I just watched Dafoomie's 8 minute Youtube clip on this game's events and I'm furious all over again. One thing stood out that I don't recall people talking about. Orpik is in a post Marchand sucker-knee scrum and getting all brave, buffered by linesmen, with a lesser pugilist. I think it's Campbell. I'm sorry that's just odious on Orpik's part. It's also odious that no call was made on the shoulder to head hit of a player in a vulnerable position without possession of the puck. This is the new NHL and it sucks. Orpik, sans honor, feels no shame in answering Thornton's provocation and would rather look like a complete chickenshit in front of 17,000 away fans than take a small dose of medicine. This breaks down to old guard versus new guard, and until Thornton joined the ranks of those forever referred to as thugs—he represented the old guard. Anyone who thinks fighting has no place in the NHL needs to watch Dafoomie's clip. And they need to reconcile themselves to the shortened careers of the Loui Erikssons of the world. Billy Jaffe called it when he said "this is the game now." I feel like with that incident—the lack of response from referees, Thornton's frustration warping his character, Orpik as a martyr, Neal getting only 5 games—that we are bearing witness to the slow disappearance of honor from the game. I know this pot has simmered, boiled, simmered and cooled. I don't want to bait Greg29 or anyone else—that's not my point at all, I felt a need to vent and cry foul one last time. With that, I'm pouring a Laphroaig, putting the presents under the tree and trying to put my outrage to temporary rest.
