So, last Friday was just another hockey game, Edmonton played Tampa Bay. The game went to shoot out and was decided by rookie Linus Omark.
Now, that’s a goal, right? The objective of the game is to put the puck into the net and that is what he did. The fake slap-shot? Part of that. The spin-o-rama? I have no issues with that. Tampa Bay player’s did:
“A … joke,” left wing Ryan Malone(notes) said.
Asked if it was disrespectful, defenseman Mattias Ohlund(notes) said, “Absolutely.”
Omark, in his first NHL game, picked up the puck at center ice and did a spin-o-rama at the blue line before skating down the slot, smacking his stick on the ice and firing through Dan Ellis'(notes) legs.
“It’s embarrassing for him,” Ellis said. “You come into a league, a respectful league like this, and you try a little move like that. It’s not a very classy thing. That’s just the kind of person he is.”
(Quoted from Yahoo.)
What has that to do with classy? It really seems that the “establishment” wants to enforce rules that aren’t there:
Yes, shame on you, Linus Omark, for breaking the No. 1 rule of decorum in a skills competition for rookies, even if that rule is unwritten and was just invented by the Lightning. Clearly, this should have been a 15-foot wrist shot into Dan Ellis’ chest instead of an electrifying game-winning goal whose initial move had the Bolts goalie out of sync and position. Where’s the class, Linus? Don’t you know the man has enough problems?
(same article)
What about this goal then, also disrespectful?
I don’t remember who it was, but some NHLer used that move in a game this season or last, and I don’t remember people calling that disrespectful…
Just to finish with Omark, and another great play, have fun with this fine goal he scored on the national team: