Bruins’ Bergeron didn’t know just how hungry Burrows, Canucks were
VANCOUVER — Attention Bruins: When on the ice for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Arena Saturday, mind your fingers.
You never know how far some of the Canucks — or at least one in particular — will go to gain an edge.
Alex Burrows showed he wasn’t afraid to put his teeth to work tonight in Game 1 of the Cup Final — which Vancouver won, 1-0 — as he bit Patrice Bergeron during a scrum at the end of the first period. While Burrows claimed that Bergeron put his finger in Burrows’ mouth, the video tells a different story.
“He did. Obviously, he cut me a little bit on my finger,” said Bergeron after the game. “But I’m not going to be here complaining about it, but I’ll let the league do the job. But he sure did.”
Head coach Claude Julien said he hadn’t seen the video yet. But obviously he trusts his star center and perennial candidate for team Lady Byng consideration.
“If that’s the case, it’s a classless move. That’s not something people should be doing,” Julien said.
Burrows was issued a double-minor for roughing. But had the linesman seen the bite, Burrows would’ve been ejected. Luckily, Burrows didn’t factor in the game’s lone goal.
Whether the bite will have an effect on future post-whistle scrums in this series remains to be seen.
“Obviously I don’t mind the rough play in those scrums at the end,” said Bergeron. “As long as it’s just pushing and shoving and all that. But biting? Come on.”
Joe Bovine,
Cleveland? Don’t associate this canuck with that piehole of a city. Can’t wait for Game 2 ….Game 1 Summary: Torres the cheapshot artist looking for someones head oppps how about a gamewinner? . . My prediction 4-2 canucks with Lucic doing his best ben Eager impression in front of his mommy.
Cleveland Steamer,
Luongo saved your collective asses as well. And as far as shoving my fingers near your mouth, your teeth will be knocked out before you get a chance to bite…XO from Boston.
JON Bovine,
Who said anything about A game. Thomas saved your butt once again… I hear Boston Dikes are about to have a big leak. Dont shove your fingers in my mouth if you want to get em back
Now serving in Vancouver. Bruin lady fingers
Ha, if that was the Canucks “A” game last night, the team who had the best record in the NHL, wow. Good for you, gloat in the “awesome” play last night. You like a bunch of delusional Canucks fans are already calling the series over after one game and a one goal win. If you guys were so on point last night, why is it that the only goal scored by your team was scored by Raffi Torres (a complete POS cheap shot artist), only because Boychuk made a questionable defensive play at the blue line.
As far as no punishment, I am certainly not surprised, since the league makes the most inconsistent decisions in respect to meting out discipline.
And as far as a natural reaction? A bite is a bite, and has no place in Hockey. I expect that in soccer. Burrows probably confused Bergy’s finger for his pillow…
Dave MCK
Again you bean heads miss the point. Intent . Burrows did not go out and try to bite anyone. A glove was shoved in his face. Fingers went in the mouth. It is a natural reaction to close the mouth … kinda like when I shove my bat in your momma’s mouth… Maybe you will understand that ? Probably not though… At least the NHL understand’s Intent. They probably got it wrong too… Wah wah wah.
As for the frozen lake we live on. Again you are showing you intellect there kiddo. It rains alot here but it ain’t frozen stuff. Check the map out…. We are above you yankees, always have been, always will…
Suck it up buttercups and get ready to lose in 5.
Slow team, Slow fans, hey maybe you can cheer for the Celtics…. Um No.
Maybe Patriots… Um no
Hey didn’t Boston Rob win survivor
I should also say, steamer, that we do need to find our second gear, but only because our first gear has already forced the Canuckle heads into 3rd gear. We may not have been watching the same game if you felt otherwise. Tuuka might have given up one more goal than Thomas.
If you want to see a game with good physicality, but not dirty, might I point you to a Tampa Bay-Boston game 7? This was a dirty game. Animals bite when you put a finger near their mouth. In fact they actually go and bite it moving their head to do so. A person, however, in a relatively structured environment like a hockey game doesn’t do that. There is a difference between fighting for your life and a hockey scrum. An animal, which a certain team appears to be full of, might not understand the difference.
My grandma would never chomp down. She is better than that. Maybe they do things differently on that frozen lake you live on.
I didn’t know I was speaking to the world’s foremost expert on having things shoved in his mouth. Good luck with that. Thanks for the lesson, pro.
If they teach self defense experts to bite or clamp down on things near their mouth than they weren’t defending very well in the first place. Remind me not to date a self defense expert. I don’t want her training to kick in during a moment of passion.
Steamer – Let me get this straight. In your eyes there was no intent. But also in your eyes, the best defense when someone comes near your mouth is to bite. And also in your eyes, grandmothers have a natural propensity to gnaw on fingers. I’m confused. Was it an accident? Was it a natural reaction? Or is Burrows a Tai Kwon Do master putting his mad skills to work?
MCK,
Go to your grandma and stick your hand in her mouth… I bet she chomps down… Try it you so you know what you are talking about. Its a natural reaction. What happend after that? Don’t know it’s hard to say when you have somebody trying to stuff a finger down your mouth. That’s a joke you bean boy. Let me know if you need me to explain it… Canucks in 5. You guys are slow, knuckledraggers and with or without Burrows , we are deeper than you.
I don’t know MCK, I’ve seen some other pretty ridiculous comments out there. Here’s one, for starters:
“This game without Thomas could have easily been a blow-out…”
That in reference to a game where Luongo actually had to make more saves than Thomas, and in a game that took until the final 18 seconds until either team scored.
Steamer, did you really type this: “Burrows did bite down but not with intent in my eyes.” Dumbest thing on the internet as of this very moment.
John,
Playing dirty the whole game. The Hamuis hit on Lucic a knee shot. What game you watching? As for the rest of the scrums, you dissed it up as much as you recieved.
As for Burrows biting at the bit. Well being a self defense expert, the first defense when something comes close to or in the mouth is to bite down or close the mouth. The question is intent. Unfortunatley you can’t see where the finger is. Burrows did bite down but not with intent in my eyes. All i say is give him one game or none and let the game be played with two teams playing there best hockey… That being said. boy did your Bruins look slow and unskilled… This game without Thomas could have easily been a blow-out… You better hope you can find second gear or this is over quick..
Bring the cup home
I AM CANADIAN
Of course biting a finger and spraying a fan are different offenses – but they carry similar suspension lengths in the past. (And for good reason – one involves a player and the other involves a fan, so the standard is different. And both are illegal/suspendable in the NHL rulebook. )
Bruins fans shouldn’t cry about inconsistency in NHL suspensions while turning a blind eye to the suspension that should have cost Horton Game 7 vs. Tampa. Whether you agree with it or not, had the NHL been “consistent” with protocol from times past, Horton would have to score the game winning goal from the rafters.
Neither team played dirty last night. It was hard fought and filled with great hits. Marchand hip-flipped Raymond, Hamhuis hip-flipped Lucic. Both fine plays and fun to watch. The finger thing was both player’s fault. If someone sticks their finger in my mouth during a fight I’m going to bite it clean off, I think Bergeron got off lucky actually.
Canucks were playing dirty the entire game, and getting away with it. Raymond flying at Marchand after a whistle, followed by Torres punching Kelly in the face for example. Or Hamuis’ hit on Lucic. I don’t care how many times Pierre Mcguire says it was a clean hip check, it wasn’t. He went for Lucic’s knees. Dirty play. It’s the Steve Ott special. As the venerable Andy Brickley would say “Stand up, go shoulder to shoulder in that instance”
@TCL – I think you’re right on. NHL supplementary discipline seems to go hand in hand with exposure. So if the Green Lantern has a bad opening weekend because fans were turned off by this, expect a lifetime ban.
Burrows apparently is, ahem, not telling the truth. What else is he supposed to say…
“I was overexcited… just really champing at the bit. I wanted to sink my teeth into every opportunity I had.”
But Matt, I think you need to change the image for this story, or at least change it for future Burrows incidents. It isn’t Jaws you should be referencing but its awesome ripoff, Orca, The Killer Whale!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg9vE3pLuso
Deadly whale off the coast of Newfoundland, I believe. Michael Ryder to the rescue!
Burrows is an enigma.
25+ goals the last 3 seasons but he’s still a pest. I’ve NEVER had a finger bitten in a scrum like that. I’ve also never had a finger shoved in my mouth. I’m not saying that’s what happened, but that is what Burrows is claiming.
Anyways, Bergeron needs those hands. Hopefully he did not sustain an injury.
I didn’t think he could get any more bush league. Then Alex burrows into Patrice’s finger.
At the time the visor thing was what got me (and why I think Burrows got the double minor). That was bush league. But the bite was ridiculous.
I was really hoping the refs would ease up on the penalities all the way around though. To me it’s clear that is part of Van’s strategy… dive and bait.
In the video Burrows moves his head to Bergeron’s fingers to make the bite-Bergeron was giving him a face wash, but Burrows had just been doing the same to Bergeron and grabbing his visor and giving a few pushes.
Classless act, and I kind of think there may be a suspension. Had the game been on VS-I would say not, but it was on NBC and casual fans got to see the discussion and the video. Not going to look good for the league to ignore a bite although they may opt for the fine (and I honestly think the fines are ridiculously low-if a fine is going to work it has to hurt the player to some extent in the pocket book.
I wish the ref would just let them go. I’m not sure I want Patrice getting punched in the head but now he needs a tetanus shot. I don’t buy the “he put his finger in my mouth stories either”. How many of us has put our fingers in someones mouth during a scrum? A three stooges scrum yes.
My guess is Burrows gets no suspension. I doubt the league has the balls.
Burrows gets a face wash from Bergeron who is standing behind the ref’s back. Trade Jerseys and treat Bergeron of acting like Sean Avery.
A lot of the Bruins fans definitely have a problem with the reciprocity rule. Also, it’s war out there. Recchi is not a fit for the situation. Expect Julien to stay the course, of course.
actually, the league takes abuse of fans very seriously and Horton, the scorer of the series winning goal was lucky to be playing.
At least Campbell finally stepped down from the league disciplinarian role.
Christ, there is a HUGE difference between squirting a water bottle at a fan (regardless of the extenuating circumstances) and BITING your opponant.
The problem most Bruins fans had with the Horton incident was that the reporter from TB who brought it up first called for a suspension. Which would have been downright shameful.
But biting an opponent? come on man. Either you have to be a huge troll or you dont watch hockey. Or you are an idiot. Huge difference in offenses, and one clearly deserves a suspension, the other never ever would
Squirting a waterbottle after having debris thrown at you is in the same league as getting your finger bitten, Chris you are a dolt. and burrows is a classless canuck. Which there are too many of.
Bruins fans are hilarious. They like to complain about the lack of consistency in league punishments…just a few days after Horton sprays a Lightning fan with water and gets off with only a fine. If the league were consistent, Horton sits two games and the Bruins are without their game-winning goal scorer for game 7.
I think the B’s need to play a Feb. 3rd “Dallas Stars” type game against the ‘Nucks in game 2. After watching this 1st game, the ‘Nucks played like they, seemingly, can have their way with the B’s.
The precedent will probably be cut in half, Pierre – seems to be the way supplemental discipline works in the postseason. I definitely expect a 1 game suspension; that bite was obvious, and filthy.
I think this will hurt Burrows chances of winning the Lady Byng.
If Jarkko Ruutu got 2 games for the same thing, then can we expect the league to be consistent?…yeah right!
I wouldn’t mind seeing a 26 goal scorer out of the lineup for games 2 & 3, especially due to being a knucklehead and not an injury.