Usually, I write my Toronto Maple Leafs post and keep my nose out of other teams’ business – unless perhaps it’s to congratulate a player on a great performance. But this is not a time for any of us who love NHL hockey to be silent. What Brad Marchand did was simply too egregious to ignore.
The fact is simple and it’s on tape for everyone to see. The Boston Bruins’ Marchand sucker-punched Pittsburgh Penguins’ goalie Tristian Jarry; and, then, when he was being escorted off the ice, he tried to stick the pointed “blade” of his stick through Jarry’s mask.
Again, it was at a time when Jarry wasn’t looking to protect himself. Who with any sense would try to hit someone in the face with a hockey stick?
Related: Brad Marchand Appealing Suspension, Says Process Needs to Change
The Focus Is on Marchand and Not on Jarry
How interesting that the focus is all on Marchand who was given a match penalty for – here’s the wording – “intent to injure.” Seems pretty intentional to me. Marchand punched the Penguins’ goalie in the side of the head when he wasn’t looking and then tried to push his stick into the goalie’s face when he was being escorted off the ice by an official.
As one writer noted, it was “a bizarre night for Marchand.”
But what kind of a night was it for Jarry? Or Jarry’s family? Furthermore, what kind of a night was it for kids in the Boston area or anywhere else who wear Marchand’s jersey because he’s their idol? I can’t even imagine.
It Wasn’t the Only Time During the Game that Marchand Did Something Selfish
Even earlier in the game – in Boston, by the way – when Jarry was trying to give a puck to a Bruins’ fan in the seats behind the glass in the back of his goal – Marchand came up behind him and chopped him from doing so with a well-aimed stick.
Obviously, this behavior is something Marchand thinks is cute? Or he doesn’t want a Bruins fan to go home with a souvenir? See that “funny” incident below:
How Many Times Will It Take Before Marchand Stops?
How close does Marchand have to come to really hurting someone before the NHL says – “Listen. You’re not really getting the point, are you! We don’t want this behavior and we don’t want you back for the rest of the season.”
There’s nothing anyone can say to condone either of Marchand’s actions – the sucker punch or the stick jabbed at Jarry’s eyes. There’s no reasonable explanation for either behavior.
Now Marchand admits to being stupid – and I agree with him on that one point. Who can argue? But then he doubles down on stupidity and argues that, although his reactions weren’t very smart and that he needed to be more in control, what happened on the ice was not worthy of a suspension.
Here’s Marchand’s logic: Jarry was “well-protected. The fact that it’s six games (the suspension) is based on history, not on the play.” Duh – that’s ignorant.
Does Marchand not get it that his history is exactly the point. He’s been disciplined 10 times by the Department of Player Safety since it first came to existence at the beginning of the 2011-12 season. This is his seventh suspension and second this season (he lost three games for slew-footing in November).
Marchand Is Getting Worse, Not Better
But Marchand doesn’t get it that his actions are actually getting worse rather than better. Not suspension-worthy? In what world is he living? I’ll tell you. It’s the kind of world where a player can skate up to another player and lick his face.
Throw the book at him. Suspend him for the season. He’s an offensive player with an equally offensive track record. There’s not even a name for what Marchand did. The classification “roughing and high sticking” doesn’t cut it.
Who’s Representing Jarry in All This?
Nope – it’s time for the Department of Player Safety to suspend Marchand without pay for the rest of the season. By the way, what’s the Players Association thinking by appealing the six-game suspension? Don’t they represent Jarry, too, or the next player who’ll be on the other end of a Marchand tirade?
The act was crazy. Only a six-game suspension was crazier. The Players Association appeal is next to impossible to understand. But, Marchand calling what he did unworthy of suspension just shows how out of line with reality his thinking is.
Really, does anyone think a six-game suspension is going to bring him to his senses?
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