What do you think of Sean Avery antics in the face of Martin Brodeur ?

Avery was attempting to distract Brodeur by waving his arm like a
basketball player, in front of the New Jersey goalie.

I do not have a problem with what he did.
I look at it as trying to screen and/or distract the goalie.

I do not like Avery and the things he does, but in this case I do not
have a problem with his animated style.



Ron "God" McLean claims beyond a shadow of a doubt that Avery was
trying to get Brodeur to take a penalty, calling it 'inciting'
and said a 10 minute misconduct should be assessed.
How does he know what is in Avery's mind ?
Apparently he knew exactly what Avery was attempting to do.





The NHL has made thier bed and are now suffering the consequences
with their "girls hockey" rule of "instigating".


The NHL has actually ammended rule 75, starting today, as follows.

"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75)
will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately,
to a situation when an offensive player positions himself
facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions
such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's
face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or
distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself
to try to make a play."



A YouTube video of the incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb4WaZMVtyE>







Go Raptors !
Go Jays !


WEXDOG
09,11,01
Lest We Forget
11,11,11

Avery should be thankful that was Brodeur and not Billy Smith in his prime.

Can't stand Avery... and yes, that WAS illegal and inciting an opponent... at the very least it was unsportsmanlike.

Kudos to the NHL for acting fast.... Im all for anything that prevents a mockery of the game.

.......Avery may have looked like an idiot, but as long as he didn't touch Brodeur he did nothing illegal.

To anyone who thinks he did something wrong, define for me cleary whats allowed and not allowed when screening the goaltender.

To me it looks like Brodeur could've been penalized for throwing a couple of shots...that is illegal.

If Avery, or anyone in the NHL, did that to a non-goaltending player, would they get a penalty? If not, then Avery did not deserve a penalty, if so, then he did deserve a penalty. (Before the rule was ammended, of course)

did avery do something wrong? maybe in looking like an idiot but i really dont think he was in the wrong doing that. he was just screening the tender. he wasnt even that close to brodeur. the swings brodeur could have been seen as roughing.

i bet avery's parents arent don cherry fans. holy crud did cherry ever go off on avery tonight.

And Don is always 100% right, isn't he??

If he did it to a non goaltending player again as long as there is no contact I don't think there needs to be a penalty. By standing still waving his arms around near a non goaltending player he would in effect be useless as he would not be ready for a pass, and would probably not be aware of the play going on around him, essentialy taking himself out of the play as long as opposing players ignore him.

Also, changing rules mid season is a reeeeeeealy slippery slope.

"Also, changing rules mid season is a reeeeeeealy slippery slope."

I agree with Muskie






Go Raptors !
Go Jays !


WEXDOG
09,11,01
Lest We Forget
11,11,11

I think, rather than making a rule change, per se, they were intending to clarify the interpretation of an existing rule. And according to the rules, Ron McLean's assertion that it was a deliberate attempt to incite a penalty from Brodeur, and therefore should have been called a penalty, was flawed. There is no misconduct for "attempted inciting". If Brodeur slashed his legs out or something, and got a minor, Avery would then get the misconduct. I agree with the post above that if Avery had tried that with Billy Smith, or perhaps Ron Hextall, he would have lost a few teeth and had shiners on both eyes. A well placed Ed Belfour slash to the legs would have made him think twice too.

it was one of those things that you look at it and say wow does that ever look stupid. maybe next game he can skate from side to side behind the net and borrow some paul newman lines from slapshot.

it was interesting that brodeur made one good save during the incident(or at least the puck hit him), imagine if there had been a goal. then the antics would have been fun.

if avery is to get an inciting penalty for that(before the hasty rule change), anyone who ever trash talked while shadowing a player should get one. it was a school yard road hockey game stunt that wasnt illegal, but something nobody ever expected to see done by a "professional"

as for ron mc leans over reaction. hey, every player who gets any where near the goalie during a game is hoping to a) deflect a puck b) keep goalie from seeing a puck c) get someone to take a penalty. so assuming c)is always an option is going to the front of the net always a penalty?

and as stupid as Avery looked, the only penalties i saw were the punch by brodeur and his stick to the crotch.

Dale West
Assistant General Manager
Collingwood Blues Jr "A"
Hockey Club

What I find interesting is the contrast between the NHL and the OHA. The former tolerates quite a lot of things the latter doesn't. For example in the OHA, checking from behind is considered a very serious offense resulting in game ejections and suspensions. In the NHL it is a minor penalty like slashing. In the OHA, the use of the "Inciting" call is widely interpreted and applied to keep things under wraps. I have no doubt that the OHA refs would have called such an incident as we saw with Avery as inciting and that would be it. The OHA M99 (miscellaneous misconduct) could also have been applied.
I can't remember the last time Inciting was called in the NHL (or OHL for that matter).

Does the NHL even use Checking From Behind? I only saw it called once 5 years ago against Tie Domi. Since then it has been called boarding.