Don Cherry Calls Out Divers/Sellers - Coach's Corner April 18th 2010

[li0lsh]

 

[scottflyers88]

it does not belong in the game. it is embarrasing to watch.

 

[ELYEAH82]

it does not belong in the game. it is embarrasing to watch.

If there werent so many missed calls players wouldnt have to embellish. THe officiating is horrible at best in the playoffs.

 

[scottflyers88]

it is during the regular season also. they do miss calls and i do not care if a player throws his head back when a stick taps his visor although do not fall and grab your face like you are in pain. also, they need to start calling diving.

 

[Destroydacre]

If there werent so many missed calls players wouldnt have to embellish. THe officiating is horrible at best in the playoffs.

That's a pretty weak excuse, IMO. Nothing good is gained for the sport as a whole by players diving, plain and simple.

 

[elocomotive]

it is during the regular season also. they do miss calls and i do not care if a player throws his head back when a stick taps his visor although do not fall and grab your face like you are in pain. also, they need to start calling diving.

They do. It's an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

 

[elocomotive]

I have a hard time with the "diving" issue. On the one hand, it's not classy to do - you're hockey players, you are supposed to be tough. On the other, if you aren't sure if the referee is going to call it or you want to get a competitive advantage for your team, then why wouldn't you embellish it? You are paid to help your team win and if that's what it takes, then why wouldn't you do everything you can as a player?

To invert this and take it to it's logical end, should a player go to the refs and request a penalty not be given to the other team when he knows he wasn't fouled?

I played soccer in high school. I can remember a time where the guy kicked my leg and I shouldn't have gone down. I could have kept going, but with it slowing me, I wouldn't have been able to get off a shot until my angle gave me no chance for a goal. So I went down. I got the call for a penalty shot and we won the game because of it. Should I have stayed up and done the honorable thing and not scored? Fuck no! I whispered to the guy "They should give me an Emmy" afterward and the look on his face was priceless.

Diving works. If you can get away with it, more power to you. It's a mind game as well as a physical one.

 

[Darkstone42]

I don't know how I feel about diving. When there's no infraction, it's clearly a problem, but when there is, especially trips, hooks, holds, and slashes, who's to say balance wasn't simply lost? The same is the case for getting hit from behind. I know these guys are professionals, but the game is still played on ice at a very high speed. If a rut in the ice is enough to get a guy to lose an edge, why can't we assume that so would a stick in the skates? Or if you get hit from behind when you don't expect it, who's to say you didn't simply lose your balance because your bearings were thrown off by unexpected contact?

When it's obvious and there was no infraction, diving is disgraceful, but when there is an infraction, I think a lot of folks need to remember that the game is played on ice at a rapid pace, and even slight changes in conditions can have an impact on a player's bearings.

 

[scottflyers88]

They do. It's an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

you mean the penalty that is called once every 30 games? call it more frequently is what i meant.

 

[ELYEAH82]

That's a pretty weak excuse, IMO. Nothing good is gained for the sport as a whole by players diving, plain and simple.

I disagree, and if the issue is the officials then increase the # of officials. Call it what you want, there is to much at stake in the playoffs for officials to be missing as many calls as they do in a game. Case in point the goal that seal the win for the Blackhawks where 2 players pushed Luongo in to the net, how the hell did they miss that one.

 

[scottflyers88]

I don't know how I feel about diving. When there's no infraction, it's clearly a problem, but when there is, especially trips, hooks, holds, and slashes, who's to say balance wasn't simply lost? The same is the case for getting hit from behind. I know these guys are professionals, but the game is still played on ice at a very high speed. If a rut in the ice is enough to get a guy to lose an edge, why can't we assume that so would a stick in the skates? Or if you get hit from behind when you don't expect it, who's to say you didn't simply lose your balance because your bearings were thrown off by unexpected contact?

When it's obvious and there was no infraction, diving is disgraceful, but when there is an infraction, I think a lot of folks need to remember that the game is played on ice at a rapid pace, and even slight changes in conditions can have an impact on a player's bearings.

well i sort of agree. sometimes it looks like a player is diving when he is not. however it is pretty easy to know when a player is blatently diving. for instance david laliberte was hooked from behind and spun and fell down. he got called for it and he should have. he was on my team and i was sort of glad they called it. if he did not dive they probably still would have called the hook and he might have even gotten a scoring chance out of it.

the reason i dislike diving is mostly because you take yourself out of the play and leave it up to the refs. for instance if i had a breakaway and i felt somebodys blade on my skate then i would try my best to get a shot off. not dive. because if you dive and the ref does not call it then you just lost a great chance. even if you are cycling in the offensive zone and somebody hooks you. why would you fall on purpose? if it does not get called then the other team most likely gets the puck and goes the other way. not to mention it is embarrasing to watch grown men flop on the ice like they flop in basketball.

all i ask from my team is to give it their all. if you dive and take yourself out of a play you are not giving it your all. pretty simple. now i do not mind throwing your head back so they now somebody high sticked you because you can just keep skating and try to create something. when you get hit in the visor and fall down and act hurt when you are not it is disgraceful.

 

[forty_three]

you mean the penalty that is called once every 30 games? call it more frequently is what i meant.

And have the guts to call a dive alone...

 

[scottflyers88]

good point forty three. what would stop someone from diving if they knew if they got called for it then it would still be 4 on 4?