Matt Cooke Suspended 14+ Games

Ladies and gentlemen, justice has been brought to to the wicked.

Matt Cooke, long time NHL forward, agitator, and cheap shot artist has been suspended for the remainder of the regular season, which consists of ten more games for the Penguins, as well as the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Cooke will also be losing $219,512.20 in salary from the games he misses.

Cooke, who had been suspended once already this season, was up to his normal antics in New York when he delivered a blindside elbow to the head of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh. McDonagh  was not seriously injured, but Cooke was escorted off the ice and given a 5-minute game-misconduct penalty. At the time of the elbow, the game was tied 1-1. The Penguins managed to score shorthanded, but the Rangers quickly used Cooke's actions as motivation and scored four goals in the 3rd period to win the game 5-2. (video below)

Cooke's track record more than likely played a part in his suspension, for he has been suspended multiple times throughout his years he's been in the NHL. Earlier this season, Cooke was suspended after delivering a similar elbow to the head of Bruins center Marc Savard. Savard suffered a serious concussion and was pronounced to not be able to return to the lineup for the remainder of this season, and possibly longer considering Marc Savard's history with concussions. To see more of Matt Cooke's cheap shots throughout the year, check out his history of violence, provided by Tolensky.com.

A question that is going to be brewing among the NHL fan base is going to be: is Cooke's suspension going to be enough? Will Matt Cooke learn from this harsh punishment and never throw another elbow in his career? The answer is: probably not. 

Cooke has been in the league since 1998. Clearly, throughout countless reprimands from the league, teams, and Evander Kane, Matt Cooke has still not learned his lesson. It's hard to believe that after such a long stretch of aggression, Cooke is finally going to be born again and be some hockey saint after this incident. My only hopes as a hockey fan are that Cooke gets scratched from more and more games so that he can no longer potentially deliver any more blows like this to another player ever again.

Recapping the Rangers/Penguins 3/20/11

What a hard fought, fun game it was to watch today as a New York Rangers fan.

First off, my apologies for not providing a pre-game post like normal. Today is my final day of spring break, and I wanted to enjoy the sleep.

Defense was solid during the first half of the game by the Rangers, allowing one goal on a miscommunication between Girardi and Eminger. Jordin Staal broke free from the pack and tied the game after Anisimov's tip-in in front of the net earlier. The second period was not very eventful, for these teams were saving it all for the third.

The drama began with Matt Cooke being, well, his normal dirty self by throwing an elbow to the head of Ryan McDonagh. Cooke received a five-minute game-misconduct penalty. During that penalty kill,  Chris Kunitz managed to break free short-handed, and rifled it by Lundqvist. Following that, Matt Niskanen found himself taking a high sticking penalty after hitting soon-to-be captain Ryan Callahan on the bridge of the nose, bloodying him. Niskanen received a four-minute double minor for this event.

Marian Gaborik managed to find the back of the net for the Rangers after a hard-fought battle in-front of Marc-Andre Fleury. And promptly eleven seconds later, Ryan Callahan came in on a bad angle and sneaked one by the shoulder of Fleury, top shelf where momma hides the cookies to take the lead back.

Later on in the period, Ryan McDonagh managed to draw a tripping call to himself. The Rangers managed to kill of the penalty, and cleared it perfectly to when McDonagh was getting out of the box. McDonagh missed on the breakaway, but rookie Derek Stepan followed up and tucked it home for McDonagh.

The game was decided by the score of 5-2 coming off of a Brandon Dubinsky empty-net goal. Lundqvist stopped 38 of 40 shots faced, despite some neck soreness suffered by a collision during the Montreal game.

As for Matt Cooke, my guess will be he will be suspended, but not for very long. I took the liberty of spinning the "Wheel of Justice" for the NHL (at http://www.nhlwheelofjustice.com/) and it was determined that Cooke's play is a "hockey play". However, since Matt Cooke is a repeat offender, I see 1-3 games being missed by him, just on his track record.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!