Caps Briefing: That's Amour, Eh?
Alex Ovechkin confronts Carolina Hurricanes' Rod Brind'Amour after Brind 'Amour is called for boarding Ovechkin. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Brind'Amour received only a two-minute penalty, which is unusually light for a player trying to injure one of the game's greatest talents and ambassadors. Actually, it's unusually light for any player trying to injure any other player. Perhaps the referees were swayed by reactionary Hockey Night In Canada commentator Don Cherry's campaign against Ovechkin's exuberant goal-scoring celebrations. Cherry concluded a recent rant against the emotions of people born outside Canada by saying that if Ovechkin keeps jumping for joy when he helps his team win, "somebody is going to cut him in half."
Brind'Amour, a native son of Canada's capital city, heeded the widening call when he attempted to give Ovechkin a concussion on a meaningless play with less than two minutes left in a game the Hurricanes were leading by two goals. The NHL has repeatedly announced this year that it is cracking down on hits from behind and hits to players' heads, and that it will suspend players who violate these rules. It has never been legal for hockey players to use their hands to deliver a bodycheck. That's why it's called a bodycheck.
Brind'Amour plays by his own rules, though. A 38-year-old who had one of his best offensive seasons at age 36 and has shown Barry Bondsian consistency throughout the middle years of his incredible 20-year career in one of mankind's most physical sports, Brind'Amour is playing for his legacy.
We all remember 2006, when the Hurricanes loaded up on veteran free agents and somehow, by a tremendous stroke of luck, won a Stanley cup, but for the average Capitals fan, that was an anomaly. It barely made a dent in our memories of too many underfunded, non-competitive Hurricanes teams to even bother showing up when they come back to town. Most of us still hear "Carolina Hurricanes," and remember empty games at an aging mall in downtown Hartford. We wonder how they're doing now, down south. Brind'Amour wants to turn this around.
He wants Hurricanes games to matter to fans in Washington. He wants to provide the fans with an affirmation of the former Whalers. He wants to let us know that even if his team doesn't always put the puck in the net or keep it out of their own goal, and even if they don't always skate as quickly as guys under 40, they're good enough, they're smart enough, and gosh darn it, they will sneak up behind us and smash our faces if we try to have a good time.