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Kevin Bieksa tells Canucks teammates to lay off diving

Nashville Predators v Vancouver Canucks - Game Five

VANCOUVER, CANADA - MAY 7: Jonathon Blum #7 of the Nashville Predators holds Kevin Bieksa #3 of the Vancouver Canucks infront of the Vancouver goal during the first period in Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 07, 2011 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

Rich Lam

There’s been plenty of talk of diving throughout the playoffs and one of the teams being accused of doing it the most are the Vancouver Canucks. After all, we’ve seen some hearty theatrics from the Sedins against Chicago and even Ryan Kesler has come under fire from the Predators this round for doing more of the same.

With all the talk of diving going on not just in this series but all through the playoffs and with NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell speaking out about the prevalence of diving and asking that officials crack down on it, some Canucks players are taking note of what’s going on.

Defenseman Kevin Bieksa spoke up a bit about things and realizes that his team is playing with fire when it comes to some of the on-ice theatrics and he’s hoping that his teammates are taking note of the big words coming out of the NHL front office.
“I know guys will do whatever it takes for a power play to win a game,” Bieksa said. “But sometimes they’re crossing that line of integrity. I think for the better of the game, for the good of the game we need people to stay on that line and not cross it, and not dive and exaggerate for calls.”

Oddly enough, Bieksa says this and says that he’s not so much worried about the call being made saying that it’s up to the referees to call it, he just wants the game to have some integrity.

“It’s not cheating,” Bieksa said. “It’s within the rules and if the referee wants to assess it, he can penalize you for it.

“It’s not cheating but it is a matter of integrity.”


OK... Sure.

With Campbell saying that the call for diving should be made more often when it’s spotted, Bieksa should be worried about the actions of his teammates so they don’t start giving away power plays or ruining opportunities for their own man advantage. We’d like to see the diving cut out because, mostly, hockey fans like to think of their game as being “above” that. Fact is, there’s a long history of exaggerators and fakers all throughout recent history. It doesn’t make us respect them any more, but the fact that they’ve been able to succeed in spite of their “gamesmanship” says something.

That said, some of the nonsense we’ve seen from the Sedins as well as from other Canucks and Joe Thornton as well is laughable. Time to man up and play hard and leave the acting for the offseason endeavors.