DEBATE: Did Sean Avery cross the line with his waving?
JIM: AVERY TOOK IT WAY TOO FAR
I'm all for blocking the goaltender's vision. Happens all the time. But Sean Avery took it three steps too far by waving his hands and stick and generally making a fool of himself.
Hey, all he had to do was plop himself in front of Brodeur, with his back to the goaltender, and move around as he followed the puck. That's completely accepted practice, and it accomplishes the same thing he was trying to do - block Brodeur's vision - except without calling attention to his antics.
What Avery did the other night is the equivalent of a basketball player waiting to go for a rebound on a free throw waving his arms and jumping up and down while his opponent shoots. Listen, we all know the basketball players talk trash while they're standing there. But nobody ever starts doing the chicken dance.
You know what Avery's play reminded me of? A-Rod last year in Toronto when he screamed 'Ha' at Howie Clark, or when he swiped at Bronson Arroyo's glove in the 2004 ALCS. Those are jerk moves, and the baseball world told A-Rod about it. Even his manager, Joe Torre, called him out for being in the wrong last year for yelling, 'Ha.'
Hockey did the same thing yesterday by instituting a rule, the Sean Avery rule, the don't-make-a-mockery-out-of-the-game rule. Good for them for stopping this guy now.
ANTHONY: ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE & HOCKEY
So let me get this straight? Sean Avery does something to help his team win that is allowed by NHL rules. So the NHL changes its rules in the middle of a playoff series???
And hockey fans wonder why the NHL is less popular than lawn bowling.
There’s no way a casual fan can take a league seriously when the league takes itself too seriously. Sean Avery’s waving his arms like an idiot in front of Martin Brodeur is so bad for the sport that the NHL has to immediately legislate it out? Ridiculous.
There’s already a way for the Devils to deal with Avery: Knock him on his butt. Even a pest like Avery will lose a little of his pestiness if his teeth end up on the ice the next time he tries to annoy Brodeur or anyone else.
Oh, right. The NHL already cracked down on fighting. The main reason people go to see the sport and it’s not allowed anymore. It’s like the NHL looked at the TV ratings figure skating gets during the Olympics and said, ‘Let’s be more like that.’ The only things missing these days are sequins on the sweaters.
Let’s take this idea to other sports:
* Next time Peyton Manning tries to draw off a defensive lineman by waving his arms around at the line of scrimmage, penalize him 15 yards.
* Next time Jose Reyes dances off third base to distract a pitcher, call him out.
* Next time Allen Iverson drives the lane and fakes a pass before taking the ball to the hole himself, technical foul. No faking allowed. It’s not fair to the fake-ee.
I don’t often quote Herman Edwards, but the man was right when he said, “You play to win the game.” This is professional sports. You take every edge you can get under the rules and every edge you can get away with outside the rules.
The Devils couldn’t be bothered to hit Avery with their bodies. So the NHL is hitting him with the rulebook.
Weak.
What do you think? Do you agree with Jim that Avery stepped over the line of accepted behavior? Or do you agree with Anthony that Avery did nothing wrong?
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Comments (12)
This rule change is absolutely ridiculous. It is in effect redefining the meaning of "screening" a goaltender to strictly mean you can only have your back to him? Sure what Avery did may have looked ridiculous, but what it really was - was smart. Instead of having his back turned to the goalie, watching the action, and guessing where the goalie's vision lies, he was facing the goalie to make sure his view of the action is compromised. It was a more thorough approach to "screening" in my view. You might as well call an unsportsmanlike penalty on every powerplay now when someone plants themselves in front of the net. The next thing the NHL will be doing will be penalizing Chara for being too tall and standing in front of the net - there will need to be a height requirement next. Again, this rule change is ridiculous and a very bad precedent to set in the middle of a playoff series.
What did Avery in was not facing Brodeur, but waving his stick and arms in the air like an out-of-control crossing guard. As someone who played the game, you might wave your stick for a second or so below your shoulders when a goalie in a butterfly crouch was looking low, but Avery's behavior represented something that went beyond the spirit of the rules. That said, New Jersey's skaters needed to take care of the situation, and Brodeur needs to have a chat with Billy Smith.
Teams complain about Avery all the time. Clearly, they don't do anything to take care of him. You can do that without going dirty.
Jim, perhaps you should watch something more "new NHL" and family friendly such as figure skating.
Anthony, I agree completely. All is fair if it is done within the rules and if the Devils were too chicken#### to hit the guy and take a minor penalty, that's their fault. I have no problem with the rule change, but why get on a guy who learns how to play within the rules and still be an annoyance?
For more information on people learning to bend the rules and get away with it... see "The White House."
Jim, go watch baseball.
Instead of Avery doing it to Brodeur lets switch roles and say Clarkson did the same thing to Lunqvist...All Ranger fans would have absolutely no problem with it?? I highly doubt that...and it wasn't a rule change its an interpretation of a rule (i think rule 75) and it was necessary...good job NHL!
new for the 2008-2009 season, the 3 second rule for the NHL. a trapezoid shaped box will be placed in front of the net similar to the crease. the size is yet to be determined but any offensive player in that zone must vacate it before three seconds expires. if they fail to do so, play will immediately be stopped and a faceoff will occur at one of the neutral zone dots.
come on, all i heard for years is "the NHL needs more scoring". all those rule changes were suppossed to do that. someone finds a way of distracting the goalie, which will lead to more goals, and the league comes down on it. makes sense right?
The league should institute a rule that says you can't hit another player in the groin with your stick. They have that rule? Oh, I forgot Marty falls under the umbrella of the "Michael Jordan" rule. Star players get away with everything. Why wasn't Marty called for the slashing on Avery? This is a joke. I'm not a Ranger fan, I'm a Lightning fan and how fast would the league have acted if it was Keri Ramo Avery was doing it to and not Brodour? Was that play any more bush league then the Devil forward who sprayed Lundquist the period before? Seems the Rangers took exception to that and handled it themselves, catch the hint NJ??? It's nice to see the league really rush to take care of those little plays that can cause bodily harm??? Maybe tonight they can pass a rule that opposing fans aren't allowed to sit in the first ten rows. The players shouldn't have to hear such bad things about them in their own buildings...Marty & the Devils need to stop crying in their Wheaties & butch up a little bit.
Esa Tikkanen must be proud. I love Avery.
"I wouldn't have been happy if it had happened to me,'' Valiquette said. "I probably would have reacted different, too. Sean would have been picking his teeth up off the ice, if it was me.''
That says it all when your own teammates think you're douche. No wonder he needs to visit prostitutes.
The unsportsmanlike penalty rule change mid-season with no vote of the board of gov. is BUSH LEAGUE, no pun intended, but actually fits.
Marty is unsportsmanlike in his simple existence. Stiff wind blows and Marty takes a dive, usually with the nearest opposition player receiving a goalie interference penalty.
Marty has made a mockery of the league for years, with his brand of sportsmanship, and yet they still call the garbage everytime Marty hits the ice.
PS: Great bye the way, one more subjective thing we can now leave to the inept ref's, so they can have even greater potential than they do now to decide the outcome of games!
Soon the league will make spraying the goaltender with snow an unsportsmanlike penalty...but they won't make that a rule until Avery does it, because hes just so annoying.
Broduer should eat another Hamburger, his triple chin is starting to lose its form.
Jim, what A-Rod did was great, both times. Let me ask you this. If the umps didn't change thier initial call on A-Rods swipe, the Yanks probably win that game and go on to win the series and then the World Series. Instead they let Boston take over this rivalry, lose the biggest lead in sports history, and now A-Rod is considered a playoff failure.
So he may have been "a jerk" but a jerk is better than a playoff loser like he's thought of now.
Good job by Avery. If the rule is un-written, its not really a rule.