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Shero steamed at Milbury's comments


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By Pierre LeBrun

Mike Milbury’s comments on Philadelphia radio regarding Sidney Crosby’s concussion history has left the Pittsburgh Penguins fuming.

"If it was an attempt at comedy, it falls real short," Penguins GM Ray Shero told ESPN.com Tuesday.

Shero takes serious issue with Milbury’s reference, obviously in jest, to Crosby’s "35th concussion."

The controversial broadcaster was on sports radio 94WIP in Philadelphia on Monday morning discussing the previous day’s game between the Penguins and Flyers, which ended in a mini-brawl:

"Little goody two-shoes [Crosby] goes into the corner and gives a shot to [brayden] Schenn," Milbury said. "Schenn was late to the party, he should have turned around and drilled him right away, but I guess better late than never. So you know, Crosby gets cross-checked, big whoop. He said after he came back from his 35th concussion, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m not going to get into these scrums, I’m going to stay away from that stuff.’ He couldn’t help himself because there’s a little punk in Crosby. He’s not the perfect gentleman. He’s not the sweet kid you see in interviews with his hat pulled down over his eyes. I’d say screw him, hit him."

Shero said the concussion comment crossed the line.

"It’s fine to have an opinion on players but when you’re making light of concussions, that’s not right,” said Shero. "I’ve gone through this with my own kid (who had a concussion), obviously we’ve gone through it as a team with Sidney Crosby and saw what it took for him to battle back from it over the past year, there’s nothing funny about post-concussion syndrome. I don’t think it would have been very funny had he made fun of [concussed Flyers captain] Chris Pronger in that light. There’s nothing funny about [former Flyers captain] Keith Primeau having to retire from it. This is an issue that is at the forefront of our league right now and to make light of these concussions is a real lame attempt at humor. He should know better than this.’’

As for Milbury calling Crosby a "goody two-shoes,’’ Shero doesn’t understand it.

"I’m not sure what he’s implying there,” he said. "Sidney Crosby is a fierce competitor, that’s what makes him great, that’s what makes him a great captain. It’s no different than a Peter Forsberg -- they’re fierce competitors and they play to win the game."

The full Milbury clip on 94WIP can be found here.

The rival Penguins and Flyers are slated to open the playoffs against each other in the first round next week.

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He's not making fun of concussions, he's simply stating that everyone has to play Crosby with kid gloves now or the NHL will screech to a halt if he gets hurt again (according to the Pens/refs)

Like Schenn did? Just sayin'...

Quick: Name the last player suspended for a hit on Crosby. ;)

Millbury is an idiot. Always has been. Always will be. Maybe his comments were part of an NBC ploy to drum up ratings for the series? Who knows. Not that I care but he was kinda outta line.

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Like Schenn did? Just sayin'...

Quick: Name the last player suspended for a hit on Crosby. ;)

Millbury is an idiot. Always has been. Always will be. Maybe his comments were part of an NBC ploy to drum up ratings for the series? Who knows. Not that I care but he was kinda outta line.

Yeah but look at the response from a little crosscheck. Guys get crosschecked like that in front of the net all the time. I know, different area of the ice, but the force at which Crosby went down and the way he immediately was looking all around just makes me think the "crosscheck" was blown out of proportion a bit.

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Yeah but look at the response from a little crosscheck. Guys get crosschecked like that in front of the net all the time. I know, different area of the ice, but the force at which Crosby went down and the way he immediately was looking all around just makes me think the "crosscheck" was blown out of proportion a bit.

C'mon...THAT was a dive? A guy gets crosschecked from behind and in the split second he rationalizes that if I go down here I might get a call? When you are not expecting a hit, it doesn't take nearly the same amount of force to get you down. I've seen several people call that a dive to which is say....utterly totally O&B goggle BS.

When you are standing in front of the net DURING play you are expecting that kind of crosscheck and bracing yourself accordingly. Big difference than skating back to the bench.

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C'mon...THAT was a dive? A guy gets crosschecked from behind and in the split second he rationalizes that if I go down here I might get a call? When you are not expecting a hit, it doesn't take nearly the same amount of force to get you down. I've seen several people call that a dive to which is say....utterly totally O&B goggle BS.

When you are standing in front of the net DURING play you are expecting that kind of crosscheck and bracing yourself accordingly. Big difference than skating back to the bench.

Ok, fair enough, I guess I would say "embellishment" rather than "dive". The whole game was chippy/dirty with a lot of different players, not just the Pens OR just the Flyers. The refs are mainly to blame IMO for letting it get that far.

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Ok, fair enough, I guess I would say "embellishment" rather than "dive". The whole game was chippy/dirty with a lot of different players, not just the Pens OR just the Flyers. The refs are mainly to blame IMO for letting it get that far.

Good enough I guess. :)

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Oh please. He whipped his around all game in game 1 looking for calls. Just play the game. He is the whiniest player in the league. He is also the best player in the league but he will never be the next Gretzky just based on his antics. Just shut up ans stop crying and play the game.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Actually Schenn should've retaliated at the spot when they were going after each other. I have no problem with hitting back, I do think it makes it pretty dirty when it's after the whistle, well after the exchange and on the way to the bench. Crosby is no different than Gretzky in that light to be honest. I remember Gretzky complaining a lot when lesser players held him up and what not, but players didn't take shots at star talent then like they do now, because back then McSorley came in and cleaned you out without worry of a stupid instigator penalty. The more the leage does to crack down on fighting and such, the worse it gets for the talent in the league!

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Actually Schenn should've retaliated at the spot when they were going after each other. I have no problem with hitting back, I do think it makes it pretty dirty when it's after the whistle, well after the exchange and on the way to the bench. Crosby is no different than Gretzky in that light to be honest. I remember Gretzky complaining a lot when lesser players held him up and what not, but players didn't take shots at star talent then like they do now, because back then McSorley came in and cleaned you out without worry of a stupid instigator penalty. The more the leage does to crack down on fighting and such, the worse it gets for the talent in the league!

And star players didn't take cheapshots all the time like Malkin does now with impunity.

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  • 4 weeks later...

And star players didn't take cheapshots all the time like Malkin does now with impunity.

Agreed... I don't think they got as frustrated with the abuse as they do now. Not defending Malkin, as I hate it when he does that crap more than anybody. But simply put I think they were able to focus on their games more when they had someone else to worry about the dirty work.

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