Beat up? not beaten
Big Bertuzzi bears brunt of opposition brutality
For myBC.com
VANCOUVER - Blood still oozed from a nasty gash just beside Todd Bertuzzi's right eye as he turned to talk with the local media about his dominating three-point performance during Saturday's 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers.
Somewhere behind that ugly black scab already forming above his cheek courtesy of a brutal butt end, a welt was likely rising after a similarly vicious cross check to the head.
Bertuzzi, who wisely chose his revenge in the form of two goals and a well-earned assist on Markus Naslund's game-winning goal, appeared unfazed by the brutality.
"It's not big deal, I'm okay, thanks for asking though," Bertuzzi, wearing a rare smile, said of the stick work. "I came in and (the trainer) put cement on it, that's why it looks this bad."
His head coach was a little less forgiving.
In a rant reminiscent of Brian Burke's pre-programmed "Todd Bertuzzi does not play for the Detroit - it just looks that way because he's always wearing two Red Wings sweaters" speech from last year's playoffs, Marc Crawford blasted the officiating for failing to take care of his power forward.
"Todd's a big guy, but that doesn't give opposing teams the right to take liberties," said Crawford, his lack of prepared notes making the plea sound that much more sincere. "I don't know if they look at it and say Todd's big enough to take care of his own things. I'm assuming that's what they say and I don't think that's right."
As much as Bertuzzi's ornery outlook towards the local media makes him as hard to defend in print as he is on the ice, it's hard to argue Crawford's point. It's especially tough after watching one of those increasingly frequent games when opposition players chose to treat his winger like a 6-foot-4 whack-a-mole.
Listed at 245 pounds, Bertuzzi is clearly capable of taking care of himself on the ice and often gives as good as he gets in the physical department, but Crawford and the Canucks are right when they argue his size shouldn't make him open to stick work.
Just because an opposing defender can't move him from the crease legally during a Vancouver power play doesn't mean he should be able to practice his wood-chopping techniques without the possibility of additional penalties.
"He's a star player," Crawford continued before perhaps taking his position one long skating stride too far. "They protect Mario Lemieux, they better protect our guys too."
Physically speaking, Crawford's comparison to Lemieux might work because the Magnificent One is also 6-foot-4 and weighs in around 230 pounds. The argument loses a little steam, however, when you consider how infrequently the Pittsburgh centre journeys in front of the net without the puck.
It loses any chance of working when you consider the Penguins owner also uses a direct line to the league office to voice his complaints, while Bertuzzi, a notorious post-whistle whiner, is forced to yell profanity from the bench and point at the blood pouring from his newly disfigured face.
So unless Bertuzzi buys himself a franchise - we hear the Senators might be available for a reasonable rate, and they're not too far from the golf course he already owns ? Crawford's complaints, valid or not, are unlikely to have the desired effect.
But at least he didn't use cue cards.
Rare seat in the press box
Hard-working winger Trevor Letowski has been bothered by both the flu and a sore hand in recent days, but it was the hand of his coach on the lineup sheet that kept him out of Saturday's game against the Panthers.
The pint-sized penalty-killing specialist was a healthy scratch for the first time since arriving from Phoenix just over a year ago as Crawford chose instead to play enforcer Darren Langdon and in-and-out winger Todd Warriner.
"We have a good team and those decisions get tough," Crawford said of the decision to sit Letowski, who had points in four straight games around Christmas, but was pointless in three straight and minus-1 in each of the last two. "We felt we wanted to get Langdon into the game tonight and Warriner's been playing pretty good for us and we wanted to keep Warriner in."
The legend grows
On Friday afternoon, and despite being fired by the Canucks close to four years ago, Florida coach Mike Keenan did everything short of declaring himself the true architect of Vancouver's recent rise, thus leaving himself with little to lose during Saturday's game.
No matter who won, the man known as Iron Mike had set himself up to take some credit and he wasted little time doing so after Bertuzzi, a player he acquired during his brief, trade-filled stint in Vancouver, turned into the game's biggest story and its unquestioned first star.
"He's blossomed into a power forward and they're really hard to acquire in this league," said Keenan, patting his own back and stroking his own ego without ever uncrossing his arms in front of him.
But that wasn't enough for Keenan, who proceeded to rip both the officials and Trevor Linden - the same player he humiliated in the locker room before trading him for Bertuzzi amid much public uproar - in the same breath. Keenan insisted a blatant hooking penalty assessed to Panthers defender Ivan Majesky should have instead been a diving call against Linden, then suggested the four-to-one power-play advantage enjoyed by the Canucks was the true difference in the game.
For those intimately familiar with Keenan's terrorist-like time in town, the antics seemed to come as little surprise.
Cheers,
Aquaman