L'Affaire Burrows

Funny how people are so ready to believe Alex Burrows, and so ready to assume Stephane Auger essentially cheated the Vancouver Canucks.

Come to think of it, funny how it's always the Canucks screaming outrage about something. Unless, of course, its a Vancouver fan shining a laser into the face of an opposing goalie. Then, in the words of Alain Vigneault, they're just "great fans."

They sure get unhinged in a hurry over hockey in Vancouver. Geez, years later, you can still get folks all up in a lather over the Bertuzzi-Moore incident, claiming Steve Moore deserved what he got and how he faked his injuries, etc.

Never much moderation out of B.C. when it comes to these things.

Just last summer, Canucks GM Mike Gillis accused the Leafs not once but twice of illegally meddling in Vancouver team business. The NHL essentially laughed and went on to other business.

Now Burrows and his accusations against Auger, which have many in Vancouver screaming that justice must be done, how this proves referees carry grudges and how Auger should be thrown out of the sport.

For starters, how do we know Burrows is telling the truth?

There's absolutely no corroboration of his story. What we do know is that he's a known dive artist and agitator who is more than happy to fake an injury or a foul if it draws a penalty against an opponent. He believes referees are there to buy into his various cons and acting jobs.

He's a pretty good hockey player, too. It's just that the nonsense sometimes overshadows the ability, just like his teammate, Ryan Kesler.

Auger? Solid, not spectacular ref. Not one of the NHL's best, but solid. To be honest, most nights I couldn't tell you who the referees are any more. It's just not a big factor to me.

The willingness of so many to accept Burrows' story, however, is just an extension of the way in which many adults feel when they go to the neighborhood rink and watch their kids play. So many constantly harp on referees and accuse them of deliberately falsifying calls to benefit one team or the other.

Let's face it. As a nation, we're a bunch of crybabies and referee baiters.

To many (say, Leaf broadcasts) the game is nothing more than a constant discussion of officiating calls, how they got it right or wrong or why they missed this or that. Always, there's an underlying message — Pat Quinn is the best at this — suggesting the men in the striped jerseys are somehow dishonest, unmanly and not to be trusted.

Hockey Night in Canada fostered this mentality for years, although it has improved slightly in this regard in recent times.

There's still an attitude in this country that the best officiated game is one in which referees don't make any calls at all but simply give the advantage to the lesser skilled players and the lowest common denominator.

I always want to ask those people what they think the refs are out there for. To break up fights, I guess. But not too quickly.

I don't know what Auger said to Burrows. But I don't believe Burrows, either, and I don't believe the integrity of the sport has been terribly compromised.

I do believe the Canucks are making a mountain out of a molehill. But then, they always do.

Comments

[Ernie]

It's interesting to see how a writer in Toronto perceives events around the NHL. You guys sit in your cumfy chairs, with your top of the end laptops from your sky box's at the Air Canada Centre and pump out article after article most fan's in the NHL disagree with. But then again, your writing from a location in Canada where CBC operates and produces a program called Hockey Night in Canada, most fans know it as Hockey Night in Toronto. You live in a city where the GM spouts off about whatever he wants and does it without fearing consequences from the league. Who decides, with the NHL's approval to announce his USA roster during the biggest event of the season (Outdoor Classic). Interesting how no other country was asked to do this and how Burke had to make himself and his team the centre of attention. I'm curious to see how your article would have read if it was Toronto's superstar free agents being openly talked about on the radio prior to June. 1st. According to your article, this isn't tampering at all, when in fact, it's the exact definition of tampering. Then again, I'm assuming Toronto would ever have a player covoted by another NHL team. Give your head a shake Cox and stop hiding behind your Toronto snow bank. Support your article when Vancouver radio personalities want to talk to you about it. Burrows is a classy individual who has never went to the media negatively about a player or a ref until now. If you ask me, Cox's next article will be an apology to first of all Burrows as well as all Vancouver fans. I'm looking forward to it.

[Jay]

Awful, Awful, Awful article Mr. Cox. Then again everything that comes out of toronto is crap. Oh good luck with another riveting rebuilding year with the leafs.

[Jason Myles]

Your whole blog is crap...Is this an attempt to shed light on the issue at hand or an opportunity to smear all British Columbians. What are sports fans to do when their team feels they've been treated unjustly? Should they shut up? Is that what Leaf fans do? Maybe the NHL is better off with a little less passion. Wow, what insight....

If the Canucks are making a mountain out of a mole hill, what exactly is the purpose of this dribble?

[Jason]

Guess you need to belittle the Vancouver organization, when the team you cover probably shouldn't be playing games at the NHL level. What a joke of a piece. You certainly weren't at that game (probably in bed already) and you have no clue what you're writing about. Auger is solid? Check his record. He's so solid that the NHL has seen fit to have him ref TEN playoff games in a DECADE! Give your Toronto head a shake.

[Scott in Vancouver]

Hey Cox, here's an idea: try a little critical thinking instead of being such a leaves homer. What possible reason would Burrows have had to lie? Do you think he's going to get an easy ride after this? Yeah, he does some diving, and I hate that as much as anybody, but Auger has shown himself to be an incompetent egotist time and again. Combine that with the fact that Burrows was very obviously targeted with phantom calls, the little pre-game chat, and I'm convinced he's telling the truth. We don't know that there's no corroboration; nobody is allowed to discuss it under threat of a fine (and retaliation fears by the officials).

Smarten up Damien. You're a professional writer - act like one.

[Jeremy Wright]

Thank-you, Damien Cox, for making it clear how much you despise the province of British Columbia. We'll be sure to welcome you with open arms if you ever do us the honor of gracing us with your presence.

This article is nothing but contemptuous, biased trash. The laziest piece of writing I have ever read, replete with sweeping generalizations and one-dimensional thought.

Drawing parallels to the laser incident, which the vast majority of Vancouver fans were fervently annoyed with, is a massive stretch.

Drawing parallels to the Steve Moore incident is just straight up, ridiculous.

Two things are clear; Your tawdry hatred towards everything that is Vancouver and your inability to write an informative, objective article.

[Brock]

Can we just clarify that it was not Auger who claimed to have heard Doan utter the anti-Francophone comments in that game. It was a linesman, and Auger called the 10 minute misconduct based on the linesman's word. It was also the linesman (Cormier if I remember right) who continued to raise a stink about it after the game. Yes, Auger made a poor call in that game, but he's getting far more credit for the entire debacle than he deserves.

[Darren]

That's a pretty one sided, and biased article, but let's set the record straight...
First off, Damien, why have you ignored calls from the westcoast to defend your article? You talk about integrity, to have integrity, you need accountability, and if you want to trash the Burrow, the Canucks and the fans, then man up, and answer the calls to go on Talk Radio, (You know which station).
Second point, what you don't mention, is Alain Vigneaults' comment about the idiot with the laser pointer, he sarcastically said.."great fan's eh"...
So either you weren't aware of the sarcasm, or you dis-regarded, either way, it's poor journalism on your part.
Point Three, the common belief out west is actually, "if Auger said what was alleged, then there needs to be discipline. However if Auger did not say it, then there is no discipline required."
I doubt you will post this, because it show's your lack of integrity, and seeing as how you are calling out Burrows on his integrity, it would not look good on you, if people knew what little integrity you have.

[mv]

This article is a joke. Sweeping generalizations about Canucks fans and Canadian hockey fans aside, you obviously didn't see the game or the video of the ref talking to Burrows during pre-game warmup. Does it prove Auger was targeting Burrows to punish him? No. Does it raise eyebrows and questions and give some credibility to Burrows' story? Your damn right it does. Yet here you are, ignoring the evidence and blindly siding with the refs as if they have some God-given privilege to be taken with more credibility than Burrows. And your reasons? Ahhh.. they're from Vancouver.. they're just crybabies.. they're just looking for excuses.. typical Vancouver.. bitch bitch bitch. As if Leafs fans are any different? I would bet the farm that if it were Toronto in this situation your opinion would be entirely different. Way to be unbiased there, Mr. Journalistic Integrity. But I guess we shouldn't expect anything less coming from Toronto... the centre of all that is good and pure.

[Bertuzzi's Punch]

Umm were you even up to watch the game? Have you ever watched any Canuck game? I bet you were safely tucked in you bed by your mommy....

And anyone who thinks that Burke didn't tamper, is either dense or has his nose brown by being up Burke's butt. I am a Burke supporter, since the day he joined the Canucks. But if there is one thing the man needs to work on, it's his ego. Even for Toronto, just watch!

[Rod]

First of all the NHL referees are the best in all of sport. They are so consistant. But when something is fishy we on the west coast are educated enough to know something is wrong. The game as a total was horribly officiated from Auger and Denis Lerue. There were some calls in the game against the Wild that I would say were not penalties.

That being said watch this game again and see what happened.
Did you watch the game? Look for the Phantom call when Burrows is called for interference in the 3rd period.

PS. Stick tot he Leafs... The worst 3 teams in the league are being coached by Paul Maurice, Pat Quinn and Ron Wilson. Is there a theme there?

[John Taylor]

Man you are a terrible writer and your facts are wrong. I am no Canucks fan, and I dont want to touch the Burrows thing. But Burke did tamper by claiming in public the canucks had a trade on the table involving certain players. The only reason the NHL "laughed" it off is because the leafs are the most important franchise in the NHL. It's that simple. Any other team and the punishment would have been ten fold. Just look at the St.Louis back in 2000. That was just a phone call and they lost first round pick and then some.

[DamienCox]

Damien here. . .my, my, my. . .thanks to people in Vancouver for confirming my belief in the ability of Canucks fans to overreact. . .so far their arguments pro-Burrows appear limited to a) I must be a Leaf fan (this would be a major surprise to Leaf fans) b) I must believe Toronto is the centre of the universe and c)I'm stupid. So orginal. So very witty. Well done.
i never said Burrows lied. I just said why should I believe him? The guy received two penalties that cost his team the game and has a reputation throughout the game as one of the worst divers and fakers in hockey. Think he's going to say, "Well, I guess I deserved that for all the nonsense I've committed over the years, all the times I've conned officials into calling penalties that weren't deserved. Maybe it's time I changed my act." Of course not. He's going to find somebody else to blame, preferably somebody who can't fire back.
I know, I know, I'm just a Leafs fan. . . . . .

[Jeff Russell]

Whether you are a Canucks fan or not, I think most will agree - whether alex is being truthful or not - he likely shouldn't have openly opened up this can of worms.

With that being said, Mr Cox, where is your integrity? As a somewhat distinguished writer - and I think I am giving you the benefit of the doubt on this one - you have an obligation to offer your opinion on facts and ideas on a relatively impartial and professional level.

In Canadian society, you have the right to free speech and to offer your opinion on Burrows. However, in this same Canadian society, I have the right to respond. Quite frankly, to take the Burrows issue and not only generalize the actions of one player to the organization as a whole, but a province in general is shameful to say the less. Such a slanted article and opinion is infantile at best. Rather than talk about the punishment of Burrows and Auger, I think the Canadian public should rise together; questioning not only your integrity, but your right to utilize this platform to introduce an completely unrelated issue and generalize with such uninformed and stereotypical fodder.

Shame on you, Mr. Cox

[MG]

With all the cameras and microphones rolling in the rinks these days I'm sure a little digging would determine what, if anything, was said between Burrows and Auger.

I would have preferred an investigative piece adding insight and information to the story rather than this Canucks crybaby cop out column. But that's just me. And not sure it's fair to paint the Vancouver fans as alleging Moore was faking his injuries.

Tighten it up. You're better than this.

[Bill]

Wow, the "spin" is deffinetely a suitable name for this poor piece of journalism. This comes across as a half bit college piece, but congratulations, I'm sure some people out their will eat it up. How did you make it through journalism school again? As for Burrows, I'm sure nothing major will come of this, though I'm glad a player had the balls to speak his mind rather than just rolling over.

Bravo Damien, Bravo!

[Randy]

Absolutely no corroboration of his story? You should realize there's more to corroboration than actually hearing the conversation yourself. So let's see.

Burrows alleges that Auger spoke to him in the pregame and told him he would get him because of a prior incident. You have the following facts -

1) Two terrible calls on Burrows by Auger late in the 3rd period in a close game.

2) A prior incident including where Auger called a penalty on an embellishment by Burrows

3) Video of Auger speaking to Burrows in the pregame.

So let's say Burrows is lying. That means that after the game he was able to go to the media and immediately (and emotionally) articulate a detailed story that just happened to have the above damning facts supporting it. I mean, what a coincidence, right? Auger just HAPPENED to call two terrible penalties on Burrows, he just HAPPENED to be involved in a questionable call with Burrows in a previous game, and he just HAPPENED to speak to Burrows before the game. All of these things work out perfectly for Burrows to make up this story on the spot, right?

Or maybe Auger was holding a grudge and took it too far.

Which seems more believable?

[Annoyed]

Mr. Cox, you clearly have restricted your reading of the comments to the short and simple ones, which is to say, the ones written by the people who were too disgusted with your article to spend time making a proper argument against it.

I am one of those people. This article was crap.

You have some points that are worth making, but rather than actually making those points in a clear and worthwhile way, you waste our time with a poorly argued polemic.

I'm a Canucks fan. I'm not ready to entirely believe Burrows. I know his reputation, and I think his actions with the media were inappropriate. But I'm not writing his accusations off by ignoring evidence, and I'm not being blind about the tampering allegations (which the NHL penalized and DID NOT scoff at) or about the opinions of a vocal minority about the Bertuzzi-Moore incident.

In this article you've shown extreme ignorance that you're unwilling to own up to, and that disappoints me.

[TML]

This is a terrible article by someone with obvious bias that did not research their material. Please watch the game that happened as the "whining" had everything to with the events inside the game.

[Mark]

I take issue with a couple of items in this article:

"Just last summer, Canucks GM Mike Gillis accused the Leafs not once but twice of illegally meddling in Vancouver team business. The NHL essentially laughed and went on to other business."

The NHL found Wilson guilty of tampering in one of these cases, and fined the team. You're just flat out lying here.

If Burrows' past acts and reputation are to be used in your article, how about something about Auger's past? The incident with Shane Doan is a pretty big deal, and pretty indicative of a guy who needs to keep his mouth shut. He's been fined for poor performance, and if he were truly a "solid" NHL ref like you claim, he would have worked a playoff game in the past 5 seasons, which he has not, as missing out on playoff games is the NHL's punishment for being a poor official. He has barely ever seen the playoffs at all in his career as an NHL ref.

[rg]

Solid Ref? How many playoff games has this idiot reffed? 10 games in 10 years. 'nuff said!

[dan lockwood]

Damien Cox has as much credibility in the NHL as Darren Dreger. As Canucks fans, we expect Dreger to give the bidness to the Blue and Green...he always does, ever since his cousin Nonis was fired.

Cox, unless the team wears Blue and White, we know you have ZERO cred'.

Burrows said what had to be said, and instead of standing up for the integrity of the game, you decide to be a lapdog for league interests as in the past.

Hope you sleep well...maybe change your business cards from "writer: to "shill" before writing another article.

[Dan S. WILD FAN]

I for one have to disagree. As a MN Wild fan I have grown to hate Burrows, while he has proven that he is a very taleted player lately, I think he is a guttless punk. I have watched him run arund and take cheap shot after cheap shot and refuse to drop the gloves to defend himself. (except when he goes after 5'6" PMB) He along with most of his teamates run around takeing cheap shot after cheap shop and then hide behind the ref's (and the instigator penalty). In years past he would have had to answer the bell and most likely get his butt kicked on a daily bases for his unsportsman like conduct. What is it going to take for the league open their eye and start suspending the repeat offenders for longer periods of time and fining them more. Yet some refs will give Boogard a penalty for skating too closes to an opponent. The NHL needs to come up with a plan and enforce it consistantly. There is no reason certain players are alowed to run around taking cheap shots at (or swinging their sticks at) and risking opponts lives and livelyhood with out having to "answer the bell".

I think it is time to get rid of the instigator and let the player police themselves a little more. The NHL (and Cambell) have claim that they want to take action to reduce cheap shots (and shots to the head) yet their track record is anything but consistant. I think removing the instigator and allowing the players to deal with the cheap shot cry baby "agitators". I'm just sick of all the cheap shot artists ducking to hide behind a ref or teamate.

I still can't believe that a player can take a 2 hand swing of the stick and brake an opponents (a skilled players) leg and get a couple game suspension. I still can't believe that Boogard never made him pay for his actions. What is the point of having a player like boogard if he does not stand up for his teamates. It happened again last game with Gongar giving Cal a forarm shiver to the face yes he got a 5 Min major but no suspention and no butt kicking like he should have.

It also makes me sick to hear Clutterbuck described as and agitator or cheap player, Yes he finishes his checks, yes if he has a chance he will hit you. THAT IS PART OF THE GAME. He is always near the top of the league in hits but so far has a total of 9 minor penalties for THE YEAR. This does not sound like someone that runs around intentioinally trying to hurt other players.

[Disappointed]

Talk about the pot and the kettle. Maybe Vancouver fans do over-glorify their team, but at least we've actually been a successful team over the last decade. This is a typical Toronto commentator. Your team has sucked for years, yet somehow you still manage to try and look down on the western teams, despite our enormous comparative success.

Burrows is not well-loved in the league, but your argument against him hold no water. He's worked his ass off from the ECHL, getting 4th line minutes, getting no recognition (even his own fans talked bad about him for a while) until he's finally a success. He's a heart-of-the-team kinda player and that was the only reason he had a roster spot for almost 2 seasons. Why would he, now, turn on his teammates by talking about the refs if there was no validity? It will do neither him nor the Canucks any favors to do so. It will cost him in the eyes of the officials for years. But he did it anyway, because not only he, but many of the other teammates felt there was a huge injustice against them.

That is, unless you feel the whole team is full of liars and scoundrels. This whole article reeks of sour grapes and a hate-on for both Alex Burrows and the Canucks.

[MD]

Obviously there are bad calls in various situations around the league, but what other reasons are there for Auger skating up to Burrows in the pre-game skate and then "coincidently" giving him two weak penalties in the 3rd (one in with five minutes to go, taking Vancouver off of the powerplay no less) in a tied game? The first call is bad, but acceptable, the second however, is the most brutal penalty (situation included) that I can think of. Using the idiot with the laser pen as an excuse to write off anything Vancouver, is to put it lightly, illogical. One idiot fan has nothing to do with the validity of a Vancouver player, who according to you entirely fabricated this whole saga. Bad article, worse logic.