| Cheap shot on Crosby uncalled for |
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| Local Content |
| Written by Dave Sulz |
| Wednesday, 26 May 2010 09:17 |
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Tweeeeet! Two minutes for cross-checking, two minutes for slashing and five minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. The communications director for the International Ice Hockey Federation, Szymon Szemberg, deserves some time in the penalty box after his cheap shot against Canadian hockey superstar Sidney Crosby and other National Hockey League stars who chose to pass up the world hockey championships in Cologne, Germany. In a story posted last week on the IIHF website, Szemberg took a swipe at Crosby by name, in addition to other hockey stars he didn’t name, for what he saw as turning their backs on their countries and their fans. “How can a player who is 22 or 25 or 27, and who was just eliminated from the playoffs, be tired?” Szemberg wrote. “Tired is a miner who works in a damp pit in Miktivka, in the Donetz Plateau in Ukraine, who never sees daylight and who provides living for a family of five in a modest two-room apartment. That is tired. “Tired is a divorced mother with two young kids who double shifts as a nurse assistant and cleaning lady to make ends meet.” Szemberg is right on a couple of accounts. Crosby and others who skipped the world championships such as Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Backstrom probably wouldn’t want to trade places with a Ukrainian miner or a single mom working two jobs. But by the same token, Crosby, by opting for rest instead of extending his already long hockey season, is hardly taking food out of the mouths of children. No one is going without a meal or being booted from their home because Crosby decided to take care of himself rather than be a self-sacrificial people pleaser. Let’s not forget, Crosby has already answered the call of his country. He not only suited up for Canada during the Winter Olympics in February, but it was Sid the Kid who scored the overtime goal that gave Canada the Olympic gold medal. Sure, the Russian team at the world championships is littered with that country’s NHL stars who also skated in the Olympics. For the Russians, however, the world championships offer a chance for redemption after falling short of the Olympic podium. But, in an Olympic year, it’s a mere consolation prize. After taking his Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup finals in 2008 and 2009 and participating in the Olympics this year, Sidney Crosby has played a lot of hockey over the past three years. He’s earned a rest. He probably is tired, despite Szemberg’s suggestions that, at his age, he shouldn’t be. Tired hockey players are more prone to injury and why should Crosby risk injury for the sake of a prize that pales next to the Olympic gold medal he has already earned? Besides, if Crosby had opted to join Team Canada at the worlds, it would have sent someone else to the sidelines — someone who probably relished the chance to compete in Germany. Crosby needn’t hang his head in shame for staying home, nor should the other NHL stars who made the same decision. |
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