Thursday, January 17, 2008

Gerbe's Reinforcements

Nathan Gerbe has gotten reinforcements from another pillar of the college hockey information network - Elliot Olshansky, writing for the title-linked CSTV (College Sports Television) 'slog' (sports + blog=slog... ok) The Rink Rat.

Mr. Olshansky writes off the suspension as a mere learning experience. And while I hope that the situation has been such and am open to the possibility of Mr. Gerbe's rehabilitation I do take issue with this notion.

Mainly, hockey players from any walk (skate?) of hockey should know, far in advance of the college level, what is acceptable on the ice and what is not. To say that Mr. Gerbe is only now capable of learning such a simple distinction is demeaning to the 19 year old junior, Buffalo Sabres draft pick. Although, admittedly, the USA Hockey Skill Progression Handbook does not cover butt-ending - as blatantly inappropriate as the behavior is - but it is clearly delineated in the NCAA Rule book Section 3:61

Butt-Ending
SECTION 5. A player shall not butt-end an opponent. A butt-end is when a player uses the shaft of the stick above the upper hand to jab an opponent. Butt-ending includes all cases where a butt-end gesture is made regardless of whether contact occurs.
PENALTY—Major and game misconduct or disqualification at the discretion of the referee.


Nice try Mr. Olshansky but his warnings should have been sufficient. He, in fact, failed to heed the admonitions given and it was this feckless demeanor that led to his suspension. The only recourse is to withhold his nomination until at such time his behavior might warrant it next year as I have no doubts about his abilities. (This vocabulary is brought to you by FREERICE.COM)

Maybe Nathan could be sat down to watch Golden and then I would be interested to hear whether he believes himself worthy of the award or not.

This Wildcat has unhorsed the cavalry and has reinforcements of his own in the Western College Hockey Blog.

1 Comments:

Blogger joen05 said...

Having seen Gerbe play time and time again, I can say that he is an exciting player. However, he is also one of the most dirty players that I have seen in College hockey, and exhibits little to no class when playing. The most obvious reason for this that I saw was him pulling BU defenseman Kevin Schaeffer on top of him in order to draw a penalty. If you looked at the replay in that game, you saw Gerbe grab his stick, and pull repeatedly until they both fell down, with Schaeffer on top of him. Needless to say, Schaeffer got a penalty for it. It's behavior like this that is unacceptable for a Hobey Baker Candidate. Gerbe in no way deserves this.

Jan 23, 2008, 10:32:00 AM  

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