Seattle at Portland 12/31/12

[HordiBrusk29]

Vote: Jesse Forsberg vs Adam De Champlain Dec 31, 2012

Jesse Forsberg vs Adam De Champlain Dec 31, 2012...

[FitzGerald28]

Forsberg is a puss. He was challenged all night and didn't try to fight until he was getting called out by the 10,000+ fans in the arena. The rest of the tbirds should have stayed home as well as none of them even looked cross eyed at another Portland player. Eight straight losses for Seattle and will most likely be double digits before all is said and done. Look for big changes in Seattle soon.

[nsh03]

Originally Posted by FitzGerald28

Forsberg is a puss. He was challenged all night and didn't try to fight until he was getting called out by the 10,000+ fans in the arena. The rest of the tbirds should have stayed home as well as none of them even looked cross eyed at another Portland player. Eight straight losses for Seattle and will most likely be double digits before all is said and done. Look for big changes in Seattle soon.

Forsberg seemed mostly interested in trying to play agitator and draw Portland into penalties, and succeeded twice (De Champlain in the 1st period and Peters in the 3rd). But what does it accomplish when he takes himself mentally out of the game by doing so and the rest of his team is content to sleepwalk through the whole game? Forsberg had that beating coming to him, and I'm glad it was De Champlain who delivered it after all the runs Forsberg took at him all night.

I'll give Forsberg credit though, at least he showed a pulse, which is more than the rest of his teammates could say. I remember being on the losing side of the I-5 rivalry watching our players sleepwalk through 8-0 losses, and there's nothing in the world that frustrates me more than watching my team get steamrolled by their rival and acting like they don't really care. Forsberg is a punk, but without him last night's game wouldn't have even had so much as a roughing minor called, and he gets some appreciation from me for keeping the game lively.

[HordiBrusk29]

When Seattle acquired Forsberg they told him he wouldn't have to fight as often as he did in Prince George. I think that, at times, has taken away some of his effectiveness. I don't watch a ton of Seattle games but I do watch them frequently enough to notice a difference between Prince George Forsberg and Seattle Forsberg. He never used to play that way. The dive he took when Peters gave him a shot after a whistle was nothing short of pathetic.

It's too bad because I like Forsberg and I wanted the Giants to acquire him for the past couple of years. But I'm not liking the Forsberg I'm seeing this season.

[GIANTSFAN]

Originally Posted by nsh03

Forsberg had that beating coming to him, and I'm glad it was De Champlain who delivered it after all the runs Forsberg took at him all night.

That was hardly a "beating". Sure, Forsberg lost, but he didn't go down & De Champlain only landed about 2 good punches.

[HordiBrusk29]

De Champlain landed the best punch of the fight but he fell down soon after. All things said, Forsberg is a better fighter than De Champlain. And he would beat him more times than not. But if he is going to continue to play like a little **** I'd like to see Mahon give him a beating.

[nsh03]

Originally Posted by GIANTSFAN

That was hardly a "beating". Sure, Forsberg lost, but he didn't go down & De Champlain only landed about 2 good punches.

You didn't see the whole fight. De Champlain appeared to land a good shot at the beginning as well before the camera picked up the fight, granted without the benefit of seeing a replay it's impossible to tell for sure if it did land under the visor. Watching the fight live from behind the Seattle net it looked like a one-sided win for De Champlain. Seeing it again on camera it looks less lopsided, but either way it was a solid win for De Champlain with at least two great punches landed as well as a few of those short lefts.

Originally Posted by HordiBrusk29

De Champlain landed the best punch of the fight but he fell down soon after. All things said, Forsberg is a better fighter than De Champlain. And he would beat him more times than not. But if he is going to continue to play like a little **** I'd like to see Mahon give him a beating.

I agree Forsberg is the better fighter, but so far he's 0-1-1 against De Champlain and has thrown most of his punches on the ice in both fights. I'd love to see Mahon tune him, but I have a feeling Forsberg would be more likely to try to draw a penalty and skate away or turtle than actually fight if Mahon dropped his gloves. He reminds me right now of Mitch Love: A legitimate tough guy who turns into a classless punk trying to draw penalties instead of playing honest hockey.

[HordiBrusk29]

Originally Posted by nsh03

I agree Forsberg is the better fighter, but so far he's 0-1-1 against De Champlain and has thrown most of his punches on the ice in both fights.

I'd argue Forsberg is 1-1 against De Champlain this season. Not much happened in their first fight but it looked like Forsberg landed the only punches. Regardless neither fight has been decisive either way.

Originally Posted by nsh03

I'd love to see Mahon tune him, but I have a feeling Forsberg would be more likely to try to draw a penalty and skate away or turtle than actually fight if Mahon dropped his gloves.

Probably. Although in a 5-0 game like last night who cares? Mahon should just tee off on him and not give him an option. Something like that can make someone shut up rather quickly. Unfortunately that kind of fear is all but gone in the game today. Mahon would get suspended for something like that and the Hawks organization would probably be fined. Makes it a lot easier for ****heads to act like ****heads without any fear of consequences.

Oh well. Anyway, that's the end of my rant.

[nsh03]

Unfortunately, your rant is spot on. It's crazy to think that 15 years ago, Darren McCarty got a double roughing minor for holding a turtling Claude Lemieux accountable for his hit on Draper. I think if they called things back then like they do now the Red Wings would still be killing off the penalties assessed to McCarty! And you know, I think protecting players who act like punks or play dirty does them more harm than good. Look at a guy like Kyle Beach or (as much as I hate to say it) Brad Ross. They have a ton of talent, but they need to screw their heads on straight to be successful and both seem to sruggle to do so consistently. Benching them doesn't help, suspending them doesn't help, but I'm willing to bet suffering Claude Lemieux's fate a time or two would drastically reduce their shenanigans and probably make them better contributors to their teams.

[mh34444]

I missed the game but my buddy tells me that Glover came out to the blue line and challenged Carruth. Carruth responded with something of a chopping motion with his stick. Rather see them get a good run at it during a line brawl anyway than to get stopped halfway down the ice by a linesman.

[HordiBrusk29]

As you can all see the camera didn't pick up any of that. If that's true I'm a little surprised. Carruth is always looking for a reason to get involved sometimes to his detriment. But this would have been an ideal situation to drop the mitts. Or should I say blocker and glove?

[FitzGerald28]

Glover did challenge but Carruth declined. Glover got leaving the crease and Carruth received a 10 min misconduct. Glover waved him to come down but Carruth just pointed to the scoreboard. No doubt Glover would have been worked over but props for the challenge.

[mh34444]

My guess is Carruth wanted to finish the shutout and the win tied the clubs all-time record for wins. Of course none of that does anything for us fight enthusiasts!

[HordiBrusk29]

Originally Posted by mh34444

My guess is Carruth wanted to finish the shutout and the win tied the clubs all-time record for wins. Of course none of that does anything for us fight enthusiasts!

I call bull****. Carruth has plenty more games left in the regular season to tie and eventually surpass the record.

[nsh03]

Originally Posted by mh34444

My guess is Carruth wanted to finish the shutout and the win tied the clubs all-time record for wins. Of course none of that does anything for us fight enthusiasts!

That was my thought too, it seems very out of character for Carruth to decline a fight. I'm just disappointed in myself that I missed it, I was sitting right behind the Seattle net so in theory Glover's challenge should have been right under my nose!