The Other Press on facebook Forget about Farmville. Fuhgetiahout Mafia Wars, too. ee ey on Facebook instead! OUR meee es a LETTITOR the Oniginal $10 off any oe of $50 or more upon presentation of this coupon eas ‘it coupon expires Dec 31, 2011 434h best Columbia St ; __ New Westminster, BC www.capsbicycleshop.com Garth McLennan Editor in Chiet r almost a year and a half now, Re have been two major hot- . button topics that have dominated discussion in relation to the NHL. One is the ongoing fiasco down in Phoenix that just never seems to improve, and the other is of course the ever-worsening matter of headshots and other dirty plays. Secondary to that is the complete and utter failure on part of the NHL to punish those responsible for administering such plays. Take the recent actions of Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward Matt Cooke. When the Penguins squared off against the Columbus Blue Jackets last week, Cooke, who has become the poster boy for gutless and disgraceful play of late, rammed Jackets’ defenseman Fedor Tyutin directly from behind into the end boards at full speed. There was no attempt made by Cooke to let up; he drilled Tyutin squarely in the numbers. . For a play that presented the NHL with a perfect opportunity to really drive home the point that actions such as Cooke’s one be tolerated, they suspended Cooke for four games. On an obviously vicious play that could have crippled Tyutin for life, Cooke got four games. That’s it. Now, it’s probably safe to assume that had Tyutin been seriously injured in the exchange, as he very well could have been, Cooke’s punishment would have been significantly more substantial. But because Tyutin was ~ able to get up after a play he had zero chance on, Cooke slithers away with minimal punishment against him. Again. A problem that needs to be fixed ‘NHL has made it perfectly clear that they It’s the Matt Cooke’s of the NHL that are seriously damaging the image of the league and the sport of hockey in general. Sincé the introduction of the instigator rule, we’ ve seen the birth of players like Cooke, agitators who target vulnerable players wi cheap shots designed purely to maim and injure, and then refuse to fight after doing so. Sure, the NHL occasionally suspends and fines these guys, but a four game ban isn’t going to stop anyone long term. So when you have scum like Cooke, Jarrko Ruutu and Steve Ott running around with a toothless tiger in the NHL doing little to stop them, and preventing opposing players from stopping them, you get incidents like Todd Bertuzzi taking out Steve Moore. ; Even if the league doesn’t give a damn about their players, and it sure seems like they don’t at times, you’d think that they would at the very least have an interest in protecting their business interests. When Cooke goes out and deliberately throws a knee-on-knee on one of the faces of the game in Alexander Ovechkin, as he did in yet another disgusting act last week, he should be whacked with a long suspension. Instead, there was no supplemental discipline doled out by the NHL. It’s crazy. Sooner or later, a guy like Crosby, Ovechkin or Stamkos will have their career ended by one of these types of plays, and maybe after that happens we'll start to see some real punishment handed down by the league. Until that fateful day though, the aren’t interested in cleaning up the game. _ectieandincieyeurtrame, section. Submit storyideastothe arts _* Editorin Chief. Offergoodonceper Anyonecanget published Submissions willbe editedfor clarity. © NEWS SUBMISSIONS in the Other Press! Just email and style. news @theotherpress.ca yourstory tothe appropriatesection ‘The OtherPresswillpay$50to == SPORTS SUBMISSIONS editor from the list on the right. any student who writes anarticleof sports @theotherpress.ca _ Please send your file as an MS Word atleast 1,000 words for the “features” ie ae _ " Theweekly deadline for - _ Semester per student Ucebeelaeesistan canbe ~The ther Pressholds weet oe | meinstPontenn - wal ron US!