Danny Briere out two more games, this time as the result of a suspension for a dangerous hit. (Neat1325)
The Flyers finally emerge from the West with a clearly frustrating 1-3-0 record, but that’s not all they lost while traveling through the league’s other conference. Blair Betts and Darroll Powe are both out four to six weeks thanks to shoulder injuries, and Danny Briere of all skaters has been slapped with a two game suspension from the NHL for a dangerous hit on Scott Hannan of the Colorado Avalanche.
It’s hard to say that the suspension was uncalled for based on how dangerous the cross-check to the face actually was, but there is something to be said about the lack of control the officiating had on the game itself.
Since Mike Richards hit David Booth of the Florida Panthers a while back, the Flyers have not been getting the benefit of the doubt on officiating. The Colorado Avalanche game was a gigantic culmination of missed calls from officials affecting the Flyers’ game, the frustration of a tough Western road trip, and the team’s inability to compete with those factors.
Hookings, trips, and holds have been noticeable non-calls lately as the Flyers skate the puck in the offensive zone. It’s tough on guys like Briere and Giroux who use their speed and quickness to get around skaters in order to make up for their size. It’s no wonder both had fights in the Colorado game.
It was evident that the Flyers were not going to be allowed to protect their own when Giroux, after a goal against the San Jose Sharks, was cross-checked in the back by Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Hartnell grabbed Vlasic to protect Giroux after the fact, but Hartnell was the only one of the two to go to the box after Vlasic’s dangerous hit that happened right at the net for all the officials to see. In the following scrum, Pronger and two skaters from the Sharks also went to the box for roughing minors.
Meanwhile, nobody looked at Vlasic’s cross check to Giroux. Granted, the hit was not to Giroux’s face nor was Giroux injured, but the timeliness and similarities to Briere’s hit are enough to raise an eyebrow.
A lot of the protecting of players should fall on the officiating as well. If they intend to play games such as “letting them play” or “make-up calls”, then they should be held accountable for the results created by their glaring inconsistencies. Clearly frustrated players, like Briere, are bound to lash out. There was no intent to injure on Briere’s hit, but it was reckless and dirty. It clearly deserved a suspension.
The officiating though works both ways. The refs have to protect other players as well. For whatever reason, Briere did not go to the box as a result of the late hit. If he had been put in the box, the suspension may never have happened.
Regardless, the double-standards and inconsistencies need to cease immediately, both for the protection of the players and the state of hockey itself.
The Flyers will just have to bite to bullet for Briere’s ill-advised outburst for now. The team is already short skaters, and Briere will miss the next two games. The Islanders game is tomorrow followed by the first home game in a while against his former team, the Buffalo Sabres.
