Morgan Rielly's 5 Game Suspension For Cross Checking The Shit Out Of Ridly Greig's Face Is The Definitive End Of Olde Time Hockey
Over the weekend we had an all-time moment at the end of the Sens vs Leafs game. Ottawa is up 4-3 with 5 seconds to go, and down comes Ridly Greig acting like he's in a Hardest Shot contest to unload a lethal clapper into the back of the empty net. One of the funniest goals you'll see in NHL history. Clown behavior for sure, but hilarious nevertheless.
Now Morgan Rielly is a good ol' boy from Vancouver. Those Western Canadian boys aren't going to just sit back and let an opponent hot dog all over their team out there. He took exception to the wild clapper, and decided to take matters into his own hands by crosschecking the everliving piss out of Greig's face.
This incident drew a hard line in the sand between new age and old school hockey. The new age fans think that Morgan Rielly is a little piss baby whose diaper is busting at the seams with shit. They say that if you don't want Ridly Greig to unload a vicious clapper into an empty net to put the final dagger in the Leafs, then maybe don't put yourself in a position where you need to pull your goalie against Ottawa. The old school fans of the game will tell you that Morgan Rielly did nothing wrong, and that Ridly Greig is lucky that he wasn't playing this game 30 years ago or else he would have been picking all his teeth up off the ice.
There's really no in between on this one. It's the defining moment between the new style of the game vs the old. Either you think Morgan Rielly should have to play the rest of the season with a pacifier in his mouth, or you go full Don Cherry and say Ridly Greig is lucky he even walked off the ice with his life. It's one thing for fans to weigh in on that debate, but now the league stepped in and made it pretty obvious which way they're leaning.
Don Cherry is rolling in his grave right now (very much still alive).
I mean…I get it. You probably shouldn't be allowed to go around cross checking dudes in the face. It would be a tough look for the league to basically say they're cool with using your stick as a weapon to attempt a decapitation out there. Even though that's what they did when Jacob Trouba only give a $5000 fine for this.
But as much as people try to avoid "victim blaming" these days, but maybe there's a conversation that needs to be had around "play stupid games, win stupid prizes". You unload a 100mph clapper into an empty net with under 10 seconds to play, you probably shouldn't just coast back to the bench without expecting anyone in a different jersey to come chasing after you. Not saying Ridly Greig deserved it, but it's wild he didn't at least expect it.
However, that's not the way the NHL sees it. They're saying that Morgan Rielly is a little piss baby whose diaper is filled with shit, and he can use the next 5 games to change into a new one. Olde Time Hockey is officially retired. Now it's time for the hot doggin' to move from the concession stands to out on the ice.
Sidenote: My least favorite part about this entire ordeal is how both of these guys spell their names. Morgan Rielly should be Morgan Reilly, and Ridly Greig feels like it should be Ridly Grieg. Very difficult to write an entire blog without messing those up.