[blueandwhite]

okay let me end it before it starts. apparently lindy ruff is peeved about a hit Tucker made on Jochen Hecht during the game the night before last - an elbow to the chin and a knee on knee (if I could have watched the game, i would have been able to comment better). Hecht is out for two weeks with a sprained left knee. by all accounts, leafs should be done by then.
It's hockey. Tucker was cleared already, like he was on the Peca hit. He made mention of a Kovalev elbow to his head that went unpunished (his quote is "You didn't see me complaining or crying" which I love).

In other leafs updates, Antropov is cleared to play tonight - he had the flu. This kid is made of glass and tissue for crying out loud.
Islanders tonight. Islanders magic number is 3 so a loss to the Leafs could be the final notes of Taps. Ours is 9.

[ThePundit]

Blue, blue,blue: Sorry but before you decide that this hit on Hecht was "just hockey" and "END" the discussion on it, let's present a few facts that you conveniently left out.

Tucker sidelines Sabres' Hecht
Sabres forward Jochen Hecht will be lost for two weeks with a sprained ligament in his left knee as the result of a hit by Toronto's Darcy Tucker on Monday night. After Mike Grier flattened Tucker with a hard check just inside the Toronto zone, Tucker retaliated by going after Hecht near center ice, brushing Hecht's head with his elbow while the players' knees collided.

"When you're going after somebody's head, you've got intent to hurt," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "Don't tell me the knee is accidental after that. He knew exactly what he was doing, and should pay a price for it." Tucker, however, was not penalized by the league.

GOTHAM: I re-open my case, I am establishing a pattern of beahvior by Tucker. Do you now agree Tucker is nothing more than a punk and a thug. Or as Mike Milbury would put it, "a gutless puke?" Anyone else want to chime in?

The Islanders better be wearing steal knee braces tonight when they play the Leafs.

[blueandwhite]

Okay first off, you quote Ruff like he is the final word - he is the coach who is pissed he just lost a player. Quinn does his fair share of boohooing too, and it goes unnoticed. has lindy Ruff suddenly become the all-knowing authority over the NHL?
Second, across the league, when a guy gets hit, he is going to come back and retaliate in some way. That is hockey. It happens everywhere. You hit Tucker, you can expect something back (and grier is big, man). If this pervasive attitude gets to you, why not pick a player from every team? Did you hate Stevens when he was playing? What about Chis neil on the Sens? How about crazy matthew barnaby? i think you've got a Peca complex.
Does the league not penalizing Tucker mean anything? Because it should. Not Lindy Ruff's complaining.
And i thought you didn't like Milbury. do you quote him when it works?
If Tucker is only a punk and a thug, then explain 24 goals and 25 assists. And yeah, the Leafs are going to come out hard tonight. They have to.

[Peterborough]

This is from the Toronto Sun:

Though National Hockey League executive vice-president Colin Campbell did slap Nashville Predators defenceman Brendan Witt with a one-game suspension yesterday for a knee incident on Columbus winger David Vyborny the night before, Tucker was excused. He and Hecht crossed knees, but it appeared Tucker was more intent on delivering a hit to the head area.

Ruff stormed out of a press scrum after Monday's 3-2 shootout win over the Leafs, calling it "a joke" that Tucker wound up drawing a Hecht high-sticking penalty on the same shift as the knee injury occurred. Ruff had vowed to call the league "10 times" yesterday to seek a suspension.

"That really bothers me," Ruff told reporters yesterday after Sabres practice. "They agreed that his elbow grazed the head, and to me, that's a shot to the head. When you're going after somebody's head, you've got intent to hurt. Don't tell me the knee is accidental after that. He knew exactly what he was doing, and should pay a price for it."


Tucker denied intent to injure, but saved his sharpest comments yesterday for the media, upset at the coverage Ruff's remarks had received. It was the first chance to get a response from Tucker who had already spoken to reporters when Ruff sounded off on Monday.

"You guys are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill," Tucker said. "It was a nothing play. It's one guy's comments this is exactly the reaction he wanted, you guys to come in here and make it a big deal."

Tucker thought there was enough video evidence that he hadn't plotted to hurt Hecht.

"A play like that happens 35 times in a season. (Ruff) can call the league 100 times if he wants."

Tucker drew Buffalo enforcer Andrew Peters into a roughing penalty earlier in the game and when Hecht was called for high-sticking him on the third-period exchange, Tucker looked at Hecht and pointed derisively to the brain. Peters and/or other Sabres likely will not be in a forgive-and-forget mood a week Sunday at HSBC Arena.

"I'll be wearing 16, I'll show up and I'll play the game," Tucker said when asked about possible retribution. "I just play the game as hard as I can every night. That's the way I am.

"You didn't hear me complain or cry when Alexei Kovalev elbowed me in the head (a week ago Saturday in Montreal). It's part of hockey.

Leafs coach Pat Quinn called the whole matter "a non-event".

"Darcy doesn't head hunt or anything else," Quinn said. "I don't see the cheapness in his play. He has always played hard. If they're going to call knees, they should've called (Adam) Mair on Kyle Wellwood in the second period (Mair was given a minor). That was blatant. That kind of (style on Monday night) was a give and take game. Heaven knows people have gone after Darcy that way."

[ThePundit]

1) If you read all of my posts on Milbury, I like him personally. And I love his quotes. He just has done a terrible job putting together this team so he has to go.

2) If Grier is such a big guy, why doesn't Tucker have the guts to go after him, not Hecht?

3) I agree with you on this point: If you check Tucker, watch your knees and I hope you have a good contract in place.

4) Colin Campell is more incomeptent at his job of meting out discipline than he was as Rangers coach and I thought that was impossible.

5) I don't mind tough guys. That's part of the NHL. Not cheapshoting like Tucker does all the time. Clark Gillies was a tough guy who didn't take crap and had his share of fights. But he never, ever, took a cheap shot at a guy's knees.

I'm waiting on Gotham's judgement.

[blueandwhite]

What you don't acknowledge - especially from the article - is how Tucker gets and Tucker gives. There are plenty more giving out there. Tucker is not alone in making hits on guys. If you want to make a case for getting rid of Campbell, then you're going to need more than a one-man crusade on Darcy Tucker. You also don't acknowledge that Tucker is a damn good hockey player - not just a punk. Whatever GDK has to say.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Aaaah, I am so late to the party...I am sorry guys I was actually working on this Project for Brazil...but sure I will re-open the case and look at the evidence.

My gut feeling is that Tucker at 5-10" 178 lbs soaking weight has to play with great intensity to keep from getting killed on the ice...if it was me and I got plastered into the boards, I'd come back swinging...maybe an elbow to the head is a bit much under normal circumstances but after gettting flatten, getting up and tangling with the next guy...its not so out of the question...If I am the under sized Tucker I would throw a few punches and elbows etc...to re-established myself...

But to be more objective in the matter: The league viewed the incident and cleared him...so it seems as they are saying, "Hey its part of this violent game."

I am convience that Tucker is aggressive, he has to be....some of those guys outweigh him by 40-50 lbs...he probably plays with a chip on his shoulder too...but Its still not clear he is a dirty player...fine line between agressive and dirty...

(on a side note, I remember a few Intermural floor hockey game (Hey Its freakin Florida!...we had no ice) in college where I was a bit aggressive...lots of whacking people around the ankles with the stick...totally up ending them when they had no padding on at all...throwing a few elbows just to get them out from in front of the net...and honestly I was not trying to injure anyone...I was just reminding them that it was my piece of floor darn it!...maybe Tucker is doing like wise...only he has ice )