Ahh I love John Tortorella. One of the last of the lineage of old school, fire breathing, emotional, and controversial coaching figureheads in professional sports. It wasn't if it was when, and I eagerly awaited the inevitable. Then came Saturday...
So excited and emotionally charged was I, after the debaucle that was Vancouver vs. Calgary,eagerly did I look forward to hearing from OUR sports personalities on what went down Saturday night. Of course you're going to get the expected "He was completely out of line" rhetoric from those OUTSIDE of Vancouver. Those that have no real pulse on what the Canucks have been going through over the past few years. Lets get something straight here...Torts was wrong in charging the Flames room plain and simple. He also knew EXACTELY what he was doing, and what would happen to him because of it. He also, in my opinion, received a fair penalty for what he did. As I stated in another post, what he did was friggin' brilliant as far as team dynamics and group psychology goes.
So imagine my surprise when I hear Mr. Price spouting off that Torts should of started any other line and taken the seven minutes in penalties that Vancouver "surely" would have received once Calgary's goons started playing pinata with Canuck player's heads. Say what?!? We of the Vancouver Canucks fans that have spent the past three to five years watching the Canucks turning the other cheek repeatedly and getting runned repeatedly because no team respects them?!? We of the Vancouver Canucks fans that bemoaned the complacency of the team when players would take cheap shots to our players heads after the whistle, or take runs at our star players from out of province in hopes of injuring them??
In disbelief I did something I rarely do....I called in. As soon as I stated Torts did the correct thing by sending out his fourth line -only because he had to in that particular situation- Mr. Price cut me off and hit the "call end" button on me. Wow, I thought, what the hell is going on here? For the remainder of the show all I heard was how Torts should of done this, could of done that...we missed out on the powerplay opportunity (because our powerplay is doing sooo well this year, and the refs have shown their aptitude to treating the Canucks fairly)!! I figured I'd give them another chance today and managed to get through my points. I ended the call stating wouldn't most of us appreciate our bosses sticking up for us and the job we have to do? Soon as I hung up Mr. Sekeres responded in a sarcastic manner, "Oh yes, I would definitely want my boss to go out and pick a fight for me. That would show me he cares."