The Conversation That Led To The Fight Between Perry and Foligno Is A Window Into How Crazy Hockey Culture Can Be
The video above is a pretty cool medical breakdown of what happened to Tavares in case you didn't have context as to why Perry and Foligno fought. Which is what happened to me. I didn't have context. I didn't what happened to Tavares. I saw the fight first. Now, given Corey Perry's history I assumed that Perry did something shitty because Perry has made a career of doing shitty things. In this particular instance, I was wrong to assume that. Obviously just a freak play. An accident. Something everyone who saw it happen knew was an accident. Having said that...Perry still had to answer the bell.
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Here is a breakdown of the conversation before the fight
God bless the NHL. In ANY other place on Earth this doesn't happen. Guy gets hurt. Everyone agrees it was an accident without an ounce of intent. Does that matter?…NOPE. Not in the NHL. Foligno basically made Corey Perry plead guilty to manslaughter and sentenced him to trial by combat and at the end of it, all parties concerned agree to move on. That's hockey, baby. I love it. Frontier justice. Gentlemen's agreement.
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The blue checks have been scoffing at this. The internet is having fun with it. I understand their points. The fight here is like completely illogical. It doesn't make sense to anyone on the outside. It doesn't have to. It makes sense to the players involved and it's their league. They might just be playing 4 dimensional chess and analyzing every aspect of the situation. Foligno knows he was brought in to bring some sand to a Toronto team that has been pushed around a bit in the past. Perry knows his reputation. Both teams know the intensity of the playoffs. The understand the rivalry. They might have a deeper understanding of the human psyche in the heat of battle. They could both know that while everyone intellectually knows that it was it an accident, they also know that deep down something could fester and the game and series gets further and further out of control and more dangerous until it really boils over and more people get hurt. Call that the code. Call that the culture. Call it what you want. I love it. It's only here. It's what makes hockey different and I wouldn't change it. Let the men run the league or the rats will. These two guys settled a score that in actuality wasn't logically there, but it was settled. Nipped in the bud. Series can move on and be about hockey.