On Spec: The etiquette of celebrating
Posted January 1, 2012 10:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Call it the Petr Mrazek question: How did goalies lose the right to celebrate?
Why is it acceptable for skaters to fist pump and dog pile after they score a goal at the World Junior Hockey Championships, but when a goalie does the same thing after a save, he’s a hot dog? He’s selfish.
“Act like you’ve been there before,” sniffed American J.T. Miller, after Mrazek had left his crease, fist pumping upon stopping an American penalty shot.
The Ottawa 67s goalie had celebrated exactly the same way any shooter would have had he scored. But when the goalie does it, players like American captain Jason Zucker find his celebrations, “Disgusting.”
“He didn’t have the game won at that time,” Zucker said of the penalty shot stop.
“We didn’t like it too much,” added Canada’s Brendan Gallagher of Mrazek’s penalty shot celebrations versus Canada. “We felt as if he was showing us up.”
But it’s OK for the shooter to fist pump when he scores? Somehow, hockey people accept that — but don’t go too far, Artem Anisimov.
More at Buzzing the Net: WJC2012: Goalie Aittokallio pumps his fists for Finland | Read it here
It boils down to the team-first spirit that is both intrinsic to the game of hockey, and at times, its greatest enemy. Fans of the National Football League can’t get enough of me-first characters like Ochocinco or Tyrell Owens. Their sound bytes and celebrations attract media, fans, and TV time.
Act like that in hockey and you get ostracized. Right, Sean Avery?
Yet even as hockey’s tight morals loosen up on flashy shootout dekes that were deemed unacceptable a few years ago, a fist-pumping goalie still stands out like some kind of showboat.
“Sometimes, to be a really good player no matter what position you play, you have to show your emotion. If (Mrazek) doesn’t do that, he probably won’t be into the game as much,” Detroit’s Director of Amateur Scouting Joe McDonnell told the Edmonton Journal. “I don’t think the fist-pumping will happen all the time, but he’ll show his emotion in different ways.”
McDonnell would never say it this week, with the World Juniors in full flight and the Red Wings fifth-round draft pick set to backstop his Czechs Monday against the Russians. But if we know Mike Babcock, the first thing that will end for Mrazek when he joins the Red Wings organization is the celebrating.
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Maybe it is because Canada ices such a superior team at this tournament every season, but every year the best games in the preliminary round tend to not involve the Canadians.
Mrazek’s 52-save effort against the Americans was the game of the tournament thus far. Russia versus Sweden, the final game in Group A, was epic.
Which goes to show, you can go to a hockey game sans the Maple Leaf and still see some memorable shinny. For me, the first taste was at the 2005 World Championships, when Sweden played a semi-final against the Czechs in Vienna, of all places. Jaromir Jagr and Mattias Norstrom waged bloody battle in a town more known for sonatas than slapshots, with the Czechs prevailing in 3-2 in OT.
It was the ultimate Euro hockey experience: their hockey, played at their pace and style, in one of their rinks. It was hockey, just played that little bit differently than it is when Canadians are playing. And it was fantastic.
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Speaking of goalies, we can’t believe that Canadian Coach Don Hay will let the result of the Czech-Russia game impact his decision on whether he starts Scott Wedgewood or Mark Visentin, based on Visentin’s bad experience in last year’s gold medal game.
Surely, if Hay thought Visentin were the better netminder, the opponent wouldn’t matter, would it? Then, why won’t he just say who’s starting?
“We’re a new team this year. What happened last year is over with, we’ve moved on from that, our players have moved on,” Hay told reporters in Calgary Sunday.
Visentin’s was the last line of defence last year in a melt down so prodigious, it’s fair to wonder if the sight of those golden bird wings surrounding that little dude on the horse that makes up the Russian logo wouldn’t give Visentin the shakes on Tuesday night.
“I believe he has (moved on),” Hay said. “You know … nobody lets him forget it, and that’s tough on him. Really tough. People should move on.
“(Mark) was in the net, but he wasn’t the only guy playing the game, and I think there were other people that could take a little bit of the hit for that loss, not just Mark. He’s battled really hard. It’s tough for him to overcome it because he’s getting reminded of it all the time. But I think his play this tournament has been really good, and people should move on.”
Then play him. If he beats Russia, we all move on.
But if he doesn’t, Visentin will wear those two losses for the rest of his hockey career.
Hey, we know that’s not fair. But it’s the World Juniors. That’s just how we do things in Canada.
