Couple of observations. Ferguson was lucky to stay in the game. And the O’Connor boarding was also lucky that he didn’t get 5 minutes as well……..
BUT……
Now I know this is an unpopular opinion, but for me not one person stuck up for boarding penalty they all skated by. Go and sort O’Connor out! He might think twice next time. Tansey is also more than capable of sorting the guy out who crossed checked him. Then Greenfield is taken out and again, nothing!
Sorry, not looking after teammates boils my blood!
Whilst we’re playing very well, the lack of physical play is very much lacking for me.
Rant over…..
In some respect it's about trade offs - Tansey arguably the best Dman in the league, ok Ferguson is a good player but it's still a poor trade off for us. Also I think there's a bit of not wanting to end up with instigator penalties or more (need to avoid 10 minutes / game penalties) and losing the advantage we are getting since penalties have been called.
Given the seemingly laser focus we have on winning trophies, I think going after players when penalties have been called has more potential to harm us than it does to benefit us.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see Tansey take Ferguson to the cleaners but I'd much rather not get drawn in to that if it distracts from playing the right way to get results
If we wrap the league up with games to spare there may be a few chances for a bit of payback without risking too much
Yeah I did wonder on this. It wouldn't surprise me if we do end up with a few games to spare if we might see a few scores settled.
I also think to some extent there were a couple of markers thrown down early in the season - Tansey dropped them a few times against bigger guys, Dowd had a couple at middleweight - and possible there's not been as much dirty stuff happen that we don't see.
Ferguson is a rat, but if Tansey really goes after him on that cross check, I think he turtles and could end up with a bigger penalty our way. Can't recall Ferguson being as much of a rat after so whatever was said, probably had the desired effect
