Winnipeg high school hockey coaches suspended for throwing playoff game

[Da Cute Dude]

What would you have done if you were one of the coaches?.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/winnipeg-h...ded-throwing-playoff-20110304-123537-483.html

 

[lucilla]

Nice way of teaching the kids it is not how you play the game but how you can cheat your way to a championship.

 

[slugger]

I heard that a few parents agreed with what the coaches did. Buch of Losers.

 

[Pompal 09.]

So let me get this straight:

The coach on westwood's bench threw the game so they wouldn't have to face another team in the final? or semi final?

Anyhow, if they threw a game so they wouldn't have to face a stronger opponent to win the championship, I don't know that is such a bad thing. I know it happens in other sports where you "throw off" because a win would have you face an opponent that is sure to beat you....

Unfortunately sports is about position and strategy not just winning or losing. If it was, winning games at the beginning of a season would be as important as the ones at the end to garner position or a playoff spot.

 

[President Pelosi]

TBoy

A good coach wouldn't want to win a championship that way. The sweetest wins are the ones you need to work for. I can see where he thought it was a good idea, but all he has done is choose the easy way out.

Lets not forget that this is high school hockey. Is that the message that you want your kids school to send?

I agree that the coach should be suspended.

 

[agatha_snape]

What message is that?
That in order to achieve your goals you may have to do things that you don't really want to do?
That to win the war sometimes you lose a battle?

Ok, so you say a "good" coach wouldn't want to win "that way". So do you think it would be better to have his team lose to a better team (especially if he knows they can't beat the better team)??

All those slogans "you played your best", "there's no dishonor in losing" etc are all well and good but that and $2.00 will get you a coffee at timmie's...

So, do you think that this "concept" should apply to war as well? That we should send our soliders into a no win situation for the sake of honor? Or do you think it would be better to withdraw from one battle in order to have a better chance of winning the war?

 

[mick7945]

The message is that it's okay to take the easy way out. That fair play isn't important. High School hockey is still school, where we send our kids to learn.

In my humble opinion this coach cheated, he threw a game to get his opposition eliminated. Yes I'd rather lose to a better team than win by default. I'd rather look my players in the eyes and tell them I was proud of their compete level, proud of their work ethic, and proud of their leave it on the ice attitude.

What's the next step for this coach, he eliminated the team he doesn't want to play does he now send a goon after this teams leading scorer to ensure his teams success?

 

[parkcaitlan]

How do you suspend someone when he hasn't broken any rules though?

Personally I don't think he should be suspended but the league rules need to be amended.

In the end winning is all the counts and he was just positioning his team in the best place to win.

 

[richard m]

I hate to break it to you skiier, they do this in the NHL all the time......and they bring in players to protect the leading scorer....it's all part of the game.

And as for all those pat "sayings"? The mail rooms are full of people like that where the ones who maneuver to win are upstairs sitting in the corner offices.....

WHat's that saying by sean connery from "the untouchables"? Losers whine about giving it their best shot where the winners go home and fuck the prom queen". Me? I'd like to go home and fuck the prom queen.

Now with all this being said, if no rules were broken, and they didn't outright cheat, then there is NO problem with what he did. People exploit the rules or gaps in the rules all the time. Hell, the courts are FULL of people like this......

 

[Quaker O]

The school though otherwise I guess.

"High school athletics are about the spirit of the game," said Winnipeg High School Hockey League president Mike Wake, who is also the principal of the offending school, Westwood Collegiate.

 

[Shaggster]

You have to wonder though if the same principal goes to the coaches when they DON'T win and bitches and complains about why they didn't win the championship....

If I read the story correctly Westwood ended up losing the championship anyways so the point is moot......

But, just thinking outloud, isn't the point of playing the game to win? Not just to compete? So if that is the case, then isn't winning the championship the ultimate goal? So in order to have a better chance of "winning the whole thing" you have to lose one game, isn't that just part of "winning"???

 

[Bill M]

I am wondering if the principal wasn't the league president if he would have acted.

 

[Yacajoo]

There's a big problem with him imposing the suspension here as there is a definite conflict of interest.

 

[deelell]

Don't compare oranges to apples Tboy. These are high school kids not the NHL. Yes we all know that in the pros they tank it to get better draft picks. Yes there was a rule broken which is called ethics and pride. Go tell the kids thank you for working so hard now go and lose the game.

Don't get me wrong I understand your theory but we want to teach young men to be proud of what they do and to be leaders. Once they become adults they can find out for themselves that you sometimes have to cheat to win but do not take away their pride at such a young age.

 

[realityshowjunkie]

Yes but took away their pride. Teaching them the Mao Tse mentality that to succeed in life you have to cheat and kill is just not right.

Just my 2 pennies' worth.

 

[aightman]

except for the Leafs, what was it 3 years ago we had a serious shot at finishing last and what do we do, we bring in a better goalie and go on a winning streak taking us out of the draft lottery

 

[Dianne S]

I remember that. Came from the same GM that gave Jeff Finger who couldn't crack the top 6 in Colorado millions of dollars.

 

[Howdy!!]

My best recollection is that Cliff fletcher brought in Finger.

 

[Em :)]

And this is exactly what our leaders do. It's called compromise. It's also called maneuvering for a better position in the end. It's also used in Politics. It's used in the boardroom, it's used in business, it's used many many times. The ONLY people who play or work with "pride, honor, conviction" are those who never make it to the top.

 

[checkoutmynewemptybag]

Whoa there.....Where does killing come into the picture?

I believe Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying '' Winning isn't everything it's the only thing"'. So pretty much anything inside the rules is a go.