You may not like Jarkko Ruutu. If he was on an opposing team, I probably wouldn't either. But the 5 minute major and game misconduct Ruutu got against Atlanta Wed night was a joke. The 5 for fighting, after simply standing there (gloves on!) and getting noogies in the back of the head courtesy of wannabe tough guy Steve McCarthy is even more atrocious.
In case you missed it (video below)...Ruutu went for a clean hit on Ilya Kovalchuk against the bench. If he would've hit him square, there would've been no penalty called. Kovy ducked the hit, and both players' knees collided. Ruutu clearly did not attempt to knee him, and he didn't stick his leg out. It was simply misfortune that their knees smacked, and even more misfortunate that Kovy was hurt. But it was by no means intentional.
Despite what the moron commentator says in the clip about the hit being "dirty" and "after the whistle," he's flat wrong. There was a delayed offside. A delayed offside is not a whistle. It's called playing to the whistle, ass bag. (I believe he corrects himself, later in the clip).
And furthermore...if you don't want anyone taking a run at your superstar, someone in the hockey hotbed of Atlanta needs to tell Kovalchuk: after you score, act like you've been there before. If you're going to skate by the opposing team's bench and point at them after you score, of course someone's gonna take a run at you! So enjoy your 2 games off from injury, hot shot.
Ruutu doesn't deserve a suspension...he deserves an apology from the NHL.
More Ruutu, kickin Darcy Tucker's ass early in January: Probably one of the better toe-to-toe's I've seen all year. The NHL needs its superstars, but it needs its grit just the same. Otherwise, you end up with a crap league that caters to prima donna slap silly gangsta bitches (see: NBA). I actually like Darcy Tucker, but he gets his face pounded here...
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