Penguins “Dive” Opponents Crazy

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

May 8, 12:22 PM | Hype this story!

Word on the street is that the Philadelphia Flyers and their media have broken out a unique method of trash talk. Apparently they are suggesting that the Pittsburgh Penguins, and especially Sidney Crosby, are a bunch of divers.

Why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?

Oh wait.

Ottawa Senators

  • “...they took a dive because they preferred a first-round matchup with the Senators.” – Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun, April 9.
  • “Pens in five, with The Divemaster Sidney Crosby even holding back his graceful flops in pity of the abject Sens. There’ll be plenty of time for diving in Round Two.” – Todd Maternowski of Pegasus News, April 10.
  • “You don’t want to high-stick a guy in the face, and I don’t think I did I thought I got him in the helmet…” – Martin Lapointe, Financial Post, April 11.
  • “Somehow, this mild contact—which I’ll admit was a penalty—sent the stick flying out of Ruutu’s hands, and he went soaring through the neutral zone as if thrown from a trampoline. It was the definition of a dive.” – Sens Army Blog, April 12

New York Rangers

  • “He’s around the puck a lot, and he makes second and third efforts that are going to sometimes drop him down to his knees, and that’s just the way he plays.” – Brendan Shanahan, Globe And Mail, April 26.
  • “Jagr twice got in Crosby’s face to call him out for embellishing calls.” – CBC, April 27
  • “Crosby Dives Into Series” – Larry Brooks of the New York Post, April 28.
  • “But, amazingly, the 21 year old loses all sense of coordination any time an opposing player gets within five feet of him.” – Michael K. Ozanian of Forbes.com, April 29.
  • “Hossa (1G, 1A, 2 SOG, 2 PIM, 18:57 ice time, 2:49 PP) scored his third goal of the playoffs really early in this one and he also drew the ire of the fans at MSG with a blatant dive on a Jagr hook…” – Chris Nichols of Sportsnet.com, April 29.

Philadelphia Flyers

  • “Crosby will dive until some referee makes a point of calling him for it and he stops.” – Jerry Del Collinano of Fox Sports on MSN, May 7.
  • “...Crosby was vilified by the Flyers for yapping at them, whining to officials, and taking the occasional dive to draw a penalty.” – Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7.
  • “Whether or not the 20-year-old Pittsburgh captain chooses the Eastern Conference finals — in which his Penguins face the Flyers beginning Friday in Pittsburgh — as a personal tryout for the Canadian Olympic diving team is yet to be seen.” – Gary Blockus of The Morning Call, May 8.

I’m not quite sure whether the idea is to intimidate Crosby and the Penguins (yeah right) or to entice the officials watching for dives.

Either way, it hasn’t worked yet and there is no reason to believe it will work now.

Or maybe it’s an easy excuse for if/when the Penguins win. Old faithful can be pulled out the the losing team’s pocket as a way of justifying the loss.

Regardless of the reasoning behind it, it’s clear the Penguins have found a way to get into the heads of each of their opponents in this year’s playoffs.

If the Flyers spend too much time focusing on which player is diving and how they can get a diving call to go in their favor, they won’t be spending enough time thinking about just how good the Penguins really are.

The Senators tried to play games with the Penguins and lost pathetically in four games. The Rangers tried to play games with the Penguins (then denied it) and lost in five games.

We’ll see how many games the Flyers try to play. If they’re smart, they’ll stick to playing hockey and let their actions speak for themselves.

Comments

  1. Nathan

    May 8, 12:57 PM

    What I find funny through all of this is how Crosby is targeted, and no one else.

    I remember two diving calls on Malkin during the regular season, and a few more that were un-penalized. (I think he may have dove in the Senators series too).

    Hossa dove (very poorly) twice against the Rangers.

    I haven’t seen Crosby dive since his second season (at least the Flyers are now owning up to this fact), though he does embelish on some infractions.

    I just find the general difference in attitude toward Crosby and Malkin very interesting.

  2. Nathan

    May 8, 01:02 PM

    PS: At least this diving crap is ONLY coming from the media this series. I have some new respect for the way the Flyers have handled the media before this series.

    ————————————-
    “You see him and how mature he is getting,” center Mike Richards told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “[His] first year there [was] criticism of how he handled himself on the ice. As the second year went on, he got better. Now, he handles himself real well on the ice. He respects everyone. He gets along with the referees.”

    Richards said Crosby has matured since, as a rookie, he talked back to then-Flyers center Peter Forsberg.

    “As a young player, you have no respect from other players because you haven’t earned it yet,” Richards said. “I don’t think a rookie should be chirping at seasoned veterans.”
    —————————————-

    At least some players know how to use their eyes, not their ears in evaluating their peers. That’s really all that matters.

  3. DaBich

    May 8, 01:58 PM

    OK, I know this is off the point, but if someone dives, call a diving penalty. Don’t also call a hooking or other penalty against the other team. Either it’s diving or it isn’t.

    As far as diving, what team doesn’t have a player(s) who doesn’t try to draw penalties? C’mon now, be real.

    All these idiots whining about Crosby whining, what is this? Do as I say, not as I do? Uhh….yeah…

  4. Matt Bodenschatz

    May 8, 02:11 PM

    Isn’t it funny the amount of whining that people do about Crosby’s whining and diving? It’s jealousy and nothing more. Every single fan of the NHL would die to have Crosby on his/her team.

  5. Ben Schmidt

    May 8, 02:35 PM

    Dabich – I disagree. It is possible for a real infraction to take place while a dive occurs. Usually the dive in that case is an embellishment to draw the attention of the officials. If the player could have easily stayed on their skates, but didn’t, that’s a dive. But it shouldn’t require that a player has to be hauled off their skates for it to count as a penalty.

    Consider a dive off a hooking call, for example – generally, a hook is going to twist a player sideways, but not necessarily cause them to leave their skates. A tug at a player’s elbow is still a valid hooking call, but if that player suddenly flies down to the ice, that is probably a dive (especially if the player’s body went up in the air before falling to the ice).

  6. DaBich

    May 9, 04:45 AM

    Ben, you have a point, but I’m not sure it happens like that most of the time.

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