Uploaded on March 14, 2007 (flickr.com)
by jroper
Alright I want to make it clear what I am not. I am not a Dallas Stars fan. I am not a Nashville Predators fan. I am not a Jordin Tootoo fan by any stretch of the imagination. And, I am not a Mike Modano fan. Now, that that’s out of the way, Mike Modano is now the American with the most goals in the NHL. He accomplished this at the Nashville Arena where they lost to the Predators 3-2. (He had both of the goals) For those of you who have never been to a game in Nashville let me fill you in on some things. Their fans are absolutely brutal. I have gone in there in Red Wings attire and have been brought to tears. At the Red Wings game they called Chris Chelios a sissy, they told me it’d be a good idea to take off my Red Wings attire, and they screamed MacDonald (the goalie at the time) you suck. Now, that’s just the tip of the ice burg with these fans. There is so much more going on there than that…but you get an idea of what their fans are like. And, like any NHL team they have their fan favorites. They love their goalies, and they adore Jordin Tootoo.
Now, let me tell you what happened that night. Jordin Tootoo like he always does had big hits. Hits on everybody. He doesn’t play favorites. Tootoo hit Modano rather hard and quickly turned around because he knows you don’t hit Modano and not have a guy going after you. So Stephane Robidas charged Jordin Tootoo and he looked in the video like he was about to rip Tootoo’s head off, when bam Jordin Tootoo hit Robidas and knocked him out. Now after this Jordin Tootoo looks down and then gets a slash to the back courtesy of Mike Modano. Now, hockey is a violent sport. Everyone knows that but in lieu of recent events with Chris Simon using his hockey stick like a baseball bat…everyone knows you don’t use your stick as a weapon. What Modano did with his stick was wrong. He could have seriously injured Jordin Tootoo…and he got nothing. I am sick of the NHL punishing the NHL “bad boys” and the “golden boys” get nothing. Now, do I agree with the Tootoo suspension? No. I think he was defending himself and doing what Jordin Tootoo does. But, if he got suspended for protecting himself, then Mike Modano should have gotten something for hitting him with his stick.
Ok so let me tell you what happened after this incident. Mike Modano became the American with the most goals….and he got booed. Everyone in the arena saw what he did to Tootoo and they didn’t appreciate it. Then you have the President of the Dallas Stars complaining to the media that it wasn’t announced that Modano broke the record. Well let me be honest here, the fans in Nashville don’t care about Modano. They care about their team and they care about their team winning. Had it been announced about Modano he would have received more boo’s than he had already heard. I am not trying to take away anything from Modano because it was quite the accomplishment. However, after what he did to Tootoo I don’t think that the fans cared about anything that was going on with him.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Nadine // Mar 23, 2007 at 4:16 am
Is it “defending yourself” if no action is taken against you in the first place? Robidas didn’t even get the chance to touch Tootoo. Despite knowing what was coming at him, it wasn’t justified for Tootoo to punch him out the way he did.
It sounds ridiculous (and an obvious fallacy), but Robidas could have potentially just skated by Tootoo and right to his poor, aching teammate’s side.
Not likely, but who knows.
2 Bethany // Mar 23, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Yeah his poor aching teammate who then slashed Jordin across the back…
3 Nadine // Mar 24, 2007 at 4:06 am
Like I said, it’s an obvious fallacy, but since Tootoo jumped the gun, you can’t say anything about Robidas intentions.
As for Modano, after seeing Tootoo destroy Robidas, I’m surprised all he did was hand him a swift slash. As the leader of your team, would you have just stood there and done nothing about it?
I doubt it. It’s a ‘heat of the moment’ sports thing, you probably don’t understand…but you can revisit the events leading up to the Bertuzzi/Moore incident for more information.
You said it yourself, hockey’s a violent sport. Modano’s slash (which could have, but didn’t hurt Tootoo) wasn’t nearly as bad as the punch Tootoo landed. That’s the bottom line.
4 Bethany // Mar 24, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Ok my dear check it….http://shortandfat.blogspot.com/2007/03/tootoo-has-been-called-dirty-player-all.html look at this and you tell me what Robidas was intending to do to Tootoo. And, I do understand heat of the moment and you can’t bring up the Bertuzzi/Moore incident because this is in no way comparable…and I am extremely sensitive to that situation. But anyway check out that article and then let me know what you think.
5 Nadine // Mar 24, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Thanks for the link, that’s pretty cool how it was broken down.
The first comment left there by ‘Hockeydirt’ is exactly what I’m trying to say. You can only speculate as to what Robidas was going to do to Tootoo (although it’s obvious that he wasn’t going to congratulate him on his team having a nice season), but there’s no proof because he didn’t even have the time to do anything before Tootoo knocked him out cold.
The person who posted the whole thing said at the beginning that although Modano did land a slash, his heart didn’t seem in it..otherwise he would have done more damage?
Either way, Modano’s slash could’ve taken a minor penalty, at most. Tootoo’s punch maybe didn’t deserve 5 games, but it needed to be punished.
6 Bethany // Mar 27, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Guys punch each other all the time and if I had some guy skating at me you can bet that I will be punching him and protecting myself…it was a fluke that he got knocked out. You can’t say that it’s not.
7 Nadine // Mar 29, 2007 at 5:56 am
Wow, ya don’t say? If you had some guy skating at you, or maybe skating in your general vicinity or direction, you would just punch him out? Sweet. In that case, someone should hook you up with Wade Belak…because both of you seem to lack brain cells and have a liking for taking people out.
Take a second and revisit my comments, maybe the message will get across. Having a guy ’skate at you’ isn’t a good enough reason to send him off the ice on a stretcher.
8 Bethany // Mar 29, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Uhm…did you see the way Robidas was skating at him? Like I said he wasn’t going to give Jordin a hug. Tootoo had NO intention of putting him on a stretcher. He wanted to protect himself from what could have happened. I am in no way saying that he should have done it. I am just saying it was not his intention to knock the guy out. Oh and another thing. I don’t find it necessary to put you down with personal blows…and it’s unfortunate that you do.
9 Anonymous // Mar 29, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Nadine I’m a friend of Bethany’s from work and I just want to say that you have no idea who you are talking about. Defend yourself with facts not low blows.
10 Nadine // Mar 29, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I said it numerous time: it’s a fallacy to say that Robidas was going to skate right by Tootoo and not touch him. I also said it’s obvious that he wasn’t going to congratulate him on his team having a nice season. I know very well Tootoo didn’t mean to knock him out, but I didn’t say anything about intent to injure either.
It’s a fact that Tootoo sent him off the ice on a stretcher. It’s also a fact that all Robidas did prior to getting hit was skate towards Tootoo.
If the league thought that’s an okay excuse to punch someone, then they wouldn’t have suspended Tootoo.
I’m done here. You’re just circling around what I’m saying.
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