Something everyone seems concerned with these days in just about every sport is the safety of players. How much crap is the NFL going through right now to make sure people know they are trying to make their game safer? Quite honestly it’s ruining the game but that a different argument for another time. For the most part teams and team trainers do a good job on keeping their players safe and if they sense an injury they’ll take care of it.
In game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday night I saw along with thousands and thousands of people a player injured who played the entire game. Is it shocking to see a hockey player play injured in the playoffs? Not at all. Just a couple of years ago we saw Boston Bruins star forward Patrice Bergeron play in game 6 of the Final when he had a broken rib, torn cartilage and muscles and a separated shoulder. How often do you see sports players do that? This proves to me that hockey players are some of the toughest SOB’s out there. One of my favorite stories from the San Jose Sharks in 2011 was Ryane Clowe having to get help to get his jersey on because of having a separated shoulder, he played and played pretty well. And how many times every playoff season do we see players end up with broken feet because of shot blocking and continue playing? Something I can’t even count.
Most of the injuries we just discussed don’t seem to ever have a big effect. Sometimes a player starts to play bad and we guess he’s hurt then it turns up he’s not, you never truly know when someone is injured. This wasn’t the case Monday night. Late in game 2 in this years Final Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop left the game, then came back. Everyone assumed he had an equipment issue. Then he left again and never came back. Back up goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy came in and eventually won the game sealing a 4-3 win to even the series at 1-1. Fans and media were waiting all Saturday night for some info on the former Vezina candidate Bishop. That waiting ended up going into Sunday, then Monday and no info was ever given. Even up until game time there was speculation that Vasilevskiy would start game 3.
Game 3 started with Bishop in net. Again, going back to the injuries I mentioned above, you can never tell when someone is injured. In hockey you assume every single person is banged up, the physicality of this sport is unlike any other. Football is physical but they play 16 games a season once a week, these guys play 82 games a year just about one every other night then when that’s over that intensity goes up as well as the physicality for the playoffs for another two months. Not the mention the desperation goes up, players throw themselves at a puck to block a shot resulting in bad bruises and broken bones. No one knew Bergeron was injured back in 2013 then it came out what he was dealing with, no one knew maybe other than the trainers and coaches but us fans and media didn’t have a clue.
Monday night it was obvious that Ben Bishop was hurt and struggling. It was painful to watch at times. Goalies have to be quick, the go down to save a shot and if a rebound comes out they have to get back into position fast and go side to side, Bishop was not fast and could hardly go side to side. It’s hard to describe what it’s like watching someone play injured, maybe like watching some kids play tag or something and one kid has a bad knee and can’t run, you feel bad for the kid and sooner or later he’ll get tagged and then he won’t be able to catch anyone else. That is the best way I can put this without going into anything too dark.
You can’t blame Bishop that much, he’s an athlete and most athletes will play unless they physically cannot. What bothered me was the training staff and coaching staff of the Tampa Bay Lightning. You had people all over the country and world watching this game and it didn’t take a doctor to know something was wrong. Tampa Bay kept Bishop in the game, and even after Bishop got hit and stayed down on the ice for a minute, the trainer went out talked to Ben then left and he stayed in the game. When asked about it during an TV timeout Jon Cooper, Lightning head coach said he was slow getting back to his feet because of his size, Bishop is about 6’7-6’9. Really? I can’t even criticize that it’s so stupid.
I don’t know if anyone has ever seen the game about a year ago when Michigan was playing Minnesota in college football and Shane Morris had a bad knee. Bottom line that didn’t end up well for him and the coach left him in waaaay to long. Go to YouTube and search Shane Morris it should be the first video you see. Watching Bishop play last night felt a lot like this to me.
Maybe the worst part about this is Tampa Bay won. Great for Lightning fans but now Cooper and this team won’t get criticized for this mess. With all due respect to Chicago, Chicago didn’t play very well last night. Having an injured goalie who could barely go side to side for the majority of the game they could only beat him twice and missed on several other wide open chances. The last two days I have heard nothing about Bishop playing hurt, if they lost that game Monday night, what would be the main talking point? How could Cooper play him injured? Why in Gods name was he in that long? But to people all over, they won, laugh it off.
I’m not one to usually get mad at this but this angers me for several reasons. After game 2 Tampa was praising backup Vasilevskiy saying how much they trusted him back there even at this time of the year even though he is only 20. If you trust him so much and the number 1 guy is clearly not even 75% why isn’t he in goal? There is no way Vasilevskiy is worse than Bishop last night. The saves Bishop made weren’t that hard and the hard ones he did make I think Vasilevskiy could have saved those as well. And again, the Lightning won last night so no one cares, Bishop will start game 4 on Wednesday and until he reminds us he isn’t healthy then we start this discussion again.
Cooper did an awful job with this situation, he didn’t have his players back and put him and his team in a tough situation and in my opinion they are lucky they got away with it. Bishop was clearly hurt and even though he said earlier in the day to give him the start, the team trainer and Cooper had to have the last call and after watching him struggle they should have pulled him. Tampa Bay won and now this isn’t a big deal, but what if they lost?
Let me know what you think, is this an overreaction? Tampa Bay did win but should have Bishop played? Comment below or find me @CJSportsrambler on Twitter.
