The clip out of which those tweets were made of Cooke
I posted my opinion about Cooke on the Bruins board, so I'll kind of repeat it here.
Jack Edwards did go a little too far over the top with this comment. I doubt he's really sorry. He's very outspoken and over-the-top. I'm sure the Bruins told him to apologize right away for PR related reasons, which is understandable.
However, it's the context he's using it in. Everybody knows what he really means, but some are more offended by it than others. He's basically saying that Cooke is among the dirtiest in the league and the award wasn't deserving to him. Sirham Sirham was an awful person and he wasn't deserving of anything among his peers, either. He probably shouldn't throw Sirhan Sirhan's name out like that, but as I said, he's over the top.
On the topic of Cooke actually being nominated for this...I can't believe it. I thought the same in 2012, when he was nominated, so it's not linked to Karlsson's injury.
The definition of the award is "The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is an annual award under the trusteeship of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association and is given to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey."
I fail to see how Cooke fits the bill for this one. He went from the dirtiest and most reckless player in the league to a tamer player who didn't rack up a lot of PIMs? That's a good improvement, but we're rewarding someone who's had a history of being dirty because he stopped injuring people for a year?
I don't know, I just feel like if Cooke made it onto the top three nominations for it, it would look extremely bad for the league. You're basically saying that if you become dirty and reckless, and stop your antics for a year, you should win an award? I don't get it.
I hold a grudge over him from the Marc Savard incident, honestly. Not only did Cooke end his career, but the damage also caused Savard's life to be altered forever. I remember reading he couldn't even remember his own children's names for a while. Reading that really sinks in. It's one thing when you take them out with an injury, but when the injury starts going to that degree, wow.
Anyways, look at the nominees in past years for the Masterton and even look at Bill Masterton himself. They all show a crazy dedication to hockey. Ian Laperrière had crazy concussion problems and blocked a shot with his face and pretty much wrecked his eyes. Blake fought leukemia and still put up a very respectable 50+ points. Kessel had a testicle removed. Then we throw Cooke in there. All of these players did something memorable and amazing. Cooke stopped taking PIMs and hitting guys from behind/knee-on-knee.
If you raise up your skate leg, and step it down on the back of one's leg(just above the unprotected leg area above the skate) as you are pinning a player against the boards,....what would you think Cooke was trying to do? Don't tell me hockey is a fast game,..and he may have been off balance. Because you couldn't find another player in the NHL,..that has better balance on their skates,....than Cooke. Add in to all this, Cooke is the dirtiest POS in NHL history,....what's "so mindboggling"?
