Most Commented

Resources

    • bigD: Jack. Thanks for wri...
    • Jack: Very well written ar...
    • bigD: Thanks for writing i...
    • mason dado: yo, the big reds ain...
    • bigD: Despite a blowout pl...
    • bigD: Thanks again for wri...

Subscribe

  • Subscribe

SIMON SAYS…SIT FOR 25!!!

Posted by bigD | March 11, 2007 .

simon2.jpg

If someone were to step out of their front door tomorrow and give someone a good whack off the head with their hockey stick they’d probably get in a lot of trouble for it. In other words, they’d be arrested for attempted assault and thrown in jail for a significant amount of time. That being said, slap a pair of skates on that same guy and put him in an NHL arena and all of a sudden it’s good for only a suspension.

On Saturday, the NHL announced the punishment for New York Islanders forward, Chris Simon and it wasn’t a pretty one. For swinging his stick into the face of New York Ranger, Ryan Hollweg, Simon will now pay the price in the form of a 25 game suspension, which obviously will mean the rest of the 14 game 2007 NHL season. If the Isles don’t qualify for the playoffs, Simon will serve the remaining suspension at the beginning of next season. Simon, 35, struck Hollweg with a two-handed swing of his stick in an attempt to get revenge for a Hollweg clean hit to Simon about 10 seconds earlier in the play. Simon got up and clearly swung his stick with intention of knocking Hollweg right in the kisser. It’s absolutely ludicrous and a total bonehead move here by Simon who has the support of absolutely no one in the NHL after this stupidity. There is simply no room for this kind of abuse in a league trying to clean up its image. This was clearly intent to injure and long time goon, Chris Simon will now pay for it. Hollweg was motionless on the ice for a short time and needed stitches to close a cut on his chin.

Let’s face it, Simon is simply put…A GOON. He has very little hockey skills, plays about 4 minutes per game tops, floats around looking to stir up shit (and usually does) and he’ll fight whoever is dumb enough to challenge him (very few would). You don’t think Simon had some energy built up in him? You try sitting for 45 scoreboard minutes of a hockey game and see how frustrated you get. That’s just it though. Simon was already frustrated by all of his riding the bench time and right when he got out there he took a good clean hit and that caused him to go absolutely nuts. Well good because nuts is exactly what he is.

simon3.jpg

According to NHL director of hockey operations, Colin Campbell, “The NHL will not accept the use of a stick in the manner and fashion in which Mr. Simon used his Thursday night.” Gee, go figure. It’s pretty tough to sit here and say that the NHL was a little too soft with the Simon suspension but really, I think they were. We’ve certainly seen our share of these moments in the past but players still aren’t learning their lesson. We saw McSorley whack Brashear, Bertuzzi down Moore and now Simon with an attempt to decapitate Ryan Hollweg. It’s not like we haven’t seen this before. It’s not like the players haven’t been warned. A 25 game suspension seems like a lot but if your point is truly going to be made in full, you have to double that at least. Hell, an NHL season is 82 games. Why should Simon receive any less then that? The problem is where is the fine line? Gary Bettman and the rest of the NHL’s top men have been trying to remove everything that made the NHL unique. Fighting is down, good clean hitting is down and obstruction penalties are now called all the time. Hockey used to be a pretty unique sport because of its violent ways. With fighting in hockey becoming more and more non-existent there isn’t as much of a need for Simon type enforcers any longer so in Simon’s case, if you take that away from him, WHAT GOOD IS HE? Well, I think he proved the answer to that question on Thursday Night.

Simon (currently in his 14th NHL season) apologized to Hollweg, his teammates, fans and the league for the hit, in a statement released by the Islanders during the first period of their 5-2 victory over Washington on Saturday night. As a result of the horrible incident, Simon will forfeit a minimum of $80,213.90 of his 1 million dollar contract, which will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. I thought Hollweg showed a lot of class after the Thursday night game where miraculously he looked almost like nothing happened at all. Hollweg basically claimed that his team got the win so he feels great. As a teammate of Hollweg you must just love hearing that. He should be more concerned about his head and neck and be happy that he still has them. Instead, he was more vocal about a very important Ranger WIN in a late season where every point matters for them. Well done Hollweg! You showed lot’s of class and dignity in a situation where you clearly could have and maybe should have verbally attacked Simon for this disgrace. Again, if a normal guy did this on a normal street on a normal day it’s off to jail. I guess that’s the reality of the NHL today even if they are trying to clean all of this up and that’s the reality of Chris Simon and the type of game that he so often plays.

simon1.jpg

I miss fighting in hockey. It gave places on teams for bums like Simon so there was less of a chance of this crap happening. Instead the enforcers used to be able to take this out on each other. Now they take it out on players’ heads. Have a seat Simon but not in the penalty box this time. Don’t be surprised if this idiot never returns to the NHL after this suspension. Oh well, one less overpaid goon to worry about. Whether you think the suspension is justified or not, the NHL has spoken. SIMON SAYS…YOU’RE SUSPENDED!

Posted under Uncategorized | Like this article? Subscribe to our RSS feed

Leave a Comment

If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Comments