Mark Spector hates Willie Mitchell

[dash]

That's all I can gather from the following:

Somehow Willie Mitchell never considered running for president of Mom’s Against Head Shots after he clocked Chicago’s Jonathan Toews with a clean check last season, concussing the young Blackhawks star with a shoulder to the chin.

But ever since Mitchell had his head down and was concussed on a clean hit from Evgeni Malkin— Mitchell flew into the boards and hit his head — the L.A. Kings defenceman grabs every microphone he can to berate the league for its work on head shots.

If it was a clean hit, Spector, why did Malkin receive a penalty?!?

Asked about the Rick Rypien suspension last week, he said: "My opinion is that everyone has made a big issue out of this and I think there’s other things that are going on in our game that are much more severe. Whether it’s headshots — and I keep going back to that — and the lack of action on that.

"It’s something we’ve seen the NFL start to do and hopefully our league follows suit. The game’s faster, guys are bigger, it would be nice to see if they protected the players a little more."

Yeah Willie. Because the NHL hasn’t spent much time on head shots over the past two seasons.

Where do you think Willie has been? Surely not watching the Malkin hit on video.

Somehow Mitchell became convinced it was a bad hit, and it became someone else’s fault. Youtube that hit and tell me it isn’t a hit from the side that lands directly on the arm stripe of Mitchell’s jersey, while the puck is on Mitchell’s stick. Not even close, Spector.

It was sad to see Mitchell get a concussion, but sadder still that he feels he has to blame everyone else for it.

Wow, just wow.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

??? i dont even know what to say about this ???

 

[dash]

??? i dont even know what to say about this ???

This type of piece really blurs the line between MSM and hockey bloggers...I mean, it makes you wonder if guys like Spector are instructed to write inflammatory pieces like this just to generate web hits in order to drive ad revenues. Eric Francis writes the same type of garbage articles for the Calgary Sun.

I don't think Eric Duhatschek would ever consider writing an article like that.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

on a sidenote

im glad sportsnet has gone to the regional panels during intermissions. Was never a big fan of Jason Portuondo and John Shannon (for example) telling me about the inner workings of the canucks when they are so far removed from the day to day stuff

but then one canucks game recently they had spector on during intermission ... i dont really care for his take ... have one of the beat guys like Botchford or Kuzma on

 

[dash]

on a sidenote

im glad sportsnet has gone to the regional panels during intermissions. Was never a big fan of Jason Portuondo and John Shannon (for example) telling me about the inner workings of the canucks when they are so far removed from the day to day stuff

but then one canucks game recently they had spector on during intermission ... i dont really care for his take ... have one of the beat guys like Botchford or Kuzma on

Yup, I agree, good move by Sportsnet bringing the beat writers and guys that follow the team on a day-to-day basis in during the intermissions.

/another sidenote: On Saturday night, Kelly Hrudey was questioning how much the Oilers are playing the 'Bulin wall'. He said they should play the young kids and go for another lottery pick. I would say to Kelly that it probably doesn't matter who the Oilers put between the pipes.

 

[BostonAJ]

I didn't draw the line on drinking and driving until my room mate got arrested in a McDonald's drive thru while screaming incoherently at the intercom that they better not "fucking burn the fucking motherfucking french fries again." The cop pulled up behind him, walked up to his car and asked how much he'd had to drink. My room mate decided to try and talk his was out of it with a conservative lie: "Only six beers in the last hour." True story. I read the police report. Cost him his license, two weeks in jail, and thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Sometimes it has to hit close to home.

 

[davnlaguna]

I didn't draw the line on drinking and driving until my room mate got arrested in a McDonald's drive thru while screaming incoherently at the intercom that they better not "fucking burn the fucking motherfucking french fries again." The cop pulled up behind him, walked up to his car and asked how much he'd had to drink. My room mate decided to try and talk his was out of it with a conservative lie: "Only six beers in the last hour." True story. I read the police report. Cost him his license, two weeks in jail, and thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Sometimes it has to hit close to home.

However did he get his unburned fries?
DUI tickets cost so much because of not just the fine but the cost of the lawyer, court costs on top of the ticket, the classes you take to reduce the sentence, losing your license cost you in alternate transportation, getting your license back, increased insurance for many years. I would not wish this on anyone, even a Bruins fan.

As for Willie. He gets asked about headshots becuase the person asking wants the side of an injured player and wants the answers Willie is giving. Why else was Willie asked. If you go to a welder and ask about a farm injury, the welder is going to relate it to welding.

Spector seems to be ranting that Willie didn't think much attention should that hit. He thinks that there are more important issues. He didn't mention Malkin, just headshots. Who knows what else was said. The writer choose to print this part.

 

[Urkie]

This type of piece really blurs the line between MSM and hockey bloggers...I mean, it makes you wonder if guys like Spector are instructed to write inflammatory pieces like this just to generate web hits in order to drive ad revenues. Eric Francis writes the same type of garbage articles for the Calgary Sun.

I don't think Eric Duhatschek would ever consider writing an article like that.

You better believe that's exactly the case dash. I know it is for a fact. The media nowadays is out to make money. That's their sole purpose. It's no longer about professionalism, integrity or a good story, but rather generating publicity and getting web hits to make money.

It's sad but true.

 

[dash]

Here is Spector's response to some of the comments on his brilliant piece of journalism:

Here are the hits the NHL is targeting: "A lateral, back pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or is the principal point of contact."

Colin Campbell: "Basically, we are taking a completely legal hit with the shoulder and saying from a certain aspect in the future that is going to be an illegal hit if delivered to the head."

Malkin neither struck Mitchell's head, nor came from behind. It was shoulder to shoulder, with the puck on Mitchell's stick. A tough, mean hit? Sure. Two minutes? OK. But for what - hitting too hard? Cheers.

When do the Penguins play the Oilers?!? I want Malkin to hit Taylor Hall in exactly the same way he hit Willie Mitchell and then see the reaction from Spector.

/I'm kidding, by the way, I don't want to see anybody hurt. Am I wrong, when I look at the youtube video, I see a hit from behind on a player in a vulnerable position (about 3 feet away from the endboards).