Cooke getting ready for Thursday showdown?
Even though the Bruins showed no inclination to stick up for their fallen teammate Marc Savard on Sunday, Matt Cooke apparently wants to make sure he’s ready if things change when the Penguins come to Boston next Thursday.
Cooke engaged in a rare fight tonight against the Devils, taking on Rob Niedermayer off the opening face-off of the third period in a possible tuneup for Thursday’s main event. It wasn’t much of a fight, with Cooke getting a quick takedown after the long squareoff and Niedermayer not really even throwing a punch. But Bruins fans might enjoy the replay of the incident late in the second that precipitated the fight.
Cooke went in for a hit, but Niedermayer, who has a long history of concussions himself, obviously knew to keep his head up when the Penguins headhunter was on the ice. Niedermayer missed 26 games with a concussion in 1997-98, another six in 2006 and three playoff games in 2008, but he wasn’t going to get another one from Cooke tonight. He saw him coming, sidestepped the check and drove Cooke face-first into the glass. It’s not nearly close to what Cooke deserves, but it’s a start.
It’s also interesting that Cooke demanded a shot at revenge against Niedermayer, who did the honorable thing and obliged. Will Cooke do the same when the Bruins come calling on Thursday?
His track record saws no. Cooke has consistently ducked legitimate tough guys looking to hold him accountable for his countless cheap shots throughout his career. Even in tonight’s game, Cooke forced the issue with Niedermayer, who hadn’t been in a fight since the 2006-07 season, but later turned down an invitation from a more accomplished scrapper in David Clarkson.
So don’t expect Cooke to do anything but turtle if the likes of Shawn Thornton, Milan Lucic or Zdeno Chara go after him. It might be up to a less frequent fighter to try to take him to task. Perhaps Steve Begin or Mark Stuart could get him to go, though even they are far better fighters than Cooke is usually willing to tangle with.
In 724 career games over 11 seasons, Cooke has just 15 fighting majors despite racking up 836 penalty minutes for his dirty play. His opponents? Ricard Persson, Alex Korolyuk, Ladislav Kohn, Jason Marshall, Ronald Petrovicky, Jamie Langenbrunner, Steve Moore, Trevor Daley, Ryan Malone, David Hale, Jannik Hansen, Ilya Kovalchuk, Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury and Niedermayer. That’s quite a murderers’ row of heavyweights. Hopefully a Bruin or two will be able to add their name to that list on Thursday, but if it’s anyone with a much of a pugilistic track record, it will be a shock.
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