Matt Cooke spears Shea Weber then cross-checks him in the face

[ArGarBarGar]

I'm surprised I haven't seen the Preds feed in this thread yet. The "spear" (or whatever he did) is more visible here. It isn't clear-cut but he obviously does something to piss Weber off.

(start at :55)

Yeah, looks like a spear to me.

Cooke is unbelievable.

 

[Girouxsflow]

Shea Weber just became my new favorite player.

 

[ThirdManIn]

am i missing something? They both Cross checked each other and Cooke's arms rode up...

I think you're missing what happened before the crosschecks.

 

[HockeyFan100]

No matter how many things Cooke does, he will always have his defenders. Blows my mind, but it's a reality.

Just Wild and Pens fans. I still don't get it, though. If Cooke played for my team, I'd be embarrassed and I certainly wouldn't cheer for him. Or defend his antics.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

It won't because its Weber but it should. Cooke doesn't need this, he's had enough personal problems at home, the last thing he needs is Weber taking cheapshots on him while the ref is holding him down...

If he doesn't want to get punched like that, maybe he shouldn't spear a guy, cross check him in the face and then turtle.

 

[billybudd]

Weber had his stick up because Cooke just speared him. Then Cooke crosschecks him in the face. Seriously, unless you're his mother I don't how anyone can stick up for this piece of fecal matter.

Looking at the Nashville feed, here is the complete sequence of events.

Weber hits Cooke away from the puck and Cooke gives him a little love tap. Should have been a penalty on Weber for interference and Cooke for slashing. Then Weber tries to crosscheck him in the head and Cooke responds by getting him first.

There's no good guy. This is just two guys battling. If it was Kyle Brodziak and Matt Cullen, there would be no thread because there's nothing out of the ordinary going on in this play.

This is just business as usual in Colin Campbell's garage league.

 

[triggrman]

Just Wild and Pens fans. I still don't get it, though. If Cooke played for my team, I'd be embarrassed and I certainly wouldn't cheer for him. Or defend his antics.

In fairness, not many Wild fans.

 

[Teppo]

Yeah, looks like a spear to me.

Cooke is unbelievable.

What a violent spear - it almost made Weber sort of, kind of flinch. Did they bring the stretcher out for him after he beat up Cooke?

Cooke made the bed he is in - he will never get the benefit of the doubt from the general fan population regardless of the circumstances.

P.S. I forgot to ask - is the NHL giving Cooke a hearing for the knuckle damage on Weber when he faced butted him in the fist?

 

[triggrman]

What a violent spear - it almost made Weber sort of, kind of flinch. Did they bring the stretcher out for him after he beat up Cooke?

Cooke made the bed he is in - he will never get the benefit of the doubt from the general fan population regardless of the circumstances.

I think Weber yelled at him to watch his stick, Cooke turned to confront Weber and the crosscheck sequence happens. That's when Weber had enough and beat Cooke down.

 

[Macca]

Cooke turtles - what an 'effin coward!

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

...just curious, how does anyone defend this piece of trash anymore??...does anyone out there truly believe that these incidents with Cooke are just "bad timing", "unavoidable mishaps", or "coincidence"??...

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

What a violent spear - it almost made Weber sort of, kind of flinch. Did they bring the stretcher out for him after he beat up Cooke?

Cooke made the bed he is in - he will never get the benefit of the doubt from the general fan population regardless of the circumstances.

P.S. I forgot to ask - is the NHL giving Cooke a hearing for the knuckle damage on Weber when he faced butted him in the fist?

...yeah, Cooke's definitely the "victim" here...

 

[Teppo]

Cooke turtles - what an 'effin coward!

I don't think he turtled - he just took a couple of solid punches and went down. What is he supposed to do - jump back up and keep trying to break Weber's hand with his face?

 

[Teppo]

...just curious, how does anyone defend this piece of trash anymore??...does anyone out there truly believe that these incidents with Cooke are just "bad timing", "unavoidable mishaps", or "coincidence"??...

This incident was nothing. Some of his other incidents were bad timing. Many others were intentional attempts to injure.

 

[ThirdManIn]

Looking at the Nashville feed, here is the complete sequence of events.

Weber hits Cooke away from the puck and Cooke gives him a little love tap. Should have been a penalty on Weber for interference and Cooke for slashing. Then Weber tries to crosscheck him in the head and Cooke responds by getting him first.

There's no good guy. This is just two guys battling. If it was Kyle Brodziak and Matt Cullen, there would be no thread because there's nothing out of the ordinary going on in this play.

This is just business as usual in Colin Campbell's garage league.

There are some issues with your narrative. First of all, the puck had come to Cooke. Just because it was a bad pass and Cooke couldn't get control quickly enough doesn't mean Weber interfered. The puck was there when Weber knocked Cooke off of it. Second, the "love tap" is still a spearing motion which made contact, meaning that the penalty which should have been called should have been a major on Cooke, or at very least a minor for slashing since officials hate to call spearing. Third, Weber's stick and hands were clearly at upper chest level with Cooke, around the clavicle area. Unless Weber was anticipating Cooke taking a dive, I don't see how you can watch that and deduce that Weber was going for Cooke's face. He was going for a shove/crosscheck for sure, but it was to the upper chest and not the face. Cooke, however, made clear contact with Weber's face, an impressive feat to pull off accidentally, as several have claimed it was, when you take into account major height differences.

We're both biased here, but please at least try to look at things like where the stick and hands of a player are before making something up like "Weber was trying to crosscheck Cooke in the face," or where the puck is at the time of a hit before saying Weber hit Cooke away from the puck (when it is clearly right there). It makes these debates much less painful.

 

[Nut Upstrom]

POS Cooke gets his face pounded in.
POS Weber gets cross checked to the chops.

If this clip somehow contained Corey Perry getting jacked as well it would have been perfection.

 

[triggrman]

This incident was nothing. Some of his other incidents were bad timing. Many others were intentional attempts to injure.

This one was bad timing too, he needed to do this when Weber wasn't on the ice or when he could time his exit better.....

 

[triggrman]

I don't think he turtled - he just took a couple of solid punches and went down. What is he supposed to do - jump back up and keep trying to break Weber's hand with his face?

Not wise.....

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

I'm curious. What if a fan is against the stupid stick work (e.g. spearing) and thinks it is uncalled for regardless of the colors the player is wear on his sweater? Is that fan still "self-righteous" because the team for which they cheer has a player or two who do that nonsense?

Your argument is rather weak beyond that generalization. It essentially boils down to, "if your team has a player who has done something like this, you cannot judge Cooke for doing it, too." That's not how it works. Someone doing something wrong first does not make it less wrong when someone else does it later. Cooke gets it more than most players because he has, time and again, for season after season, brought that kind of harsh judgment upon himself. He knows he did or he would not have sat down to tell everyone how he's going to "change."

Cooke was acting like an idiot, plain and simple. Whether he was doing it to try to help his team or not, it was stupid.

FWIW, and so I don't come across as "self-righteous," I'm not a fan of throwing punches when a player is down on the ice like that. I get Weber's anger, but I still don't like seeing that kind of fighting.

The argument you claim I made is indeed weak. I never made it but you seem to think I did. My argument was that holier than thou people are over reacting to a weak spear and crosscheck incident/fight as if it is a big deal or something. The 5 letters on the back of the jersey is resulting in ridiculous comments in this thread as evidenced by the warning about certain types of posts.

If you disagree that much of this thread is the result of anger at Cooke over incidents in the past that have nothing to do with this one then we fundamentally disagree and there is really no purpose in discussing this matter.

 

[umdieecke*]

Just Wild and Pens fans. I still don't get it, though. If Cooke played for my team, I'd be embarrassed and I certainly wouldn't cheer for him. Or defend his antics.

I'd hate having a player like that on my team too but it's practically a necessity, if the the NHL and the union are going to insist on allowing players like this in the league. If you're playing a team witha guy like that and you don't have one yourself, there's no threat of retaliation and since the punishment falls well short, you need your own guy. It's not like Cooke doesn't understand the math of another team losing a player that's superior to him for 5 for a dirty play that only gets him suspended for 5 games. If Nashville has their own Matt Cooke, Minnesota would know Cookes cheap shots put Suter and Parise at risk. And I'm not talking about fighting. I'm talking about having a cheap **** artist.

It's an unfortunate reality.

Another unfortunate part if this is that Weber is a star. And in the players union, stars are far outnumbered by the average to less-than-average player. So guess who the union is more interested in protecting. It's almost like there should be another union that breaks away from the current union so it can represent the upper strata of players. Between Fehr and Bettman, it's not a surprise the penalties are so weak.

 

[Drake744]

Cooke was absolutely bringing his stick towards Weber's face. Weber's was going up, but not that far up and not as direct as Cooke's was.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

The argument you claim I made is indeed weak. I never made it but you seem to think I did. My argument was that holier than thou people are over reacting to a weak spear and crosscheck incident/fight as if it is a big deal or something. The 5 letters on the back of the jersey is resulting in ridiculous comments in this thread as evidenced by the warning about certain types of posts.

If you disagree that much of this thread is the result of anger at Cooke over incidents in the past that have nothing to do with this one then we fundamentally disagree and there is really no purpose in discussing this matter.

...the matter isn't that it was vicious, it's that it's malicious, unnecessary, and consistently repeated behavior...the NHL should be getting very tired of it...that's Cooke's M.O., cheap-shot artist extraodinaire...it's about time he was sent a very vivid message, even for something petty like this...

 

[ThirdManIn]

The argument you claim I made is indeed weak. I never made it but you seem to think I did. My argument was that holier than thou people are over reacting to a weak spear and crosscheck incident/fight as if it is a big deal or something. The 5 letters on the back of the jersey is resulting in ridiculous comments in this thread as evidenced by the warning about certain types of posts.

If you disagree that much of this thread is the result of anger at Cooke over incidents in the past that have nothing to do with this one then we fundamentally disagree and there is really no purpose in discussing this matter.

Is it unfair for a person who has repeatedly done things which draw the ire of hockey fans to continue to be hated by those hockey fans?
If that is your position, I hardly see how it is a rational one. Once you lose the benefit of the doubt, everything you do that is even borderline will be viewed more harshly. It isn't unfair. It's normal.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

Is it unfair for a person who has repeatedly done things which draw the ire of hockey fans to continue to be hated by those hockey fans?
If that is your position, I hardly see how it is a rational one. Once you lose the benefit of the doubt, everything you do that is even borderline will be viewed more harshly. It isn't unfair. It's normal.

I don't care whether people hate him or not. Doesn't matter to me. The problem I have is when the reactions to the incident have nothing to do with what actually happened.

 

[billybudd]

There are some issues with your narrative. First of all, the puck had come to Cooke. Just because it was a bad pass and Cooke couldn't get control quickly enough doesn't mean Weber interfered. The puck was there when Weber knocked Cooke off of it. Second, the "love tap" is still a spearing motion which made contact, meaning that the penalty which should have been called should have been a major on Cooke, or at very least a minor for slashing since officials hate to call spearing. Third, Weber's stick and hands were clearly at upper chest level with Cooke, around the clavicle area. Unless Weber was anticipating Cooke taking a dive, I don't see how you can watch that and deduce that Weber was going for Cooke's face. He was going for a shove/crosscheck for sure, but it was to the upper chest and not the face. Cooke, however, made clear contact with Weber's face, an impressive feat to pull off accidentally, as several have claimed it was, when you take into account major height differences.

We're both biased here, but please at least try to look at things like where the stick and hands of a player are before making something up like "Weber was trying to crosscheck Cooke in the face," or where the puck is at the time of a hit before saying Weber hit Cooke away from the puck (when it is clearly right there). It makes these debates much less painful.

I've met Cooke. He's a piece of garbage. I don't care what the newspapers say about him away from the rink; he's trash and nobody will convince me otherwise.

There are no problems with the narrative. Weber hit Cooke when he didn't have the puck. No amount of bargaining will change that. Cooke jabbed him back with the stick. This happens 5 times a week in NHL action. Guy gets hit away from the puck. Whacks the guy that hit him. If that's a major for spearing, a new infraction will need to be invented for actual spears.

Weber's a guy whose game revolves around the fact that he's a big, nasty dude and he took exception. Got the stick high first (and yes, it was at head level to Cooke) and Cooke beat him to the punch. Then Weber beat him down. Weber could have been called for aggressor, which is suspendable, but wasn't.

Cooke could have been given 2 for crosschecking and 2 for slashing on this play, which is 4 minutes in PIMs. He actually got 7 minutes due to a phantom fighting major.

Weber could have been given 2 for interference, 2 for crosschecking, 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting and a match penalty for aggressor, but wasn't. He got 5 minutes in penalties and could have been rung up for north of 20. In terms of rulebook infractions, Weber is the one who got off light. Not Cooke.

The whole thing is business as usual in Campbell's garage league. It's a nothing sequence. Nobody's the good guy. Nobody's in the right. Just two meatheads fouling each other repeatedly. It happens all the time.

Like I said, if this is Cullen and Brodziak--and on another night, it might have been--there's no thread.