Home > Sideline View > Archives > 2008 > July > 02 > Entry
Anxiety over Avery
Representing the hockey fans of East Texas, all 17 of us, I’m anxious about the Dallas Stars signing Sean Avery today.
I like it that Avery can score some goals, and in the last two years with the New York Rangers, he has a plus/minus of 17. (For those uninitiated, that means his teams score 17 more goals than their opponents basically when the odds are even.)
Unfortunately, there several things that has me concerned.
First of all, in the playoffs last year, he wasn’t much of a sportsman. He would stand in front of New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur and wave his stick in Brodeur’s face, trying to block his vision of the play. While it was legal at the time, I thought it was bush league, and the NHL agreed, making it illegal before the series was over. It was so bush league, Brodeur wouldn’t shake Avery’s hand when the series was over, and hockey players ALWAYS shake hands at the end of a playoff series.
Avery has had trouble with his mouth off the ice as well.
In 2005, after Denis Gauthier (who is French Canadian), gave Avery’s teammate with the Los Angeles Kings, Jeremy Roenick, a concussion with a body check. Afterwards, Avery insulted many French Canadians by saying about Gauthier, “I think it was typical of most French guys in our league with a visor on, running around and playing tough and not back anything up.”
In 2006, Anaheim announcer and former Montreal goalie Brian Hayward accused Avery of his own version of backing down, and not fighting Anaheim’s Todd Fedoruk (in hockey, you don’t back away from a fight challenge). Avery called Hayward an embarassment, a (terrible) announcer and a (terrible) player.
In one of the best retorts I’ve ever heard, Hayward said, “How would you know? When I played, you were in your third year of the eighth grade.” I’ll have to remember third year of the eighth grade, or a clever variation, the next time I slam Louisiana Tech. Of course insulting La. Tech academics is easy to do. (I’m a University of Louisiana at Monroe graduate. Trading insults with Tech graduates is common).
In 2005, Avery was fined $1,000 for intentionally diving during a game. There’s nothing in hockey that gets my blood boiling faster than someone who dives.
In 2005, George Laraque (who’s black) said Avery called him a monkey, which Avery adamantly denies.
Whether Avery insulted Laraque or not, that’s still a considerable list of negativity.
The Stars had a nice run to the Western Conference finals last year because of goalie Marty Turco and hard work. The Stars don’t have flashy scorers. The goals they did score we’re usually because of attrition, such as the four-overtime thriller that won Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal series over San Jose.
It feels like either Avery is the final piece for a Stanley Cup championship run, or a clubhouse cancer that will send the Stars back to a first-round exit or worse.
At the least the Cowboys won’t have a near-monopoly on drama anymore in the Metroplex.
Comments