Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.9

www.afootinthecrease.com

Undoubtedly every season in the National Hockey League, a variety of incidents take place resulting in serious injuries followed by half hearted apologies from the perpetrators, something along the lines of, “I’m sorry for the injury I inflicted, I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”

Rarely though do you get the sense that anybody is showing any true remorse. I can somewhat believe the, “I’m sorry for the injury I caused” part because I honestly don’t think that many players relish the extent of an injury they inflict on a fellow player but the “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody” part just reeks of insincerity. If the offending player really didn’t mean to hurt anybody, well then he shouldn’t have played so recklessly in the first place.

However, if there was ever an apology you can truly believe, it was Tom Kostopoulos after learning he had been suspended for three games for a devastating hit from behind on Leafs’ defenseman Mike Van Ryn. Love or hate Don Cherry, he is absolutely right when he says defenseman going into the corner should never turn back or they are simply asking to get leveled.

Kostopolous makes his living on being a gritty forward who plays a strong forecheck and that’s what he was doing against Van Ryn expecting the Leaf defenseman to collect the puck and round the net. Instead Van Ryn threw on the breaks leaving Kostopolous no opportunity to avoid the hit. Immediately, a look of concern came over Kostopolous as he saw Van Ryn lying motionless on the ice.

That look of concern, Kostopolous’ intention to call Van Ryn personally to apologize as well as his written statement leads me to honestly believe Kostopolous truly feels bad for the injuries suffered by Van Ryn. An offense worthy of a suspension? Absolutely. But after the suspension is served, no hard feelings toward Kostopolous should remain. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.