With all due respect to my colleague Jes Golbez, I feel the urge to chime in on Ribeiro Slash-gate. With the amount of Pro-Osgood press the story is getting, I'm a little surprised about how quickly everyone has cleared him of any and all charges. Sure, he took a "Chris Simon" right to the midsection, but was it really that bad? Maybe it's my eyesight, but it doesn't look half as painful as Osgood's acting job. After taking a hit that probably wouldn't have hurt my cat, Osgood crumples to the ice like he had just taken a gun shot. I'm sorry, but this is not soccer. Hockey players are tough or at the very least try and act like it. Osgood crumples to the ice after getting slashed and writhes in pain as the trainer assists him. It looks serious. It looks like a scary incident. Did he bruise a rib? Worse? Nope. As you can see at the 1:43 mark of this video, Osgood doesn't even need any help getting off the ice. He is actually so hurt that he can get right back up and celebrate a Game Two win with his teammates. Give me a break.
One more point needs to be made before we jump all over Ribeiro -- let's remember that Osgood isn't the only victim here. There's another point to be made, one that can't be seen on blurry YouTube videos. If you check out this video from ESPN, you can clearly see Osgood nail Ribeiro in the face with the end of his stick. He even moved it a bit to make sure he caught the Stars forward. Cheap shot? Absolutely. There's no need for that.
Now don't get me wrong, what Ribeiro did was cheap. It was uncalled for. There is no place for it in hockey. What we have here is a case where nobody is right. Osgood was wrong for catching Ribeiro with his stick (you can clearly seem him move it in Ribeiro's direction as he skates by) just as much as Ribeiro is wrong for taking a swing at Osgood (we have enough Chris Simons and Todd Bertuzzis). The old adage goes "two wrongs don't make a right" and in Game Two, that certainly seemed to be the case.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Ah the voice of reason, Your Mother must beproud of you on this Mothers day!!
Osgood your Mamma should give you a two hander herself.
Posted at 1:51PM on May 11th 2008 by Tentgsw
2. Poor officiating, gives credence to poor hockey. That bit of stupidity on the part of both players should have been equally treated. Hometown officiating??
Posted at 4:39PM on May 11th 2008 by herben137
3. I'm a goalie and i have been slashed like that. As much as you might think that doesn't hurt. Well it does. Player deserves to be suspended for at least one game.
Posted at 9:46AM on May 12th 2008 by Waynehockey30