Cooke cuts Karlsson

Matt Cooke has been suspended at least 4 times. 

Im not goint to sit here and argue, hockey is a fast paced violent sport played with sticks, hard pucks, and sharp blades, the Penguins lost Crosby,Malkin,and Staal on fluke plays in the heat of battle, if you can't form a conclusion from watching that video then so be it, to you it's all about Cooke nothing else.

Shanny has punished stupidity as well as intention before, Burgh. There is your potential problem.

Brad Marchand also has a history, so we just find him guilty even though video evidence shows it was an accidental hockey play?

As I mentioned in another thread I don't think Cooke went out there with the intention of knocking Karlsson out of the game.

But you're calling it a "hockey play" and that's where I'll stop you and give you my opinion and say no, that's not a hockey play.

A player is not supposed to lift his skate off the ice and intentionally try to pin another player along the boards using his skate.

Does he deserve to be suspended?  Maybe, maybe not. 

What I do know for sure though is because of how careless Cooke is one of the NHL's brightest Stars is out for probably the season.

People pay to watch Karlsson play hockey.  People in Ottawa have purchased season tickets because of how good Karlsson is at hockey and the long term extension he was signed to.   I don't think even ONE fan in Pittsburgh got up and purchased season tickets because Matt Cooke is under contract.  I don't think too many fans of visiting teams purchase tickets to see Matt Cooke do his thing.  But plenty purchase tickets to watch Karlsson play hockey. 

If anything this shows the need for even more protection in the leg/foot area, which are so vulnerable to sticks,blades, and pucks, with all this light weight armour being made, why not invest in it, didn't Mike Vick have real light weight vest for his ribs?...these superstar players can afford this new technology.

@redwings very hard to determine what as hockey play is when there involving skates around the boards,it was an unatural play maybe, I can almost gurantee the league will do nothing to Cooke about this incident.

What is with the Cooke has "cleaned up his game" crap? 

He went one season without doing something really sh#### and illegal to a player and he's a "good guy" now?    What a load of crap.   
He's a scumbag.   If he went the rest of his career without hurting anybody illegally he still would have been a scumbag.

If they decide he's innocent of reckless or malicious play on this thing, that's fine, I'll live with that and may actaully agree with it.    Cooke deserves no special consideration for going about 100 games without doing something illegal.    It wasn't his 2nd chance, it was his 8th.

Raise the bar people, this guy has done more harm than good for the game and he lost the benefit of the doubt when he ended Savard's career.    He didn't have a choice, he had to clean up his game or he wouldn't have a career.    Self preservation doesn't make somebody a respectable professional, it just makes them somebody that really wanted to keep their job.

@redwings very hard to determine what as hockey play is when there involving skates around the boards,it was an unatural play maybe, I can almost gurantee the league will do nothing to Cooke about this incident.

To be honest i have a gut feeling the NHL isn't going to do anything to Cooke either.   But I can understand why people are so angry about that play and why many feel Cooke should be suspended.  He has a terrible history and did something very stupid last night.

By the way I respect your opinion, I really do.  You're clearly a huge hockey fan and on these boards quite a bit.  But please don't compare the Subban/Staal incident to this.  Unless you're talking about something I haven't seen the two plays aren't comparable at all.  I didn't know what you were talking about so I used youtube and looked it up.  The play I saw between P.K and Staal was near center ice.  P.K with his back to the blueline deflected the puck towards the boards, he spun around and Staal just happened to be there at exactly the split second P.K swung around and got hit by his skate.  That was a fluky play.... P.K had no idea Staal was there.

Raise the bar people, this guy has done more harm than good for the game and he lost the benefit of the doubt when he ended Savard's career.    He didn't have a choice, he had to clean up his game or he wouldn't have a career.    Self preservation doesn't make somebody a respectable professional, it just makes them somebody that really wanted to keep their job.

I agree 100 percent with everything you said.  Although the hit on Savard was found to be "legal" the only intention Cooke had on that play was to destroy Savard and put him out.   There was no going for the puck and there was no "hockey play" there to be made.  And after his latest and longest suspension by far and the public outcry and damage he did to so many hockey players he had no choice but to clean up his game a little bit.  Combine what I just said with the fact just before his latest malicious attempt to injure another player his owner publicly threatened to take his ball and go home because the league was becoming to rough, mean and too dirty for him to be a proud owner and Cooke had little choice but to stop the bullcrap.  I will agree he stayed clean for around a hundred games because he did stay clean for that long.  But enough with the patting Cooke on the back crap for not trying to kill somebody lately.  Before he "cleaned it up" I watched that fool skate all the way from center ice to the boards to blindside and destroy a player who didn't have the puck and tried to end his career.  I'll never forget that hit.... nor will I give him credit for not killing somebody since.

@redwings actually Subban cut Staal and Kunitz in the same play-off series, Kunitz was by the bench, I'm not saying it was on purpose, but as I stated things like this could be better protected better with light weight armour (steel meshing) in the vulnerable foot/ankle areas.

Matt Cooke has been suspended at least 4 times. 

Yeah, he was suspended for spearing before the lockout too.

BTW I'm not a big fan of Matt Cooke, I am not here to defend him, I'm making an educated decision on one play.

Here is a what I just saw on NHL.com, Cooke raised his leg going into the wall and when he hit Karlsson, it appeard to me Cooke stepped down on the back of Karlsson's leg. 

When you look at the video you can see the downward action of the leg and as soon as he makes contact with Karlsson the leg comes back up.  Not saying he was trying to hurt Karlsson, but it was definetly reckless, to say the least.  Most plays I have seen in the past the skaters make sure their feet are down but Cooke rasied his leg at least 3 feet from the boards so one has to ask why?  The lifting of the leg was intentional without a doubt (around the 33 second mark of the video on NHL.com). 

So one has to question why would a player raise his leg.  Why upon contact did he "step down" on the back of Karlsson's leg and immediately lift his leg upon contact.  Again, I don't ever recall a player going to the boards lift their leg 12 to 18 inches off the ice prior to making contact with a player against the boards.  That may be because I haven't seen an injury like this so I didn't pay attention, but I do believe most times they keep their feet on the ice or if they raise a foot it's only a couple of inches off the ice not a foot to a foot and a half. 

Well it's official, no hearing or discipline for Cooke so his fans will be very happy.   But take a look at this link and just some of the stuff this guy has done and some of which he WASN'T suspended for.... and in some cases I'd say it was a miracle he wasn't.  Take a good look at what he did to Chris Osgood and tell me there was no intent to injure.  Somebody PLEASE tell me what his intention was on that play. 

Knee to knees. Crosschecks from behind.  Skates to the head.  This guy could have been suspended 10 times in his career.  That's why people get so irate talking about Cooke.  Not just because of last night's game...

http://www.russianmachineneverbreak
s.com/2011/03/21/video-a-timeline-o
f-dirty-and-reckless-matt-cooke-hit
s/

So he has a past and you want him suspended on an accidental freak play? You can't suspend him for being Matt Cooke. Although you can suspend him longer for being Matt Cooke.

So he has a past and you want him suspended on an accidental freak play? You can't suspend him for being Matt Cooke. Although you can suspend him longer for being Matt Cooke.

Not sure you'll find even one post where I said Cooke should definitely be suspended.  I predicted last night he wouldn't be suspended at all and it turns out I'm right, the league isn't going to do anything.   But what I am doing though is giving you a link that provides you with some good reasons why people on these boards don't want to give Cooke the benefit of the doubt. 

Although I don't think anybody can say Cooke aimed for Karlsson's achilles and tried to put him out for the season you can't tell me you know for sure it was an "accident" or just a "freaky" play.   We can say for sure that he intentionally lifted his leg way off the ice and intentionally used his skate to pin Karlsson against the boards.  That much we know for sure... you can't argue that.

You said you can't suspend him for being Matt Cooke but if he's found guilty suspend him longer for his history and that may be true. Don't forget though in real life not everybody is treated the same.   I know many of you want to believe everybody should be treated equally but our reputation has a lot to say about how we're treated.  You and I could commit the same crime but if you have a huge rap sheet and I don't chances are the courts will listen a little more to what I have to say then they'll listen to you.   I may be able to call my crime an accident or oversight if that excuse can be used and it could be accepted.  But you on the other hand with a bad history could get laughed out of court. 

Cooke doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.. he hasn't earned that right in his career. 

But do I understand why he wasn't suspended for last night's hit.    Yes I do.  But please don't think people who think he should be suspended are crazy or being unfair. 

Anyone that thinks Cooke should be suspended please just hang yourself or at least never watch hockey again because you are an idiot that knows nothing about hockey.  It was an accident and nothing more, if anything it is Karlsson's fault for pushing Cooke and having his leg in the way.

The only player that should be suspended from the game is Chris Neil for attacking a defenseless player just like Todd Bertuzzi (without the horrible ending).

Look I hate it when people play this card but here goes.  If you do not understand that his intention is to get his leg between Karlsson's legs to pin him to the boards (and the fact that this happens as I've said before 1000 times a year) you have never really played the game at a high level. 

To say that you even think there is a 1% possibility that this happened on purpose shows that you are spending too much time watching super slow motion shots and listening too much to the media.  You know...the people that have to come up with new talking points every day.

And I assure you...I hate Matt Cooke every bit as much as most of you do.  But come on people. 

But you're calling it a "hockey play" and that's where I'll stop you and give you my opinion and say no, that's not a hockey play.

A player is not supposed to lift his skate off the ice and intentionally try to pin another player along the boards using his skate.

It is Hockey play. Players do it ALL THE TIME. They lift their leg to pin the player against the boards for a few seconds. He didn't use HIS SKATE to pin Karlsson, he used HIS LEG. If it was illegal to do so by the rules there would penalties called for it.

The league said an hour ago there would be no punishment to Cooke. Who more than Matt Cooke would the league love to bring the hammer down on? Perfect time for them to do it, but chose not to because they deemed it non intentional. TSN showed during intermission last night highltights in the Blues Red Wings game incidents where players were using their leg to pin players against the boards.  It happens a lot.

As far as going the "fans pay good money to see Karlsson and not Cooke" route. Sounds like your mind is made up that it was intentional.


Hope Karlsson makes a full recovery.        

mikeyfan if you never recall a player going to the boards and making contact just like Cooke did then you don't watch enough hockey.  Maybe between periods you were in the crapper when they showed the same play from about 5 different games last week.