Oh, come on stripes! Clearly he was just trying to...well...I mean, the puck was...uhh...any chance we can get a minute to conjure up a doctor's note diagnosing him with a mild case of Tourette's? I am really trying over here, but an involuntary tick is the only justification I can think of. It's pretty inexcusable for any player to swing a stick at a ref in any situation, but the fact that Antoine Vermette has been in the league for over a decade and didn't even have the wherewithal to be mildly subtle about it actually makes it more egregious in my eyes. I'm over here trying to defend the guy for being a goddamned jackass, but his only path to righteousness passes through his potentially compromised nervous system. I actually feel bad for his teammates here. Everyone that has ever played hockey knows that a huge part of the game is blindly arguing on behalf of the integrity of others. Given how high emotions tend to run, it shouldn't be surprising that more often than not that opens you up to looking like a moron in retrospect. I genuinely don't think a member of the defense has ever been left with a weaker argument than Kevin Bieksa. Antoine Vermette better hope he plays with gloves that are a size too small, because he would need to summon the ghost of Johnnie Cochran to get a reduced sentence after assaulting an official so blatantly that not one of the hundreds of cameras in the building could possibly used as evidence in his case. Hey Antoine, what would you say you do in Anaheim? I'm pretty 34 year old's who have reached the journeyman stage of their career are expected to provide at least enough veteran savviness to have a rational explanation other than "he deserved it" when their stick makes solid contact with a referee's calf.
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