The Sports Corner

Conroy should focus on contributing offence, not opinions

Without meeting him, it’s still safe to say Calgary Flames veteran Craig Conroy is one of the good guys of hockey.

From watching his numerous media clips over the past seven or eight years, it’s easy to see he makes sufficient time and provides quality insight for the media that cover the Flames – the Abbotsford Heat NHL affiliate.

But to go so far as to call Vancouver Canuck agitator/goal scorer Alex Burrows a “tattletale” is closing in on the term ‘laughable’ for two reasons.

Burrows, if you don’t already know, was fined by the NHL for comments he made two days ago about how referee Stephane Auger was “out to get him” following a 3-2 Canucks loss to the Nashville Predators.

The NHL’s hottest player of late was adamant, to say the least, that Auger exacted a matter of revenge on Burrows for an incident in stemming back to a Dec. 8 game between the Canucks and Predators.

Burrows was tagged for three minor penalties and a misconduct on Monday night against Nashville, but it was the first two that drew the ire of the former Manitoba Moose.

The first was a penalty, but Auger clearly made the wrong call. Instead of diving on Burrows, it was clearly holding the stick.

But the phantom interference call to the Canuck winger on Predator Joel Ward was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

A heated media scrum led to an anti-Auger tirade from Burrows and less than 12 hours later, his comments were making sporting news across North America from just about every perspective one could imagine.

Player input was no doubt one of the angles played in this saga, and Conroy, as he always has done in a respectful but honest manner, delivered his two cents worth.

He called Burrows, as mentioned before, a “tattletale.”

Hey, you’re asked an honest question, you answer honestly. Conroy did that.

But was the next question out of someone’s mouth “Hey, what you think of his 19 goals compared to your two?”

That’s a valid question.

Conroy has two goals this season. That’s lousy and that’s on top of spending time on a line with Jarome Iginla.

It’s an honest opinion to let Conroy know that at 38-years-old, his career is literally teetering on the verge of past memories and his two goals are evidence of that.

It sucks, but that’s honest.

On a team that has a tough time scoring goals, contributions from Conroy every now and then as opposed to five per cent of the time would be a more welcomed sight to the Flames and their fans as opposed to his thoughts on a guy who is on pace to score 33 goals – a career high after Burrows scored 28 last season.

Then there is his captain, the ever-professional Iginla.

For about 99.8 per cent of the time, no one has justifiable reason to ever bash Iginla and contributions both on and off the ice.

He’s an excellent player. He’s a leader, a competitor. He’s tough, he can score you 50 goals as he’s done on two different occasions. Iginla can do it all.

Off the ice, from all accounts, he is the ultimate ambassador for the game.

But recall the 2004 Stanley Cup finals when the Flames came oh so close to winning the Holy Grail of hockey.

In a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the refereeing was indisputably going against Calgary. Call after call went against the Flames, and the boo birds were in full flight at the Saddledome.

Whether on purpose or not, as some hockey conspiracy theorist would ask, is as irrelevant now as it is hard to prove so consider that door closed and locked.

But in the midst of the all booing, there was Iginla banging his stick on the boards and summoning to the Sea of Red to continue their chorus of boo’s and insults at officials.

We urge you to Youtube it.

But his actions that night, although in the heat of battle, can be, should be and probably are regarded as showing up or embarrassing the referees.

Yet, no one made a big deal out of that. Not even Conroy.

Maybe that skipped his mind?