Derek21 Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=86199 Sutter not surprised about suspension Canadian Press 6/2/2004 TAMPA, Fla. (CP) - It's us against the world. Or at least that's the message Calgary Flames head coach and GM Darryl Sutter tried to spin after the NHL suspended winger Ville Nieminen for one game. ``Was it shocking to you that they suspended him? No. And it wasn't to us either,'' Sutter said at a late afternoon news conference Wednesday. ``Fine, we know what we're up against, we're the underdog. It's dead-on true: We're the little team that wasn't supposed to be here and a lot of people don't want us to be here and want to make sure we're not successful.'' That may have been a shot to the league's head office, but it wasn't clear. When his cellphone rang during the news conference, Sutter jokingly said: ``It's probably New York again, they have to talk to Canada's team.'' Nieminen stayed behind in Calgary as his Flames teammates made the cross-continent trek to Florida on Wednesday, paying the ultimate price for his hit from behind on Tampa Bay star Vincent Lecavalier in Game 4. Nieminen will watch on the tube Thursday night (CBC, 8 p.m. EDT) when his club plays the biggest game of the year, a pivotal Game 5 with the best-of-seven Stanley Cup final tied at two games apiece. Sutter said the one-game suspension was expected, but that didn't make it easier to swallow. He hinted not too subtlety that league disciplinarian Colin Campbell, based in Toronto, was given little choice. ``Hey, the decision was made in New York, not Toronto, you can talk to Collie all you want,'' Sutter said, in what may have been a reference to commissioner Gary Bettman insisting punishment be handed out after a star player of Lecavalier's calibre was decked. In other words, the league is so concerned about its image in the U.S. that something had to be done to show players like Lecavalier will be protected. ``The media is a powerful tool, believe me,'' said Sutter. ``I hold myself responsible because I don't bitch and whine in the media and I don't let my players whine about the officiating in the media. ``We never complained about other incidents. That's something I learned, that you should bitch and complain and whine, it has an impact.'' Campbell rejected Sutter's charges. ``To say this decision was made in New York, I take offence to that,'' Campbell told the FAN 590, a Toronto all-sports radio station. ``We made this decision, we don't need New York to help us. ``We make hockey decisions. ... If the NHL said to me this is fine, this is OK to do, the first thing I would do on my shift (Thursday) night is try and take (Jarome) Iginla out because the NHL said it's fine to do this.'' The Flames, it is believed, argued to Campbell that Tampa's Cory Stillman got away with hitting Calgary's Marcus Nilsson from behind in Game 1. And so Nieminen should also have avoided suspension. ``If you look at the Cory Stillman hit, it was to the side,'' Campbell said during a conference call. ``In this case, Lecavalier had his back to Nieminen and touched the puck briefly. The hit by Nieminen was a forearm directly to the back of the head causing Lecavalier's head to hit the glass. ``And that was the difference. Our antennas were raised as soon as the hit was made.'' Nieminen is a significant loss, his 16:27 average ice time in the playoffs among the leaders among Calgary's forwards, and he's a fixture on both the second power-play unit and the penalty kill. And perhaps more importantly, his physical play has driven Tampa's star forwards crazy all series long, so they won't have to put up with that Thursday night. Trying to lighten the mood, Sutter cracked up the news conference with his response to what it meant to lose Nieminen: ``One less Finn, fewer vowels.'' Reaction from the Lightning camp was uniform. From head coach John Tortorella to Lecavalier to teammates Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards, the answer was: ``No comment.'' They're obviously still steamed at Nieminen, angry that Campbell didn't punish him more severely, but bit their tongue Wednesday in lieu of possible fines from the league. ``It's out of my hands, I didn't make the decision,'' Lecavalier said before practice at the St. Pete Times Forum. ``I'm fine and that's it.'' Campbell said two games would have been too much. ``To me, this doesn't feel or smell like more than a one-game suspension,'' he said. ``It is the finals ... and his five-minute major (late in the third period) was huge in a 1-0 game. And I think the club has been penalized by that alone.'' Given that Nieminen had already been suspended one game for decking Detroit netminder Curtis Joseph in the second round, Campbell had little choice to take action again. ``We always take that into account, if he's a repeat offender,'' Campbell said. ``If we see the guy again, we say: `How many times are we going to see this guy and is he going to learn to stay within the parameters of the game and not venture outside.' It's always a factor. ``But it wasn't the deciding factor by any means.''< One bright spot the Flames can look to is that they won Game 5 against the Red Wings 1-0 while Nieminen served his first suspension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devildude Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 Interesting read... thanks D. ``The media is a powerful tool, believe me,'' said Sutter. ``I hold myself responsible because I don't bitch and whine in the media and I don't let my players whine about the officiating in the media. great quote! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyBlueFish203 Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 Translation: Poor little us keep getting screwed, but we don't care! We will not back down. We'll show you! "The media is a powerful tool, believe me,'' said Sutter. "I hold myself responsible because I don't bitch and whine in the media and I don't let my players whine about the officiating in the media." Ah...... hahahahaha. I don't have words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyBlueFish203 Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 To serve something up to Sutter's classic quote... Sutter not whining about the refs to the media: "It's definitely a penalty, but it was five minutes because of the reaction to the player going down," Sutter said. "It's a two-minute penalty." "A penalty on the second shift was not a penalty in the third period,'' said Calgary coach Darryl Sutter, who would only go that far in knocking the refs. "Whatever." His players not whining about the officiating to the media: "Kerry was right there,'' said Flames captain Jarome Iginla. "He was the closest referee to it and didn't call anything. Brad was the furthest away. Maybe it's a penalty but is it five? He hopped up pretty quick. If I were to break it down, I probably would have a lot of complaints but it's not the time for that.'' And that's just from the last game. Maybe this is way the Flames motivate themselves, the us against the world philosophy. Everybody hates us. The refs hate us etc. I think Sutter's speech would've seemed a more convincing if it were against a team like Toronto or Philly. I think Calgary gets more respect than Tampa Bay has. What Hull said about Carolina in 2002 could be said here: "They're in the Stanley Cup Finals. They're no David." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nieuwy25 Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 "Us against the Word" is the classic Coach Motivator Tool. I doubt there's a coach in any sport anywhere in the world that hasn't used that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDF Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 "Us against the Word" is the classic Coach Motivator Tool. I doubt there's a coach in any sport anywhere in the world that hasn't used that one. Totally....not sure if any of you actually saw Sutter pull this quote out of his hat at the press conference....I saw it on espnnews....but it was so forced in it's delivery and wreaked of gamesmanship.....so bad. I really think if any of his players saw the clip that it would have the OPPOSITE affect that Sutter had intended. SOOOO BAD!! Looked as if he were grasping for straws. He was drowing in that interview. GO DEVILS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepperkorn Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 While I don't think it's inappropriate for Sutter to be angry and perhaps things have been omitted and/or taken out of context - but I really would have liked to see him place some sort of accountability on Nieminen. Two suspensions in one playoff run is not something you blame solely on refs... If our funkyfish is right then why can't they say the call was made 2 game misconducts gets you a suspension END OF STORY! All this cow towing, bowing and scraping and then the defensiveness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 If our funkyfish is right then why can't they say the call was made 2 game misconducts gets you a suspension END OF STORY! All this cow towing, bowing and scraping and then the defensiveness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Sutter's using a CHEAP motivation trick. He doesn't honestly believe half of what he's spewing. But it's the same crap Gretzky did during the Olympics - and it worked. I swear though I liked Calgary for most of the playoffs, though I said before the series I'd be rooting for Tampa. But for me, I lost a lot of respect for Calgary for both the cheap crap they've been pulling and the stuff they've been saying. They might as well be wearing blue and white instead of red and white now with the amount of whining and cheap crap they've been pulling. And I had to at Melrose saying Niemenen shouldn't have been suspended AT ALL. Guess he doesn't know the rule either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Refs were BS tonight in favor of Tampa. What Tampa got away with was sick and given that pety call to Warraner at the start of the 3rd was sh!t. Calgary beat Tampa and the Refs tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted June 4, 2004 Author Share Posted June 4, 2004 Jason, did you watch the first period? It was a complete reversal. Calgary was grabbing guys and getting away with it. The 2nd, yes. Tampa got away with that. But for the most part, it was even. On the stickhold, it was an iffy call. I'd have to look at another replay on that. I'm not a ref. You just hope they don't decide it. And in the last two games, you can say they let both teams play. If you honestly believe that doesn't benefit Calgary, you're nuts. Calgary is a great five-on-five team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 I didn't see the first but the 2nd and 3rd Tampa got away with everything. Calgary may be a better 5 on 5 team but adding Lydman has really sparked that PP and I thought Calgary could have put it away earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyBlueFish203 Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 (edited) Why look far? Just look at the GWG in OT. Iginla got away with grabbing a Lightning player by the shoulders and pushing him down as the guy was trying to move the puck out of the zone. This allowed the Flames to keep the puck in the zone and score the GWG. Also, a total three or four icing calls were made on the Flames last night. For a team that constantly bangs pucks off the glass, they sure get a lot of icing calls waived off. Midway through the third, the Lightning had been called for 10 icings, compared to 1 for Calgary. Plus McCreary was one of the refs, and now for game 6, Fraser has been pulled. Could it possibly be ANY more in Calgary's favor? Edited June 4, 2004 by FunkyBlueFish203 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Why look far? Just look at the GWG in OT. Iginla got away with grabbing a Lightning player by the shoulders and pushing him down as the guy was trying to move the puck out of the zone. This allowed the Flames to keep the puck in the zone and score the GWG.Also, a total three or four icing calls were made on the Flames last night. For a team that constantly bangs pucks off the glass, they sure get a lot of icing calls waived off. Midway through the third, the Lightning had been called for 10 icings, compared to 1 for Calgary. Plus McCreary was one of the refs, and now for game 6, Fraser has been pulled. Could it possibly be ANY more in Calgary's favor? Want a tissue??????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyBlueFish203 Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Want a tissue??????? Not a Flames fan, not a Lightning fan - I'm watching it for the hockey. You're not worth the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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