Vigneault
BOSTON — Alain Vigneault is trying like heck to prove he can be every bit as effective at head games as his Tampa Bay counterpart Guy Boucher from the Bruins’ last postseason series.
Like a baseball manager questioning whether an opposing pitcher is doctoring the ball or a batter is using too much pine tar, the Vancouver head coach is looking for any psychological edge he can find to help his team solve Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas.
Today after the teams’ morning skates at TD Garden in preparation for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, the subject of Thomas’ check on Canucks center Henrik Sedin in Game 3 was brought up to Vigneault. The bench boss used that question to steer the topic back to Thomas’ play outside of the blue area.
“We asked the league. Part of Thomas’ way of playing is playing out of the blue paint, initiating contact, roaming out there. He seems to think that once he’s out, set, makes the save, that he can go directly back in his net without having anybody behind him,” said Vigneault. “Well, that’s wrong. He’s got the wrong rule on that. If we’re behind him, that’s our ice and we’re allowed to stay there.
“We’ve talked to the NHL about that. We’ve talked to the NHL about him initiating contact like did on Hank. They’re aware of it. Hopefully they’re going to handle it.”
I’m sure Boucher would watch Vigneault’s press conference and say “well played.” As for the rest of us, maybe we should find out if the coach wants some cheese with his whine.
It’s doubtful, though, that these mind games will affect Thomas or the rest of the Bruins, since they already vanquished the master of psychology Boucher in the last round.
[...] Vigneault seemingly talking about Tim Thomas’ outside-the-crease play than anything else, it can be confusing what the coach is getting at as far as what’s legal and not for the Bruins [...]
Bojingler,
Yeah once again you miss the point and the rules.
Defending the crease. yup you are right… Going into the crease yeah your frickin high light reel must be on black and white.
You make this so easy…I agreed with you that the hit was a highlight reel.. You say it was legal, I said that the this is a grey area because of the rules… If you could read instead of ranting about bitch slapping someone… BTW…. when is someone on the ground and you hit him on the side of head called a good hockey play. It’s not… I guess you missed the slash before that. Oh yeah it’s called Bruin hockey I forgot who we were playing
John – That is an awesome article and shows what the rest of the league thinks of Steamer’s band of babies.
Love the Looch smackdown of Burrows while he’s faking and crying. Its about time someone bitch slapped that punk.
Steamer – TTs check (typical Couver comment – forearm shiver – even the fans are soft) was totally legit. Sedin picked the puck out of the air and was advancing INTO the crease. A goalie can check just like any player on the ice. And AV isn’t checking into the ruling – he’s airing his crap to the press. If he wants to check the rule – he calls the NHL, not ESPN.
And – I seriously doubt you see a rule against a goalie being able to defend the crease. Are you nuts?
I’m guessing Boucher’s thinking is more along the lines of “Amateur”. AV pales in comparison to Boucher in terms of playing games. He just sounds like a little kid crying to their mother after something doesn’t go their way.
If I were him I’d be more focused on the fact that my PP is being outscored by the opposition PK and why my entire team went AWOL for two periods as opposed to worrying about how Timmy plays the game.
John,
Yeah you can keep your baseball stats and team… How do all those Cubans get into the League BTW?Belicheck hater? Nope the guys a freakin genius. Plays better games with the press than AV though
THN looked it up. AV is sort of right for part of it and TT is sort of right for another part. It’s at the end of this article:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/40703-THN-at-the-Stanley-Cup-Canucks-must-keep-their-composure-in-pivotal-Game-4.html
everybody can hate a winner and still respect them. The problem is, no one can really respect the Canucks after this load they’ve put up. The bruins have done a lot of slashing and such as you have pointed out numerous times. The problem is, almost to a tit, these are tats: retaliations for dirty Vancouver plays. The Bruins don’t have any other outlet, though they’d rather fight. The problem is, as Sedin clearly showed last game, after one failed attempt at a penalty, they’ll come at you from behind and hold you. Not much honor, not much fairness in that. I suppose the best way to summarize is by saying this is possibly the most juvenile team in the league. Perhaps it has something to do with the swagger of being told that you will win the cup from the start of the season. Funny how Chicago did resort to this. Funny how Washington never made an excess of these numerous stupid plays. But who can really blame the Canucks, after all, they’re just little girls whom Matt Cooke spread his virus to.
Spell it out for me all you like. When you spelled it out before you spelled it out wrong.
As for no one ever cheers for the best team, that is patently untrue. Red Sox and Yankees have the two largest fanbases in MLB (by a long shot) yet happen to be two of the most successful in recent years. People hating the Pats has more to do with Belichick than winning. Stick to lacrosse and curling.
John,
Sorry I must spell it out for you. I will bet you one CAD dollar. That’s 1.05 USD… Understand now?
Yeah a article written by a Chicago scribe makes us quiver…
Everybody could hate us for all it’s worth…
You know why? Everybody hates the best team. Example … No one outside of Boston cheered for the Patriots when they were winning. Take off you frickin black and gold glasses.
Man, you Bruin’s fans like to whine and complain more than the coaches! From what I’ve seen and heard, the Bruin’s fans are as childish as their team.
Before you try to make smartass comments about Canadian dollars do your math right clown. If you’re trying to make a statement about the strength of the Canadian dollar you got your numbers backwards you Dolt. Or else youre trying to compliment the strength of the USD, in which case thanks.
Bojangler MCK Other nifty…
Yeah AV is a douche for trying to clarify a rule… A goalie can deliver a fore arm shiver that any defensemen would love… If you could take off your Bruins shades a bit and understand the question that he asked… A goalie is not fair game once out side the crease. We understand that …so why can he hit someone like he did which is not normal under goaltender practise. By the rule book, there is no rule on this play so what’s the right call.. No call according to the NHL rules right now….. so none was made… I betcha a dollar that rule gets changed… That’s 1.05 CAD for you yankees
This article (from Chicago, no less) summarized how I feel about AV and his entire team
http://dailyherald.com/article/20110607/sports/706079781/
I don’t think this is an attempt to get in Timmy’s head-this is an attempt to influence the officials in the hopes that they won’t call interference or goaltender interference.
I think this has to be the whiniest coach I have ever seen-Boucher was at least subtle in his head games, Vignault just spews his whines all over the place hoping something will stick.
George – they missed that call by a mile – and as a Bs fan, I was totally embarrassed by that TT flop.
AV figures it’s worth a shot after having Rome suspended to complain about Thomas. I think the refs got the goalie interference call wrong in game 1 and they have adjusted to not call it now because of how Thomas plays.
I know refs that can’t stand some coaches in their league. Truth be known they’d screw the guy if it weren’t for his players. Maybe sub-consciously they do anyways. I would bet that Claude is well liked by officials.
I love how some coaches think all this crap they pull really matters.
I tell you what – If Rome checks Horton the way Thomas checked Sally – both are still playing. Thomas’ two-fists to the chest is the way Defencemen are going to have to adjust for these checks to become legit.
Maybe Vignaught should just Thanks TT for showing his team how to properly check and leave it at that.
Like I said yesterday or the day before, Vigneault and Boucher are total d-bags and make me appreciate Claude. I am much happier having a coach who is not constantly bitching and moaning and drumming up excuses.
vigneault has lost all credibility between this and defending rome. he makes guy boucher look stoic.
Is this guy blind? Henrik got floored inside the blue paint, admittedly just behind the blue paint but still.
Also by his logic we could whip the puck behind the net when Luongo goes out to play it we can just put a guy outside the crease on the side he wants to back in and he has to go the long way round?
I thought this guy was a (expletive) after defending the hit and not standing up against burrows but now it’s obvious he’s just an idiot.
I’m telling you – if the Refs call a game similar to Game 1 – I’ll be there hitting people myself.
Nucks don’t play hockey – they prefer to play Wussy.
Why don’t they get Mike Murphy to sit on the bench with them. Man they do alot of talking to the league. They must have a bat phone direct line and a search light. We can’t score on the wanderer. Help us NHL.
You’ll have more to worry about going home 2-2.
TT was in the crease when he decked the Olson twin. Not much help she will get from the league there…
It won’t matter. Even if he sways the refs at all he is surely only angering TT. I believe by now we all know how well that works. Any effects will cancel each other out, or work in the Bs favor.
hopefully this does not sway the referees…