NHL reacts to Pecca comments on Bouwmeester
The NHL has its share of spats and rows and they often tend to be very public. It’s the nature of the sport we love. Its high intensity, testosterone fuelled, adrenalin extravaganza and the fans can’t seem to get enough of it. Everything is blown out of
proportions so it’s no longer a surprise even when a feud breaks out.
Except sometimes there are players in the NHL so genuinely nice and pleasant that one just doesn’t expect them to be mixed up in anything untoward. Jay Bouwmeester would have to be one of those people. Well liked all around, a gentle giant and a good hockey
player. When Bouwmeester became the centre of NHL latest controversy, it came as a bit of a shock.
It began when former NHL star and current analyst for TSN, Michael Pecca, used some strong words for Bouwmeester. Pecca said that he was unimpressed by Bouwmeester. Fair enough. He is entitled to his opinion. But then Pecca went on to say that Bouwmeester
was a casual player. Now we are getting somewhere. Still just an opinion but could be construed as a public ‘dis.’
Pecca finally said that during his time with the NHL he actually looked forward to playing against Bouwmeester because he was easy to play against and that Bouwmeester gave up the puck easily. He even said that he didn’t think Bouwmeester was worth his salary.
Pecca and Bouwmeester played against each other 10 times before Pecca ended his NHL career in the 2008-09 season.
Now that sort of thing won’t rest nicely with Bouwmeester or any of his teammates and friends, especially considering the fact that Bouwmeester is such a nice guy. He isn’t the kind of person who would get into a confrontation over something like this but
that just makes everyone else want to take Pecca in Bouwmeester’s stead.
Its Hockey culture, we see it on the ice and in everyday life. You go to battle for your friends even when they haven’t actually been wronged but have been hit.
One of the first to speak up for the soft spoken Bouwmeester was Flames president, Ken King. King said that Pecca should be more careful with his words. “He needs to understand the difference between being a guest and being a journalist”, King said. Throwing
the gauntlet down, King said that an assault on Bouwmeester was the same as an assault on King himself. “I am sticking up for our guys under any and all circumstances”, King said.
King thought that it was inappropriate for Pecca to ridicule and laugh at Bouwmeester, who is one of his peers and one time colleague. King said that he wouldn’t let his player, or any other in the NHL for that matter, be talked about like that without challenging
it.
It didn’t stop at King. Many NHL players stood up for Bouwmeester, among them was veteran Cory Sarich. “It’s all right to have your opinion but I thought it was a little uncalled for”, Sarich said.
But was it really? It makes sense for the Flames to stand up for Bouwmeester but the reaction is still a bit odd. If it was any other player, the comments would have been shrugged off as an analyst trying to be controversial. Some indeed do think so.
Craig Conroy said that Pecca was just doing his job but appreciated King for taking a stand. “All for one and one for all, that’s the way we’ve been in this locker-room and I think Ken kind of feels the same way and we appreciate that”, Conroy said.
So what about Bouwmeester in all of this? Apparently, he wasn’t even aware until someone told him that he was in the news. Even if Bouwmeester had known, he just isn’t the guy of kind to be rattled by something like this according to Conroy. “He’s pretty
laid-back, it didn’t bother him. Really, what’s he going to say?”
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