In the NHL the New York Islanders are not a very exciting team. They have been the bottom barrell of the NHL for the past decade due to poor team management and ownership. When you get pushed around as much as the Islanders do sometimes you snap. That's exactly what happened on Feburary 11th when the Penguins faced the Islanders in Long Island. The previous game between these two was not very pretty either. The game ended up with both goalies fighting and Penguins backup Brent Johnson injuring Islander starter Rick DiPietro causing him to be out for multiple weeks.
February 11th was an embarresment for the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the New York Islanders. It was well known the Islanders would dress multiple "goons" for this game as they came out and said it. If it wasn't bad enough the Penguins were routed 9-3 by such a poor oppenent, but the beatings by fists were not so great either.
The game was nothing but a brawl fest brought on by the Islanders. That is no way to increase the popularity of our sport. It's not rough old time hockey but a sideshow. If new fans want to watch fighting, they'll tune into boxing or Ulitmate Fighting. The Islanders organization should be most concious about bringing in new fans especially in a struggling franchise such as theirs. The game created a lot of contreversy throughout the hockey world. It definitely didn't stop with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment