking. “Why are they cheering?”
I didn’t have an answer. I still don’t. I know Shark fans are too smart to cheer a guy who instigated a fight and then turtled. They’re too smart to cheer the one-sided beating of a Sharks player. They’re too smart to cheer the 10-minute misconduct that was tacked on at the end. Maybe they were cheering his bravery, the simple fact that a 43-year-old guy would stand in there (okay, hunch there with his chin tucked in a full turtle position) and absorb punishment from a 21-year-old rookie. I still don’t really know.
Whatever the reason for the wild applause, I really admire Lemieux’s competitiveness, and you need agitators who will occasionally take liberties with opposition while protecting teammates. However, Lemieux’s act was stupid and classless. He was dirty with Peckham on the ground, cowardly once the fight started, and classless once it had been broken up. Throw in the fact he was doing it all behind a visor and it makes the entire situation shameful.
I suppose Lemieux has never been accused of showing the opposition any respect, and the latest incident will only fuel his reputation as one of the most hated players in the league. Is that a good thing for the Sharks or not? They’ve needed an effective agitator since Ville Nieminen left town, possibly even longer, and Lemieux doesn’t shy away from playing that role. But were his tactics last night effective?
Some could argue that Lemieux provided an emotional boost in the building, but I’m not sure what kind of momentum the Sharks could have gained from watching him eat Peckham’s knuckles. Players are always looking to send a message, but what kind of message was it? I’m going to play dirty, turtle, and then cross the line afterward?
If anything, Lemieux’s performance let the Oilers gain some momentum and right the ship after falling behind 3-2 minutes earlier. If that’s the end result, Lemieux should probably keep his hands, and his turtle impression, to himself.
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