Following the Flyers’ fourth goal in Saturday’s game 2, Montreal’s Tom Kostopoulos landed a sucker punch on Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen. It has been classified by many as cheap, gutless, and cowardly.
Of course, Guy Carbonneau isn’t calling the hit that. He went as far as to say that Timonen deserved the hit. Hey Guy, since when has anyone deserved to be hit from behind? Is your player such a coward that he can’t go after someone when they can see him coming? Carbonneau says that he deserved the hit because the Flyers were taunting the Canadiens after the goal.
The Canadian based source, TSN, originally had in their story that Kostopoulos said there was no taunting and he let his emotions take over after the goal. The story now says that Kostopoulos over-reacted to a Timonen smirk. Nice spin. It was also these same people that called for Steve Downie’s head when he sucker punched Jason Blake of the Toronto Maple Leafs. So, TSN defends a sucker punch from behind from a player on a Canadian team, but calls for a suspension when the sucker punch comes a non-Canadian team and it is between two willing combatants. Nice unbiased reporting there.
But, we shouldn’t be surprised by Carbonneau’s comments, they are just another example of the type of class the Canadiens and their fans have. Here are a few other examples from just this year’s playoffs. After barely getting by the Boston Bruins in round one, the Montreal faithful decided to set about a dozen and a half police cars a blaze in celebration of the win. Then, during game one of this round, Mike Richards was the target of the fans beverages while he sat in the penalty box. Now you can add Tom Kostopoulos’ hit, and Guy Carbonneau’s defense of his player’s cowardice to the list.
Tags: canadiens · Carbonneau · Flyers · Kostopoulos · Timonen3 Comments
This is not an attempt to defend Kostopoulos’ move, because I don’t agree with it, but some of what you wrote also seems a bit contradictory. First, your victim position as a Flyers’ fan is quite surprising, taken the Flyers was under special watch from the league for the many, very dirty hits they have been distributiing since October. Second, your apparent dismissal of Canadian broadcasting and teams is contradictory, since the best players on your team are all Canadian: Briere, Biron, Gagne, Richards, Carter and more. In fact more than 50% of your roster is Canadian, so stop crying and enjoy playoffs at thier best. And by the way, I’d rather have 100 idiots burn up a car expectedly after a win in Montreal than getting risked being shot every 20 minutes unexpectedly… in Philadelphia
[...] beginning to increase. Tom Kostopoulos’ sucker punch on Kimmo Timonen at the end of game 2 and Guy Carbonneau’s comments regarding it just added to it. But for the Flyers, since Bruce Boudreau of the Capitals started [...]
Ok, so I blast a Canadian media outlet for obvious one-sided reporting, that must mean I’m anti-everything Canadian. Get real. Just because I take issue with the way they treat Canadian teams, has absolutely nothing to do with the nationality of the players on my team. Unlike you, I can differentiate between the players I support and the media from their home country. Secondly, yes the Flyers did take some suspensions this year. I won’t defend Boulerice or Downie’s hits. But, Flyers players weren’t the only ones suspended this year, they just got most of the attention because of the team’s reputation as a tough team. By your logic, since they were disciplined, it’s ok for other teams to take cheap shots at them without any threat of discipline. Also, it’s nice to see that you support the destruction of property.