A long time ago in my first season covering the Jets under coach Walt Michaels, the grizzled old former linebacker with gnarled hands as thick as bear paws used to say, "If you have a cannon, fire it." What he meant was that it was up to the coach to use all the weapons at his disposal.
I don't know if Michaels ever watched a hockey game, but he might have wondered why Islanders coach Scott Gordon left enforcer Mitch Fritz on the bench for the entire third period after the Devils' Mike Mottau knocked center Frans Nielsen out of the game early in the period with a cheap shot to the head. Linemate Trent Hunter responded immediately by going after Mottau and got a 10-minute game misconduct for his trouble.
No one would have been surprised if Gordon threw the 6-8 Fritz on the ice at that point even though he had played just one second-period shift and a total of 2:30 in the game. But Gordon didn't light the fuse to Fritz's cannon then, and even after the Devils put the game out of reach at 5-2 with a five-on-three power play goal, the Islanders' coach refused to fire his big gun in what he apparently regarded as a vain attempt for payback.
"It was 4-2," said Gordon, referring to the score at the time Nielsen was helped off the ice with possible head and right knee injuries. "I thought in the second period, we were generating some pretty good pressure. We came out of the period 2-2 [in the period], but I really thought our guys were going to continue to generate chances. In the third period, I didn't want to put Mitch in a situation where he hadn't played in a significant time and being cold I didn't want to put him in that situation."
Why not use him when the game was out of hand to send a message to the Devils? "No, I don't think that's the right thing to do," Gordon said. "You jeopardize your own players' safety if you put a player out like that. It kind of gives the impression that you're trying to create or do something. I didn't want to put Mitch in that situation or the rest of the players on the team in that situation where the other team thinks this is what we're going to do.
"We've got a game [tonight in Buffalo]. I didn't want our guys to be overtaxed. Next thing you know, we've got a short bench because we've got three guys in the box because they respond to something that isn't the message we're trying to send. Next thing you know, you're finishing the game with six forwards. We had a short bench with Hunts being out the rest of the game and Frans being out of the lineup, and I didn't want to get our guys in a situation that was going to compromise their ability [tonight]."
Gordon might have come to the Islanders from the Boston organization, but he obviously didn't fall from the Don Cherry coaching tree. Guarantee you Stan Jonathan would have been over the boards in the blink of a black eye, chasing after Mottau or the nearest player in a Devils uniform. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
Sure, Gordon undoubtedly makes a good point about playing short-handed with Hunter and Nielsen already out of the game and Fritz rendered impotent on the bench. A few more penalties in a brawl, and the Islanders, indeed, might have finished with two forward lines.
But that raises another point. If Fritz was cold in the third period, it's because Gordon obviously doesn't feel he skates well enough to make a contribution other than the occasional fighting major. The same thing happened the last time Fritz was called up. Against the Devils, Gordon noted that he put Fritz on the ice right after Andy Hilbert's second-period goal cut the Devils' lead to 2-1, and sure enough, the Devils responded 23 seconds later with a goal by Bryce Salvador that went off defenseman Chris Campoli's skate.
"Not that it was [Fritz's] fault, but it's early in the second period and we've got to make up some ground," Gordon said. "It's a situation that doesn't call for Fritzie to be on the ice. That being said, I thought the way our guys played in the second period was going to continue in the third period. That's what I felt we needed to do to win. At that point, I didn't think Fritz was going to make a difference in the game when we're trying to score goals."
If that's the case, then maybe the Islanders need to call up two scoring-type forwards from Bridgeport for the Buffalo game, one to replace Nielsen if he's too injured to play and one to replace Fritz if he's not good enough to play.
Neither captain Bill Guerin nor alternate captain Brendan Witt questioned the lack of a response from Gordon to Nielsen's injury. But Guerin certainly was outspoken about the nature of Mottau's hit. I included most of the captain's comments in the game story I wrote for the print edition of Newsday, but it might not have made the main sports website, which was down for repairs overnight. So, I'll recap Guerin's comments here.
Asked for his take on Mottau's hit, Guerin said: "I know it was to the head. It's easy to see. I came in and I watched it on video just to make sure I wasn't speaking out of line. I know Mike Mottau. He 's not a dirty player, but it was a dirty hit. Thomas Pock's not a dirty player. He had a dirty hit against Ottawa, and he paid for it."
Guerin's reference to Pock was about his elbow to the head of Ottawa's Ryan Shannon for which the NHL handed Pock a five-game suspension he's still serving. At the time, the league sent out a FAX warning that penalties for hits to the head were going to be more severe than in the past. That's fine with Guerin.
"I'm just sick and tired of hearing how the Players Association has to get together on this; it's all on the players," Guerin said. "There's a lot of people involved. There's the players, there's the referees, and then, there's the league. I think everybody has a hand in this game. We all have a responsibility to this game to make it better.
"It's up to the players to respect each other more. It's getting ridiculous. And the referees enforce things on the ice, and the league will handle it. Hopefully, they will start handing out stiffer penalties. It takes away from the game. Too many guys go down."
Asked if he expects Mottau to receive a suspension, Guerin said, "Oh, absolutely."
Interestingly, Devils coach Brent Sutter wasn't so sure. During his postgame scrum with Devils beat writers, Sutter said he didn't check a replay after the game. Explaining his impression during the game, Sutter said: "[Mottau] came across and [Nielsen] was in front, so, I don't know. He got the two-minute minor penalty on it. If the player didn't get hurt, his ankle or the bottom part of his leg, that's what it is. It's a two-minute minor penalty. I didn't see it after the game, so, I can't really say."
Coming from a guy who was incensed about the knockout blow the Islanders' Doug Weight delivered to his son, Brandon Sutter, in a game earlier this season, it was a rather remarkable about-face. In that case, Brandon Sutter put his head down and Weight did his best to keep his elbows down for a clean hit that wasn't even penalized. The next day, Brent Sutter criticized Weight for hitting a vulnerable player.
In this case, Mottau was beaten by Nielsen, and he crossed the line with a clear elbow to the head to stop the Islander. Suddenly, Brent Sutter develops a case of myopia. It's that kind of hypocrisy that allows such dangerous plays to continue.
Comments (15)
WOW!!! Thank God we had Fritz tonight. He really scared the crap out of the Devils with his mean looks from the bench.
But wait, didn't you guys tell me that just having Fritz on the bench intimidated the other team into not taking chaep shots at our players. I could swear that's what most of you told me.
However, it didn't stop Jackman from getting the crap beat out of him (AGAIN). It didn't stop Neilsen from getting butt ended in the face. Gee, maybe you guys forgot to tell the Devils how intimidated that they were supposed to be.
So I'm watching Jackman get busted up and I think OK here comes Mr. Fritz, because that's why we need an enforcer.
And Mr.Fritz never moves his butt from the bench.
And then I see a blatant 5 minute major and intent to injure penalty get plea bargined down to a two minute monor. And I see Nelisen get helped off the ice. The game is out of reach now, so I am sure that Mr. Fritz is jumping over the boards to exact revenge on every Devil he can find.
But no, Mr. Fritz never moves off the bench and then the game is over and Gordon gives some lame ass excuse about Fritz not having played enough to go back into the game.
Fritz is a goon, plain and simple. And yet, if ever there was a time for a goon to get in there and mix it up, this was it. And Mr. Fritz sat.
So now all you goon fans have some explaining to do. Obviously the mere presence of Mr. Fritz detered noone. And second, when it was "goon time" Mr. Fritz sat playing all of 2 mins 30 seconds.
Please explain this farce to me.........Sir William
Well said Sir William!
And I wish people would stop calling Motteau's hit to Neilsen an ELBOW to his head... it wasn't... it was a BUTT END and fist to the head.
Semantics I know.
DOC
Sir William.
What's your point?
You've got me thoroughly confused.
Do you want Fritz to do something?
Or do you want him sent back to the Bridge?
If the coach doesn't use him, then he's wasting space.
In the last two games, we have had KO SPEARED and Neilsen BUTT ENDED to the head.
And Fritz with less than two minutes of ice time in either game.
Tomorrow night it will probably Tambellini.
With no Fritz on the ice.
There's still no enforcer on this team
NO ENFORCER......Kids get hurt.
PERIOD.
I have been giving Gordon the benefit of the doubt. If he feels that way about Fritz's game, he needs to send him out in the 1st and let the other team know he is there. One early fight is all it takes to set the tone, and then keep him on the bench.
Kevin T.
I have been giving Gordon the benefit of the doubt. If he feels that way about Fritz's game, he needs to send him out in the 1st and let the other team know he is there. One early fight is all it takes to set the tone, and then keep him on the bench.
Kevin T.
You want my explanation SW....
Your moronic GM hired a coach with no clue how to send a msg after one of his kids gets attacked. Any other coach "with a resume" would of sent Fritz out on the NEXT SHIFT !!!
Plain and simply Gordon blinked. Was he intimidated by Sutter ? Not sure.....HE looked like a deer in headlights.
The correct move was to send Fritz right out there to beat the living snot out of the first red jersey he saw......Instead he did NOTHING !!! HEck, Hunter showed the coach what the players thought.
****Still asking....WHY IS SIM ON THIS TEAM ??? He is useless and takes up space.....Jackman fills his roll of a 4th line jabber jaw......WAKE UP BOBBLEHEADS !! ****
what an embarresment this team is. We suck at everything, lose the game, get our asses kicked, and our coach is a the worst. f his system, FIRE GORDON!!!!! enough with these boston lOOOOSSSERS
If I were Snow I would be livid at Gordon right now. As a matter of fact just like a player may get benched for a bad game I would consider benching Gordon for a game and let him watch from upstairs because he clearly didn't get it being on ice level last night. Those of us who called for Fritz expected him to be on the ice for situations like last night. Why did you dress him Scott is he some kind of shootout specialist? Every time he tried to explain his INACTION'S last night Gordon kept digging his hole deeper and deeper. He's worried about having a bunch of players in the box with 3 minutes left in the game? The best thing Gordon could do is admit to his players he screwed this situation up big time and that it won't happen again, that he will respond when one of them gets a cheap shot. The ref's were a joke last night the ref was looking right at that hit and only called a minor, my guess is the extra time that Hunter got was because he instigated a fight wearing a face shield. Don't let him off the hook on this Logan and let him know that about 95% of the fans are furious at him for this including the ones that have defended him this year. BTW Howie and Jaffe were pathetic after the game agreeing with Gordon.
Nice blog entry Logan. There could not have been a more appropriate time for Fritz to be on the ice than after Jackman got clobbered or Nielson got decked. Absolutely no excuse on this for Gordon. His post-game response to the media was even more pathetic than the DiPietro injury report. With DiPietro, at least he had an excuse because we all knew he had to respect management on their decision. In this case, it was Gordon's decision and he blew it. The only message he sent to other NHL clubs is that the Isles can be beaten and take a beating.
Hey at least Jackman throws the hand gotta give him credit even if he knows he will be accepting more than giving. the hit whether accidental or not is bologne and better have a suspension, where is Fritz, c'mon if he is not playin and we are not gonna go out of our way to stick up when we get pushed around get him outta here and bring up a kid from the bridge offensive minded that will play more than 2 1/2 minutes. Sutter abow faces on what was more of a dirty hit than Weight is garbage.Sucks that he was one of us once but he can't go f@#$ off. I know it is one game and we play again tonight but last night was quite the stinker. Gordon grow a sac, and next time Hunter make your retaliation worth it. He barely got in a punch. Hope Nielsen is not out for long.
It doesn't bother me that they lose games. It kills me the way they are physically beaten. It shows no backbone by management to allow what happened last night without sending a mesage that this team will not be intimidated any longer. Can't have Bergie and Jack and Hunt doing the fighting. Lets get some mean guys in bad moods to do the fighting.
To piggy back off of what Steve said. Who would want to come play for the Islanders knowing Gordon and management won't defend them on the ice... Abandon SHIP! lol... The Islanders are the NHL's whipping boy.
I look for the same thing to happen tonight. Jackman is busted up and if Fritz doesn't play all but 2 minutes. Who contains the Sabres????
Gordon looked like a scared rookie last night. "steady" pegged it. How can you not put Fritz out there? Another mindless move by a bunch of people that do not know how to run a hockey squad. I agree. Fire snow and gordon asap.
I'm not quite sure why you would expect Sutter to sit there and rip on his own player to the media, especially if, as he says, he didn't checked the replay - and that was before the league had handed down any judgment. In these cases, the Devils just don't do things that way. What do you want from him, something like, "Mottau is a dirty player and deserves as long a suspension as Pock received?" The Devils aren't saying "that was a dirty hit" regardless of Mottau's obvious stupidity because they don't typically say anything remotely negative about their own unless it's motivational. They'll talk about team toughness and standing up for your guys, how Trent Hunter is a good teammate because that's just what he did, and how Mottau understands that and had to answer the bell.
The coach must send Fritz out after the hit on Nielsen. Fritz is up for only one reason. PERIOD. Instead of sending the right message we sent the wrong message. Mr. Arbor who won 5 cups always sent the message. What is the reason to have Fritz in the lineup if he doesn't go out after a situation like that? Also why the heck is Comeau not up? Is Fritz a better player than Comeau????