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Guest Howard He Do It?!

Cooke suspended

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Guest Howard He Do It?!
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke has been suspended for the remainder of the regular season (10 games) and the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for delivering an elbow to the head of New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh in NHL game #1080 yesterday, the National Hockey League announced today. Cooke will forfeit $219,512.20 in salary.

"Mr. Cooke, a repeat offender, directly and unnecessarily targeted the head of an opponent who was in an unsuspecting and vulnerable position," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. "This isn't the first time this season that we have had to address dangerous behavior on the ice by Mr. Cooke, and his conduct requires an appropriately harsh response."

Cooke's most recent suspension was for four games on Feb. 9, 2011 and under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement forfeits his salary based on the number of games in the season (82), rather than the number of days (186). The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

The incident occurred at 4:36 of the third period and Cooke was assessed a major penalty for elbowing and a game misconduct.

Cooke will miss Pittsburgh's remaining 10 regular-season games and be ineligible for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

NHL <-- Includes a video of the hit.

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glad to read Shero's comments on it. obviously, the hit is indefensible, but i can still see some GMs, coaches, etc. sort of himming and hawing, trying to rationalize or downplay the hit. there's something to be said for sticking up for your own guys, of course, but he really didn't have a choice here.

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I've heard a lot of people suggesting it wasn't long enough, but this is one of the most severe suspensions I've seen. Sure, there were suspensions of 20 or more games, but you have to consider that this is potentially 17 games, 7 of which are playoff games. The NHL has shown in the past that a 5 game suspension in the regular season might get you 1 or 2 games in the playoffs.

The NHL could have given him the easy 10 games, rest of the regular season, which would have also equalled what Gillies got for his second head shot in less than a month. So, they came down way, way harder on Cooke than Gillies, not much to argue about.

Who knows of the Pens will even insert him in the lineup if they get past the first round. I'd be willing to bet that they really aren't sure about that yet.

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In other news, good to see the NHL finally grow a pair. Maybe, just maybe the likes of Cooke might cut down on the dirty plays now.

not sure if it will cut down the plays because it really to me wasn't long enough...he should of gotten the rest of the season...first and second if the make it that fare and if not some games next season. but thats just me. The nhl will have to lay the hammer down sometime.

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"I realize and understand, more so now than ever, that I need to change," Cooke said Monday night, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That's what I wanted my message to be."

Nice sentiment and all, but too little too late. I wouldn't imagine there's anyone who actually believes him.

Penguins' Matt Cooke suspended | ESPN.com

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As I said in that thread - this is LONG overdue, but at least the NHL kinda got one right for once... I still think he needs to be removed from the game entirely... not just the NHL, but the game.

by. any. means. necessary...

399046.jpg

You got Luca Brasi's phone number?

I doubt it's going to happen, but it'd be a wake-up call to all players if the Penguins imposed their own suspension after the league suspension ends.

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Not sure why they ended the suspension at first round. With his track history it should've been season and playoffs, period. Most people would like to see him banned from the league but I won't be too hard on them for not going that extreme. But why let him into the playoffs at all?

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Oddly enough, I think Cooke got too much. 6-10 games would have been sufficient, maybe add a 1 game suspension to the HC for effect. The current outcome seems a little too much knee jerk reaction to Mario's griping. What if Cooke's victim got severely injured... we'd probably be looking at a lifetime ban by this scale.

So if a star player (w/precedent) like Heatley throws an elbow, should he face a similar penalty? The league is painting itself into a corner with this one.

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Do they want to get rid of hits like this, or not? If they do, they need to impose harsh penalties. The second you see a Heatley suspended for 15 games, alot of players will take a look at their games and realize they need to change.

That's the issue currently. The wheel of justice is so arbitrary, the Down Goes Brown flowchart is pretty much accurate. It's like parenting. If you make a threat, and don't follow through, or the punishment changes in severity for the same thing, the kids stop paying attention.

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Buccigross posted a 'Vlogumn' video blog on ESPN.com in which the first sentence out of his mouth was, 'I don't know if Matt Cooke is the dirtiest player in the NHL'. :blink:

Have I completely imagined the knowledge that Bucci had when it came to hockey?

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In my own personal opinion, the suspension wasn't nearly long enough. He has too long a history of s*** like this, and you could reasonably deduce from the fact he's had as many incidents like this as he has, that he doesn't really give a damn if he severely injures someone or not. I mean, if for example you know that walking backward without looking where you're going will knock someone down and hurt them, and after several incidents where you do just that, you continue to do it anyway.....any reasonably sane person would look at you say, "You don't care if you hurt someone, do you?" Same thing applies here, really. He knows head shots are dangerous and can not only end someone's career, it could cause serious physical harm......but he keeps doing it anyway. Either he thinks he's invincible, or he's too mentally unstable to be playing hockey.

Hockey is already a very physical, aggressive sport. Why make it that much more dangerous for other players by letting this idiot out on the ice? Why let someone continue to put themselves in the position to deliberately do things they know are not only against the rules of the sport, but beyond the level of physicality required to even play the sport in the first place.

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so what I conclude from what's being said:

1. with no priors you get one free shot.

2. if you are on the ice against a player with priors its okay (perhaps even preferable) to skate with head down.

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