By Letangueray
Most fans are aware of the Flyers’ Scott Hartnell’s Twitter hashtag #HartnellDown. In an effort to poke fun of the fact that he falls on the ice often, he has created a charity, for which he donates funds based on how many times he falls on the ice. There are shirts that can be purchased with proceeds going to the charity of Hartnell’s choice. (See the charity website here.)
I am the first to say that as a player, I loath Scott Hartnell. If I had to name my five most hated hockey players, he is in the top. Why? Because of the role he plays on the ice. He gets under your skin. He has perfected this art. Off the ice though, I admire Scott Hartnell for the role he plays in his community. He is a total stand up guy. He is the type of player who you love to hate but if he were on your team, you’d be the first in line to buy his jersey when he penned his contract.
I was only able to watch bits and pieces of the controversial third period of the Pens game today. I went back and watched video of almost the last fifteen minutes of the game, where this happened during the chaos of the last few minutes (which I will cover in another blog, later this evening).
Pens fans FREAKED via social media. I mean some of the most hateful and livid tweeting I have ever seen. I thought what Hartnell did was funny. If you missed it, a fan well known in the Pittsburgh region was taunting Hartnell and stirring up the crowd and Hartnell did the same thing back in return.
The Pens fans behind the bench look completely amused and like they're having a good time. *Shruggs* Big up to the kid in the Whalers jersey.
So explain to me this, Pens fans. How is what Hartnell did today different than this:
Max Talbot "Shh" to Flyers Fans after fight with Dan Carcillo
You can buy a T-shirt of that!
Available at a Pittsburgh Unlicensed Merch Shop Near YOU!
Okay…so how is it different from this:
Wait…what about this?
Mike Rupp Salutes a la Jaromir Jagr
Even better…how is it different from this:
This difference was, the fan that Hartnell taunted was a recent cancer patient. Thankfully, Cy Clark was declared cancer free last fall and we all wish him well. But please explain to me how cancer was brought into the conversation? I mean people were tweeting Hartnell blasting him, asking him how dumb he felt for taunting a cancer patient.
What exactly do you think happened? Do you think that Scott Hartnell sat at his computer last night, wringing his hands menacingly, Googling “Pens Fans with Cancer” and just hoped and prayed that one would sit behind him on the bench today and taunt him just so he could mock him? Really, guys?
How on Earth Hartnell was supposed to know something like that is beyond me and why it was brought into the conversation is just unfathomable.
Yes. Me. Me who blasts Hartnell for his on ice antics on the regular is defending him. Fan/Player interaction like this helps fuel the rivalries that we all hold so dear. It makes the game more fun. But what I saw today was the least logical argument for hating Scott Hartnell I have ever witnessed. Our fans took two things which were unrelated and mashed them together in an effort to tarnish the guy.
If you can dish it out, you had better be able to take it.
And whoever threw garbage on the Flyers bench, that was completely uncalled for. I don’t care what happens on the ice, between the teams, between the teams and the fans. Throwing garbage? Come on. Those justifying it, I almost hope that their comes a day when Flyers fans throw garbage on the Pens bench. I’d love to hear your outrage. Yes, I know that Peter Laviolette broke a stick and it splintered everywhere. But the same people saying that Hartnell shouldn’t have retaliated in taunting Cy are saying it was okay to throw garbage on the bench. Hi, Pot? This is Kettle. You’re black!
Grow a set, fans. This game is supposed to be fun and you twisted something that was championed when our players did it. Like I said before, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Before reading the article,I read the title and entered Vomit City…After reading,however,I will say this…I tend to greatly disagree when anyone,not just you,say,”If he were on YOUR team,you’d love him”..and I disagree in this case as well…I HATE Scott Hartnell,the player,and I’m sure he’s a great guy off the ice(as most agitators are,including our own,Matt Cooke)…I kid around with my Flyers fan friend about my Hartnell hatred…Now,I will say this..GAWD FORBID Hartnell becomes a Penguin(knock on wood),I still wouldn’t LIKE him,but I would be able to openly giggle and appreciate some of his antics(i.e. Him and Phaneuf at the ASG,his exchange with Cy)…Speaking of his exchange with Cy,I thought it was funny..and I don’t understand how him formerly having cancer even got into the situation…And I didn’t even know fans threw garbage…That’s terrible…To wrap it up,I HATE HATE HATE Scott Hartnell,the player,and I’ll NEVER NEVER NEVER like him no matter how many pro-Hartnell articles you write!!..okay?…OKAY!?!..lol…Have a nice night,Stevie
Cy Clark is awesome, and Hartnell is an ass. That being said, if people are going to get all butthurt over something so stupid, then don’t watch hockey. Taunting and trash talk are all part of the fun! As long as they’re not physically attacking anyone ala Sean Avery, (I think that was him) or saying anything really hateful (hate speech, taunting little kids), who cares?
(Besides, I can’t wait to see his sign for the next Flyers game!)
he’s a class guy who’s an ass on the ice, aka his job. same as Cooke, and a lot of other guys. We, as fans of the Pens know about Cy Clark & Malkamania, his battle with cancer & his long standing love of this hockey team. Hartnell doesn’t know this, what player would go around finding out the bios of other teams’ fans? The reaction of Cy was great, laughed about it, said he was happy to be alive, etc. a large portion of everyone elses reaction, however, was at times disgusting & appalling. So many cry about the Flyers fans & their actions but today a lot of people were no better and possibly worse. Fact of the matter, the Flyers own the CEC right now, so fans need to focus less on chasing down players & doing stupid things and more on cheering this team to victories. That’s what being a fan is about & somewhere along the way a lot of people forgot this
I love Hartnell. There. I said it. He does his job exactly the way it’s supposed to be done and not only that, generates more offense than any agitator I’ve ever seen. I’d *love* to have him on my team. 30+ goals and can piss off everyone on the other team’s bench? That’s freaking priceless.
Yeah. He is certainly good at what he does and it works, which is why so many of us hate him so badly lol
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I have to agree what Hartnell did was funny. Cy taunts him all the time at games and I think Cy’s reaction is priceless. I am sure he enjoyed every minute of it. Hartnell is just one of those players you love to hate. The only thing I felt was classless is Hartnell took it off the ice and on to twitter. I think a lot of Pens fans took it out of context after an already headed and emotional game and it just blew up from there. If Cy isn’t upset by this then why should we be?
Yeah the whole thing just reached a ridiculous level. I see little wrong with Hartnell taking it to Twitter just because he was trying to play to his fan base, not ours. And he didn’t really say anything all that bad, you could tell he was just having fun. If Malkin or Neal got on Twitter and started saying stuff like that, we would love it. So I’m gonna play devil’s advocate on this one just because I know if I saw Geno on Twitter saying something like that, I’d be dying laughing.
But yes. Cy obviously was having some fun with it and will have more fun next Saturday as I saw his seat is in the same spot. He took it as fun of the game, everyone else should have too.
I personally feel the fan-player interaction is too low, so this is awesome. I bet Cy Clark had a good time. I would love if a Penguin player turned around and started messing we me back if I were at a game. (O I’m a Flyers fan). But this is great for the game of hockey! IN the 70′s you could get autographs from any player you wanted, now you’d be lucky to get a player to wave to you. I took my little brother (9 yrs old) to a game against the Blots on the 26th of March in Philly. He waved the entire time and not one player waved back or nodded. (This was the whole warm-ups) He was crushed. One player even looked over at him really quickly. There was enough time where they stood around where a nod would have made his night! There needs to be more interaction between the players and the people who help pay their salaries. Just my opinion. Nice article.