If You're Incapable of Performing Your Job Raise Your Hand!!!

Game 3 has come and gone and so has the chance for a Blackhawks sweep in this series. Actually, this is beginning to look more and more like a 7 game series with every passing day. Not because the Flyers are a worthy opponent to the Hawks, but instead because Gary Bettman and his army of idiots in pinstripes have enabled a team to play outside of the rulebook and win hockey games. I want to take this opportunity to vent a little bit on what is grinding my gears about this series, and I mean really grinding my gears.

It truly pains me to even speak this asshole’s name because attention is all he craves, but how the hell can the NHL let Chris Pronger get away with his style of play? He is an absolute disgrace to the game of hockey. Throwing pucks in the garbage, throwing towels at opponents, belittling people in interviews, and that’s all extracurricular to what he does between the whistles. On the ice Pronger is a cross-checking machine that plays with an edge that literally has the potential to ruin an entire series. Why does he get to play this way? What has he done that has enabled him to play above the rules? I honestly think letting Pronger play the way he does is worse than the MLB giving the entire Braves pitching staff 6 inches on both sides of the plate. IT RUINS THE INTEGRITY OF THE GAME!!! A cross-check is a cross-check, a slash is a slash, it should make absolutely no difference who is delivering the blow.

When looking at the 2010 Cup Finals this cross-checking, hooking, slashing non-sense between Pronger and Buff has got to stop. Yea Buff lost his composure in Game 3 and slashed Pronger’s stick. But honestly short of sucker punching Pronger in the jaw what was Buff supposed to do? He got cross-checked, slashed in return, 4 on 4 for 2 minutes. What in God’s name is so hard about making that call? Why does Pronger get to play with reckless abandon and never pay the piper? Pronger has made 8-10 plays in the first three games of this series that should have warranted 2 minute minors. Did he get them? Absolutely not. His special treatment makes me mad enough to boycott the NHL for the rest of my life. I guarantee that if Buff cross-checked Pronger to the ice Bill McCreary’s arm would shoot up in a second. I just don’t understand how a guy can be treated like such a god for acting like such a scumbag. John Madden has an even more impressive resume than Chris Pronger and he receives absolutely zero special treatment from the refs. It really disappointments me as a fan of the NHL that an ignorant goon like Chris Pronger could have such a huge influence on the league’s most important series.

But I refuse to write about that guy anymore tonight so let’s take a look at the officiating in general. I’m not impressed. I think the officiating has been God awful thus far. The Hawks have received power plays they shouldn’t have gotten and been cheated out of them on numerous occasions. Personally I hate the “Let ‘em play” mentality that is so readily adopted come playoff time. Yea it’s totally true that you don’t want officiating to decide a series. But a lack of consistency combined with numerous no calls is just as detrimental. And it’s not just the ignored cross-checks and slashes from Pronger that get me angry. There were at least 3-4 plays in Game 3 where I thought it would be perfectly legitimate for interference to be called. I understand interference is a judgment call for the ref but I saw lesser calls made on a regular basis during the regular season. How is it fair to change that now? I guess the best way to stop a pass is to just eliminate the guy who’s about to receive it. Apparently it’s allowed under the power of the “Playoff Rulebook.” I think the officiating is playing a way too major role in this Cup Finals movie.

When I look back to all of the events that transpired in Game 3 only two thoughts come to mind. Why wasn’t it 4 on 4 when Buff was cross-checked and then slashed Pronger in retaliation? And how can there be a 10 man scrum at the end of a period and a guy (Buff) being pulled in 3 different directions by 3 different people (including a referee) get called for the only minor when all he did was attempt to separate himself from the pack? Those 2 calls were directly related to 2 Flyer goals. Way to go refs, you ruined the game. Detach your lips from Chris Pronger’s asshole and force the game to be played the way it is all season and maybe we will see a true champion emerge, not just a team who knows how to seriously take advantage of the unwritten changes in the rulebook come playoff time (The Philadelphia Flyers).

I don’t know why I am letting this get me so riled up. The only reason I ever gave the Flyers a chance to beat the Hawks is because I knew that this is exactly how the series would play out. Someone out there please tell me something to put my mind at ease. If you think I’m whining say so, but back up your point. Someone tell me why it is ok for the infrastructure of the game to change come playoff time allowing people like Chris Pronger to rise to glory.