With all due respect to Chris Draper, he may want to buy a stopwatch.
Draper was very vocal about his displeasure with Pittsburgh Captain Sidney Crosby after game #7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Draper contends Crosby showed a complete lack of respect for Nick Lidstrom and the rest of the wings by not being in line quick enough to shake hands after the final buzzer.
Crosby shook about half of the Red Wings hands, but missed the first half of the team as he was celebrating and doing network TV on-ice interviews.
Crosby has refused to apologize saying there was no attempt to slight or disrespect anyone. If the Wings wanted to get off the ice fast, then that’s their choice.
Draper has a great deal more experience than Crosby being in the final, but he doesn’t have much more experience in losing the final. There is as much etiquette for the vanquished as there is for the victor.
Simply roll back the video from last year when the tables were reversed. Put a stopwatch on the time it took the Wings to line up for the hand shake. We have all seen the pictures of the Penguins leaning against the boards waiting. Do you think they enjoyed that? Do you think they wanted to get off the ice fast? The answers are absolutely not and absolutely yes. But they didn’t. They suffered through the painful wait and were forced to watch the Wings celebrate.
Chris Draper I believe spoke out of frustration and emotion after just losing the cup. When you are expected to win, believe you are the better team, and don’t win, your ego crashes as hard as your hopes do. The loser is required to work off the winner’s time table, not the other way around.
In fact it’s not just the winners time table, it is also the NHL’s. They have network TV partners who have been promised immediate interviews with key players while the emotion is fresh and the time is now. Crosby can not dismiss those obligations.
The stopwatch would also be helpful is looking at almost every other final since the lockout when the NHL developed this new partnership with Network TV. You will find every losing team waiting for the hand shake.
Despite their great regular season and the premature anointment as champs long before the final was even played, Detroit lost. There may well have been a lack of respect issue in this case, but the accusers may well be the offenders.
See you at the rink.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Well said Dean!
Hey Dean - I agree 100%. I highly doubt Crosby would go out of his way to snub Lidstrom. The media’s presence on the ice was a big time distraction for the Sid. Even if Crosby could see Lidstrom through the swarm of media, I doubt he could make his way through to the Wing’s captain. There’s just no way.
No one's at fault (except Draper here), it just happened. Lidstrom didn't want to wait all evening (understandable) and Crosby had a little more going on.
Bad way for the Wings to leave this season.
What i did not like is the day after sid could have said something.
What really gets me is the amount of time and energy spent on something as insignificant as this.
So what if Crosby didn't shake hands with lidstum, equally so what if Lidstrum left the ice. So what if Crosby didn't apologize the next day, he felt he didn't have to. He explained why he didn't, and thats good enough for me. Why isn't it good enough for others.
It aways amazes me how much people get upset these days about trivial matters. I do know that with more sports channels, bloggers, radio that the airwaves have to be filled, but really, has our society been so keen to find fault in everything that a 23 year old kid does.
Remember now that the ice after a game has more media personnel than actual team representatives. Crosby had to do interviews on the ice with NBC, CBC, TSN, NHL Network, Sportsnet etc. It is bordering on insanity that Crosby MUST do interviews right away with these guys before anything else.
All guys like Roy had to do was shout out I'm going to Disney's World 17 times, and that was after the handshake.
Now asking for a trade cause you don't like the coach...That's news.
Here's something the NHL could do..just a bit of a thought process.
Game is over, final horn goes...
Winning team congratulates one another, shakes hands with the other team, Bettman comes out with the cup and THEN the microphones come on the ice.
Just a thought. The broadcaster bought the rights to the thing...it's not like they are going to get 'scooped' on the ice.
Post a Comment