Well, last night the Panthers fell 11-0 to the St. Mike's Buzzers. But that wasn't the story of the game.
The story, as usual with the Buzzers, was the absolute lack of class displayed by the team and coaching staff. They had an opportunity to demonstrate that the things that those who look at the world through Double Blue tinted glasses say are true, that they are true champions who demonstrate class and respect in everything they do, instead they continued to EARN the reputation they have around the rest of the league.
With only nine regular skaters dressed, the Buzzers knew the Panthers were scrambling to call up as many players as they could before the game. Some only arrived minutes before the puck was dropped. Knowing that almost half of the Panthers skaters had never played a Jr. A game, was it necessary for Ricci, up 7-0 after two, to double-shift and sometimes even TRIPLE-SHIFT Eric Rubino in the third? Rubino played almost twelve minutes in the third. You would think they were tied in game 7 of the finals with how much ice he saw. Also, was it necessary for the Buzzers to celbrate every goal like it was an overtime winner? One celebration in the first period saw a Buzzers player skate past the Panther bench pointing at and taunting the players. Was THAT necessary? Another goal, in the third, saw Axell skate past the Panthers bench and yell, loud enough for me to hear it in the timekeeper's booth, "That's how you play Jr. A hockey, kids!" Was THAT necessary? Is THIS how the Buzzers demonstrate class?
Buzzers fans will spin this, as they always do, and somehow they will try to snowjob the forums into believing that the Buzzers acted with all the class in the world. But the facts are the facts, and everyone in the building knew what they were doing in trying to mock the Panthers' young players. It was ridiculous.
Firstoff, it's a Jr. A hockey game. It's never good to see the score being run up but it happens to every team at some point. What goes around comes around. If you don't like it then go timekeep or announce or do whatever you do in Novice houseleague where they stop putting goals up on the board so the 8 year olds don't get too upset.
Also, get out from the rock you live under and understand the circumstances that took place in the third period of the game. Eric Rubino entered last nights game 2 goals shy of the Buzzers single season scoring record. With one goal in the second that put him one back. The kid played 13 minutes in the third for a reason. Some of the celebrating I'm sure you are referring to most likely came when Rubino tied and then beat the record late in the third. Quite an accomplishment and very good reason to celebrate.
Congratulations to Rubino.
Time to brush up on your hockey knowledge Sharpie.
The record setting goal, I have no problem with them celebrating. Same with the kid who scored his first Jr. A goal. But the other nine goals in the game didn't require the entire bench hooting and hollering, banging their sticks, and whatnot. The first period didn't require a Buzzer skating past the Panthers' bench pointing and taunting after the third goal. And when they scored to make it 10-0, it wasn't necessary for Axell to yell "That's how you play Jr. A hockey, kids" at the Panthers' bench. Also, after Rubino got the record, was it still necessary to double-shift him? Was it necessary for him to be on the ice for the entire final four minutes? Was it necessary after the 11th goal for Ricci to yell "Keep pouring it on, boys" to his players? These are why they are classless. Keep the double blue glasses on, and keep ignoring the obvious arrogance of a coach and players who do not deserve the term "champion" to be applied to them, even if they win. A CHAMPION conducts themselves with respect and dignity, not the completely ridiculous display put on last night.
Just a clarification: Rubino's third goal was the record-setter - that is why he (and his linemates) saw a disproportionate share of the ice last night in the third. I know if a Panther was in a similar situation the same player-friendly, goal setting actions would have been taken.
Also, if you consider it was the Buzzers' third, fourth and yes FIFTH line (our normal scratches) scoring the majority of the goals on the night (excluding the Rubino hat trick) there aren't many game options left to not play hockey with out there. I really do feel for the Panthers, as I have been there myself in the past and know how gut-wrenching it can be to be put through this (I can recall a 17-1 score against my team back then). However your opponents don't have control over what your ownership has decided to do by disposing of the core of your team in trades/deals. Nor does your opponent have control over the moral of your team and why your regular players cannot make games. It may be horrible to go through, but those are the questions best posed inside your team as to what the objective is in taking actions, when its clear you aren't competitive any more you are just icing bodies for a game. With 62 goals against in your last 10 games, and only 13 goals for its not a good situation obviously. But I believe that Pickering will rise again, just as Huntsville has done. Of that, I have no doubt.
I would also like to personally believe, that I have been above the fray, respectful and professional of our opponents and staff at all times. I am fairly certain the same cannot be said as to how I was treated last night following the game by certain members of Pickering's staff. I wouldn't have made mention of it, were it not for the post this morning - I was quite content to let it all pass as the heat of the moment. Clearly it appears to be otherwise.
--M71--
St. Michael's Buzzers
Back-to-Back OPJHL Champions
2004-2005 (#19 Matt Halischuk) -- 2005-2006
The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.
- Sun Tzu
You may personally behave in a professional manner. I do not know you, nor have I ever met you. But I am going by what I saw on the ice last night. Let's put aside the four celebrations, on Rubino's three and the one kid who scored his first (I only assume it was his first because they collected the puck). Still nobody wants to account for the other 7 goals being celebrated like they were OT winners, the taunting of the bench after the third goal in the first, Axell's comment to the bench, Ricci's "Keep pouring it on, boys" comment after the eleventh goal, or Rubino being on for the last four minutes of the game after the record was long set.
I too have been on the up side and down side of many blowouts, and am not upset about the eleven goals. But there is a way your organization should be teaching the players to conduct themselves during those situations. Most teams when blowing out a team made up almost half of players in their first ever Jr. A game, won't taunt, won't put their top scorer who already set the record earlier in the period out there for the last four minutes, and won't have a coach encouraging his team to "Keep pouring it on". But then again, most teams have class, and above all a respect for other teams.
I'm with you 100% on this one Sharpie.
It's one thing to run up a score. It's a totally different thing
to rub the Panthers face in it while doing it.... totally classless!
Vaughan showed a lot of class a week or so ago when they ran up the score to
9-1 after 2 periods and then shut it down in the 3rd.... final scole was 9-2.
(Even if they had kept it going, they were not rubbing it in after every goal)
With all due respect the real problem here is a Junior A team icing as you say "...a team made up almost half of players in their first ever Jr. A game" late in the season against a team ranked high in the league standings.
Now consider the goal scorers outside of Rubino on the night:
Name (goals prior to last night) (last night goals)
That group scored 11% of the Buzzers goals in 2007-2008 and 64% of the goals last night. I can imagine why they would be happy to get those goals. So it wasn't the top lines scoring and being excited. I would be too after being handed a gift like that.
Your organization made unfortunate decisions about their roster which are now haunting your staff and players. I sincerely wish you the best in rebuilding in 2008-2009. The problems you complain about today are actually problems of your team's own creation.
Consider 2006-2007, Pickering had 4 double digit scoring games for themselves. When you were competitive there was no problem running the scores (e.g. against hapless Bramalea 13-1) but now that Pickering is in Bramalea's shoes...its a bitter pill to swallow.
--M71--
St. Michael's Buzzers
Back-to-Back OPJHL Champions
2004-2005 (#19 Matt Halischuk) -- 2005-2006
The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.
- Sun Tzu
I think the problem is more with how the Buzzers conducted themdelves, not that they scored all the goals... the only thing missing last night was Ricci sending out the clowns for the last minute. Other than that it was the kind of performance that everyone in the south expects from St Mikes, a total lack of class.
The issue is not what the score was. The issue is how the players and coaches reacted to the goals they were scoring in a blow out. To act like you have won the cup every time you score in an 11-0 game and to taunt the team in that manner is inexcusable. It would make some sense if it was against Markham or Vaughan because these teams have such a rivalry, but what does St.Mike's have against a depleted Pickering team? Did they need to rub it in the face of the "little boys" because they are not as good as the Buzzers? That's what we call a complex. Buzzers should come watch a real team perform in this situation and take notes.
Class and character speak louder then ability in the long run.
..oh now roll out the haters lol. people people people dont let pickering fool you. considering the "numbers" there last night i am fairly safe in saying few if any of you on this illustrious forum were there (57 is accurate if you count team staff members and game day staff!). subtract the parents of both teams you would be left with 5-10 fans there. having been there myself i can't take much of what sharpie says seriously. pickering is a team in shambles. players dont want to be there, the team started warmup in home whites and then came out for the game in away black. (rules violation?) their 'charge out' to the panther roar was like the panther has 3 broken legs, limping before the game started. then to top it off they had someone on the bench who i dont recognize as a coach and wasnt listed on pointstreak (the names listed i recognize) who was running the defensive end of the game for the team, yelling, flapping waving at the refs and chirping and yelling at opposing players from the start. kinda looked like the guy that showed up for a panthers-buzzers matchup a couple of years ago who came in from an argos game pretty well 'lubricated' and yelled obscenities from the stands all game. i hope he was on a bench card if not its another stab to the heart of the once mighty panthers. boo-hoo pickering. suck it up and get ready to be hammered again tonight by markham. pickering has become a laughing-stock and how many forum people saw this crap coming? lots and lots and lots been talked about since december when the fire sale began.
what few fans there are in this league would be well served to have more teams like the buzzers who are showing up to play and fewer teams like what the panthers have become showing up and hoping for mercy. until then its all a joke.
if pickering didnt want the score run up then ice a team that is competitive. dont sell the farm and then wonder why you are getting lit up every night. sure the celebrations may have been over the top but when guys that dont normally get goals are getting them they will be excited. not to mention when you are on such strong run of momentum things will be over the top as well.
on the other side of the coin im sure the chirping was probably a bit much but if pickering was in the same situation with the score the other way against another team im sure they would have a running commentary going as well.
Mark this date on the calendar, Matty and I agree on something.
M71, you still have not addressed the issues I raised. You keep coming back to who was playing for Pickering, and who scored every goal except Rubino's three. Those are not the issues.
Here are the issues, perhaps you could actually address them, one by one and without reverting to your standard BS, and explain exactly why each was NOT an example of a lack of class, and of supreme arrogance that has no place in any sport...
1) After the Buzzers' third goal, a Buzzer skating past the Panthers' bench, pointing and taunting.
2) Celebrating, hooting and hollering, and banging sticks after each of the eleven goals, as if all eleven were important. And here, once again, I will even excuse the three Rubino goals, which were meaningful, and the kid who scored his first. I'll give them those four. Answer for the other seven celebrations.
3) Axell, after it was 10-0, yelling at the Panthers' bench his comment, which again was "That's how you play Jr. A hockey, kids".
4) Ricci's yelling at his own players after the eleventh goal "Keep pouring it on, guys".
5) Ricci leaving Rubino on the ice for the last four minutes of the game when the record had already been set long before.
Answer for these, M71. Go over them, point by point, and explain why they weren't classless acts, instead of trying to change the subject.
Oh, and one more thing. When the Panthers, and any other team that has any class at all, have been on the plus side of blowouts, after five or six goals and it becomes obvious that they are helplessly overmatching the opposition, they stop celebrating goals. In Pickering, historically, when it becomes obvious that we are blowing out an opponent, we stop playing the goal horn, even tone down our goal announcements. And the players skate away after a goal, with absolutely no celebration, although a particularly nice goal might get a tap on the shinpads or a pat on the helmet. And it is fair to say, from my experience, that most teams conduct themselves the same way. As Matty said, the Buzzers should take notes, although their coach is the biggest part of the problem. As they say, crap slides downhill.
On the jersey issue, southernman is absolutely correct. St. Mike's warmed up in their third jerseys, and when asked to change after the warmup, they said those were the only jerseys they brought. Pickering was left with no choice but to change, which they did without complaint.
Also, one more point to agree with is the one above from I_luv_hockey, who stated that Vaughan acted clasy when they blew out the Panthers in the same situation. After four or five goals, the Vipers stopped celebrating goals, and even changed goaltenders late in the second. They showed supreme class in that situation, something I don't usually say about the Vipers, but they moved up a notch or two in my estimation.
If I can, I will try to get out to a game or two in the playoffs, somewhere. Hey, fire me off an e-mail so I can let you know which games I will be coming to, if any.
