The TD Garden is very quiet right now at 6:25 pm. But my guess is that by 7:05, this place will be rocking when Bruin’s defenseman Zdeno Chara steps on the ice ! Chara has been taking his lumps and then some in Montreal the past two days for his hit on Max Pacioretty that sent the Canadien player to the hospital. Fans in Montreal are calling for Big-Z’s head on a silver platter. Some have gone so far as to suggest he should be arrested for the hit and jailed. It got so bad at one point today that Montreal’s equivalent of 911 was shut down with the number of calls requesting Chara be extradited and jailed. It is getting to the point of craziness. The NHL saw nothing wrong with the hit (maybe one of the few times I have been on the same side as the NHL) and issued NO discipline in the matter. No one ever wants to see a player hurt in any sport. With that said, here’s hoping that the Garden Faithful give Chara a standing ovation for the amount of abuse the man has taken in the last 40 hours. Just saying…….. KEVIN HARRIMAN
You’re kidding right? You want Boston fans to give a man who almost crippled another man with a standing ovation because of the abuse he has taken? Oh boo friggin hoo. How about Pacioretty and the abuse he took? A grade 3 concussion and fractured vertebrae worth of abuse administered by a goon acting like a saint. I’ve heard Boston sports people call Montreal fans classless and pathetic before but never have they ever done anything like what you are advocating and never will. You are all the lowest of the low cheering on a bush league team with a history of undisciplined and reckless acts (need I remind you of Kyle Mclaren and his clothesline)
You guys need to show some class, be respectful of others and your hockey team needs to learn how to play actual hockey
Igor, I’m guessing you didn’t take my piece as it was intended. Please see my response to Bobby who also commented on the story…..
Kevin Harriman
“With that said, here’s hoping that the Garden Faithful give Chara a standing ovation for the amount of abuse the man has taken in the last 40 hours.”
Abuse, ridiculous term. Do you really want people to feel bad for him……..
Bobby, I hope you saw the humor in the piece. No, I don’t really want a standing ovation for Chara…I hoped that you would understand that my piece was tring to be equally as stupid as the Montreal fans requests for criminal prosecution…It’s hockey people…get over it. No one like to see players hurt, but it happens. Do you think Chara intended to hurt Max ? Do you think Chara is a dirty player ? Would you compare Chara to a Matt Cooke ? Please people…..it is hockey…
Kevin Harriman
If you would like to clean up your repsonse I’d love to publish it…….
“…here’s hoping that the Garden Faithful give Chara a standing ovation for the amount of abuse the man has taken in the last 40 hours. Just saying”
You are a sick man
I am a Habs fanand blogger, but most of all I am a hockey fan. I am one of those hockey fans that feared for the lives of Marc Savard, Patrice Bergeron, David Booth and countless others, and most recently, Max Pacioretty. I don’t want to see a player die on the ice, regardless of which team’s logo is on the front of his jersey.
I was watching the game between the Bruins and the Penguins in which Cooke took out Savard viciously and with no regard for his safety or well being, and my reaction to that was the same as it was on Tuesday when Chara hit Pacioretty: fear.
Many of us Habs fans are genuinely concerned for the safety of all the players in the league, and to trivialize this issue with flippant comments such as yours, Mr. Harriman, is quite unsettling. I’m sure that this isn’t a pleasant experience for Chara because nobody likes to be portrayed as the goat. But to focus on what Chara is enduring, and I use the term *enduring* sarcastically, is a blatant disregard and trivialization of the injuries that a young man suffered.
Like the NHL, you seem to be more concerned with insult rather than injury.
The next time one of the players of your team goes down, and it will happen because such is life in the current NHL, I will again feel sadness. As a blogger, the last thing I will do is call for a standing ovation to glorify the trials and tribulations of the perpetrator of an act that sends another player to the hospital.
Habschick, Thanks for your interest ! My guess is you failed to see the absurdity of my piece. My point with the story was to try and make it as crazy as calling for criminal indictment against Mr. Chara. Who in their right mind would call for criminal prosecution ? What does it say about a group of people who would, for lack of a better term, swamp Canada’s version of 911 with fans calling the police dept and demanding an arrest ? You tell me Habschick, which one is the dumber of the two ????
I hope you responde back !!
Kevin Harriman
Mr. Harriman,
Thank you for responding. The tone of your piece was received loudly and clearly, I assure you. I understood what you refer to as its “absurdity” as soon as I read it (I am quite astute). However, answering absurdity with absurdity really benefits no one, and is hardly entertaining. There are better ways to send a message.
The calls made to 911 by some individuals in Montreal may be seen as absurd on the one hand. On the other hand, perhaps there are some fans of *hockey* who feel the need to do anything they can to stop incidents like the one they witnessed on Tuesday (it was that horrific for those of us in attendance), and are grasping at straws. I did not call 911. I believe doing so is reckless and futile. In fact, the majority of Habs fans did not call 911. But I can see both sides of the issue.
As for the criminal indictment of Chara, you and I both know that this will never come to pass. If, however, the involvement of Montreal police results in simply sending the message that the NHL is incapable of policing its own backyard, then I will consider it a decent message sent.
And for the record, there is enough of a “dumb” element in the fan bases of both our teams, wouldn’t you agree? I don’t think we need to get into the specifics; I think we have seen enough evidence in both cities over the last couple of months.
Thanks for the comments. Let’s hope Match 24th is talked about as a great game, not something we remember for someone going to the hospital…
Kevin
Even your explanations are trite and condescending. I’m also a Habs blogger and I’m assuming you’re going to talk down to me like you did the previous writer. The reaction to the Chara hit would have been much less if he would have received a token suspension – even two games. But he’s off scot free and our guy may never play again. And the reaction is thus because we knew Chara was upset with the push a few games back and he wanted payback. So he got it, Bruin fans chanted his name like a welcoming hero, and the entire episode smells. Maybe you were trying to put some kind of sarcastic slant on the piece but it didn’t work and serves only to inflame others.
Dennis, Not thinking I’m talkingdown to anyone here…frankly, just not that smart….what I don’t understand is: how would the NHL giving Chara 2-games makes things better in Montreal ? The 911 calls wouldnt have been made ? Don’t think so. Would the calls for criminal prosecution not been made ? Doubt it Dennis….
This is hockey and things happen. Is Chara a dirty player ? No…do changes need to be madeto the game, yes….but you and I will probably never see it accomplished. Boston fans, young and old and more than most fans, understand the issues in the NHL. Bruins players have been on the butt end of a number of situations but have never sunk to the depths of the Canadiens fans did last week…EVER…Booing the American National Anthem sucks, but a whole country staging a portest of the Chara hit……. Boston fans remember Teddy Green, goons attacking Booby Orr’s knee, Chris Nilan stuffing his stick in Rick Middleton’s mouth, Cam Neely and Ulf, Patrice Bergeron taking nearly 18 months to come back and how could we forget Matt Cooke and Marc Savard… So don’t tell Bruins Fans that supporting their player is wrong !
Your comment about this whole situation “smelling” …well that’s correct. Montreal fans need to grow up and suck it up. It’s hockey Dennis. Please…..It’s hockey….thats all..
Kevin Harriman
Mr. Harriman doth protest too much, me thinks, but he makes my point for me.
You bring up booing a National Anthem and I can counter with Boston’s The Sports Hub radio show hosts denigrating all French Canadiens back in February (note: your head coach is French Canadian as are Bergeron and Savard). We can play the tit for tat stupidity game forever and still not have enough time to go through all the displays of idiotic behaviour within the fan bases of our teams. There are rotten apples in every bunch.
For a fan base that has been on the “butt end” of several horrible incidents like the ones you mentioned, I would think that at some point your fan base would start to protest against a league that allows this garbage to take place and that lets players get away with it. Your fans are so consumed with the rough and tough image of the Bruins that they are oblivious to the real issues. How many more Savards and Bergerons will it to take for Bruins fans to wake up? How many more concussions? How many more broken vertebrae? What would you be saying today if Pacioretty or Savard had died or had been confined to a wheelchair? That it’s just hockey?
It’s time for the fans of all teams and the fans of hockey to stick together and make the league hear us. Like you said, it’s hockey FFS. It’s supposed to be competitve and entertaining; it’s not a Gladiator sport.
So to answer your question, yes Habs fans would have appreciated the league acknowledging what happened with a suspension. We would have argued that two games was not enough, that’s a given, but the message that this kind of negligent hit will not be tolerated will have been sent.
What it comes down to, Kevin, is that if you aren’t part of the solution then you’re a part of the problem. Time for Bruins fans to pick a side. You can laugh at Habs fans all you want, but at least our voices are being heard and we’re screamimg loudly for things to change for every player’s sake, including Savard’s. Can you say you would do the same for Pacioretty? I’m guessing the answer is a resounding NO.
Thanks Habschick !
That’s French *Canadians*, not Canadiens. My bad. I neglected to proof read my comment.
Simply put the bulk of the Montreal Canadiens fans that live in and around the city of Montreal are a bunch of sniveling hypocrites, I offer as evidence
-”Reasoning” on the Montreal radio station that initiated the “911″ calling as “because we have to pay for the health care of the hurt player out of our taxes and it’s expensive” Yah right, that’s the reason, out of concern for the expense… Just how much do you think answering all of those 911 calls cost, and how much do you think the investigation, should it be opened will cost, and don’t you think the Montreal Police have better things to do?
-”Thinking” even for a second that the Chara hit needed to be investigated. It differed from Pacioretty running Eaton of the Islanders how? Oh wait, this time it was a Canadien that got hurt.. hmmmm.. knee jerk much? Also, do you really want to go down the road of police investigations in pro sports? Where will it end once that is opened? Are we going to take players out of the penalty box after a simple fight and have them go straight to court? How about elbowing? How about a player that gets hurt by a good clean hip check, should we have him filing assault charges?
-Don’t remember Habs fans complaining about violence when Knuckles Nilan, or Shane Corson were doing their thing, beating up other players and generally playing dirty.
-Don’t remember Canadiens fans having a huge concern about the “safety of the players” when it was Mark Savard laying on the ice after what was a cheap shot that DID have genuine intent to injure. Or when it was Lindros, or LaFontaine, or even more recently Mark Eaton
-Didn’t see any Habs fans complaining when the rent a goon from the minors came up and put the beat down on Boychuck. I mean, if the Canadiens fans are really so abhorred by the violence shouldn’t they have been sitting on their hands, instead of cheering for blood?
Let’s get down to brass tacks here, the Canadiens for the most part play a cheap brand of hockey that resembles European soccer, they instigate then back away, flop then beg for calls, slash from behind then run away and scream bloody murder when they get hit back. The fans at Montreal feed into it, abhorring the refs for a call every time a player makes the flop. If you want to talk cheapening or ruining hockey, look at the Canadiens, they are sure doing a good job of it.
Thanks Mikey….