Matt Cooke- How I loathe Thee

Nice. 

Matt Cooke first made his appearance on my blog in my Most Hated Athletes post from 1/31/12.

Nothing has changed since then. It was widely reported Cooke had a "sit down" in 2012 with the brass of the Pens who told him he needed to adjust his game if he wanted to stay in the league. For about a year now I keep hearing Cooke is a "changed man."

Well, simply put, that's a bunch of bullshit. Dude hasn't changed. Here is the hit he put on McQuaid in Game 1 on Saturday night:

Obviously a dirty play. Clearly saw McQuaids numbers and drove him into the boards. A textbook 5 min Major Boarding call.

If this wasn't Matt Cooke, the 5 & game would be a satisfactory penalty. However, I think its ludicrous Cooke didn't get a 1 game suspension for this hit. Not because of the hit itself, but because Matt Cooke is basically the dirtiest player in the league (Torres maybe?) and a repeat offender. Gotta make him pay for this shit or it will keep happening. Duh.

Here is a list of some of the players Cooke has injured throughout his career. This isn't everyone. Hits like the one he put on McQuaid aren't even listed here because thankfully McQuaid was OK and didn't sustain any major injury.

Daymond Langkow, November 2007 - concussion (hit from behind into boards)
James Wisniewski, November 2007 - concussion, face stitches (hit from behind into boards)
Petteri Nummelin, November 2007 - concussion, broken nose (hit from behind into boards)
Scott Walker, January 2009 - concussion
Zach Bogosian, March 2009 - knee
Eric Cole, May 2009 - knee
Shean Donovan, November 2009 - torn ACL (knee on knee hit)
Artem Anisimov, November 2009 - "Bell rung"
Marc Savard, March 2010 - Concussion from elbow to head
Alex Ovechkin, February 2011- knee to knee hit
Fedor Tyutin, February 2011-  Hit from behind into boards


Please keep in mind this list isn't every instance of Cooke throwing a dirty hit. This is just a list of player he injured with illegal plays.

Now, something that really bothered me this morning. Most avid NHL fan's go to Yahoo's Puckdaddy blog. It is an excellent site and great daily read. However, this morning one of the authors wrote about Cooke and the hit. He also touched on Marchand's penalty for boarding later in the game... which was correctly called as a 2 minute minor. Here is his exact quote:

"Marchand, who should have a status as a dirty player just as extreme as Cooke's if not worse.."

WHAT are you talking about? Seriously? Marchand equally as dirty as Cooke or WORSE? C'mon now. I know people consider Brad a dirty player, and I know he walks the line while occasionally stepping over it... but what a ridiculous statement. Marchand is no where near the piece of shit that Matt Cooke is. Not even close.

OK. Enough time wasted on that dirt bag Matt Cooke. Lets end this blog in the best way possible... videos of Matt Cooke getting his ass kicked. Leading off is obv. the best one... Evander Kane putting Cooke to sleep. Enjoy Game 2 tonight people!