Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

Please stop the diving


canucksnihilist

Recommended Posts

I'm not a fan of the diving either. Kes doesn't need to do that, he's a better player than that. He would be an even better player if he would focus on making crisp passes and helping his teammates to be better players. He now has a reputation of being one of the worst divers in the league. The refs feel manipulated by him, so even if it's a real hit, Kes doesn't draw the penalty. It's of no value anymore, in fact, it's a hindrance, as other players can now hit Kes without getting 2 mins in the penalty box.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to get flamed again, but, I feel that diving is a moral / values issue. It has everything to do with our win-at-all-costs mentality. We do what it takes to help our team win, including diving.

I played sports at a high level for years growing up in Vancouver and I can honestly say that I never took a dive up until I stopped playing competitively at 31. Not once. I did many other things (chippy play, trash talking, threatening, fighting) that were done to intentionally get players off of their game, but, I never dove. The decisions I made often turned into choices that hurt the team instead of helping it, much like the divers we see in professional sports, especially football and hockey.

I openly admit that I am a hypocrite because I cheated to gain an advantage, which, IMO, is wrong, immoral and lacking in values and character. When we "play" sports, we are consumed by them... at any level. For that 60 or 90 minute period, everything that we do is based on being better than the opponent. There must be a gene for competitiveness somewhere in our DNA.

15 years separated from my "retirement" from competitive sport has allowed me to see the errors I made during my playing career. Now, as a coach, I try to take my experiences, both positive and negative, and share them with my players. I'd like to think this is growth in me as a human being and as an athlete, but, I can pretty much guarantee that if I ever step back on a playing field again, I will resort back to my ultra-competitive, cheating ways to help my team gain any advantage it can. Why?

So we can win.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, you are quickly becoming one of my favorite posters on CDC. Your posts are thought out, intelligent, reasonable, not over winded but stuffed full of information, and you don't mini mod and call out everyone for their dumb comments. You have gotten more then a couple +1s from me today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Diving is seriously the only way Vancouver (and a lot of other teams) can draw penalties, maybe you guys disagree with that, but especially in the playoffs, and now even in the regular season, the referees definitely have a personal problem with the Canucks. It's b.s., every team in the league dives. I agree Kesler has gone a little over the top with it sometimes, but the guy always gives his best effort, even if the stat sheet doesn't always have his name all over it. I have a high amount of respect for Ryan Kesler and the skill and determination which he plays the game. The Canucks are way too unfairly maligned for this (thank you CBC!). The media convinced everyone Vancouver is the most unsportsmanlike team in the history of professional sports. Canucks rule! They play hard, they skate hard and they entertain with speed and creativity! 80 percent of the NHL can't claim the latter! Go Canucks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What irks me is when it always seems to be the ref that's on the complete other side of the rink that calls a penalty and the one standing right there calls nothing... I'm not talking about diving just all penalty calls in general... It boils my blood!!! The refs have been awful at times so far this season!!! Two phantom calls against Detroit ended up giving the Wings momentum and we paid for them!!! The "goaltender interference" call on Kassian was a joke as well as the Weise "hit to the head" call!!! Effin' joke!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My problem with Kesler's diving is that legitimate calls are not being made. In that Detroit game there were three legitimate penalties that weren't called simply because it was Kesler involved. It happens to Burrows as well but not to the same extent. Once you get that rep as a diver, legitimate penalties start to get ignored. The diving is hurting the team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

someone on every team dives. and sometimes diving can be very effective. remember the dallas(?) game? where burrows was thrown in the box twice while we were on the power play ... that was because of diving. well-timed, well-executed diving.

the problem with kesler is, he is not a very good (stealthy) diver. and he seems to do it at the worst possible times. and now that he has a reputation for being a poor diver, he rarely gets the calls going his ways. so yes, he should give it a rest, until the appropriate time comes around ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

kesler is a guy that used to get mugged a lot. i mean opposing players used to kick the crap out of him. back then he didn't get all the calls because he was a nobody. now he's a somebody and every time he's hit he glares and chirps the refs as if to say "dont you know who i am??"

dude needs to stfu and play hockey

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...