I know at this point it has been debated to death but that still doesn't excuse the fact that it was a terrible, dirty play. The fact of the matter remains that, while not a blindside hit, this was a hit shoulder to head. Watching the replays, as well, it appears that Rome changes his pace after Horton releases the puck to step in and make the play.
The resulting conclusions reached by the NHL is a 4 game suspension for Rome. In reality, however, this is a terrible trade off. The scary part is the potential for any retaliation in Game 4 (read Dan Carcillo knocking out Jeff Carter last year while trying to level Tomas Kopecky in last years Cup Finals. For those of you unfamiliar Carter and Carcillo were teammates, Kopecky was a Hawk).
Needless to say the early going of game 4 could be extremely exciting as Boston will come out with a ton of energy and probably press extremely hard and try to set Vancouver on their heels. The most important part now, is for the Bruins to come out strong and score a goal or two in the first ten minutes. If they manage to let the Canucks off lightly, that will give Vancouver a nice mental boost.
Boston needs to do what's best for them, and the sport of hockey, and put their skates to throats of the Canucks and end it, mercilessly. The type of goonish behavior that has been exhibited by Vancouver over the past few years (I'm looking at you and your eight your old child antics Burrows) has no place in the game. Yes, the taunting, and tough guy acts are fun, but at some point it stops being fun and starts being classless and silly (i.e. hair pulling, I know he's an easy target).
If this Vancouver team were comprised of any other group of players maybe it would be possible to root for them, they are from the West after all. But as it stands the best thing that could happen now would be for Boston to absolutely destroy them.
Here's to hoping!
Go Bruins!
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