Dec 17 Milbury and Stock Bring the Clown Show to CBC

The warning signs were definitely there. Last night, CBC's Hockey Night in Canada presented a rare mid-week broadcast of the Canadiens vs. Bruins and the in-studio "analysts" were Mike Milbury and P.J. Stock. You'll notice I put "analysts" in quotation marks. Foreshadowing. Given the history of the two, obviously every opinion given by the two was unquestionably anti-Canadiens, regardless of whether there were facts to back it up or not. It isn't the first time it has happened and regardless of how much CBC's e-mail accounts are flooded, it won't be the last time.

What was said showed a complete lack of objectivity or logic. At this point, it's clear that Maxim Lapierre is what he is. He stirs the pot and occasionally drops the gloves, not unlike dozens of other players in today's NHL. He isn't a heavyweight by any means yet is expected to be by Milbury, who apparently can't identify the type of player Lapierre is, one that is very similar to Alex Burrows, Jarkko Ruutu and Patrick Kaleta, among others. Milbury inexplicably criticized Lapierre for not fighting a heavyweight like Shawn Thornton and also, for whatever reason, having a "smirk". After then calling him a "cowardly fraud", Milbury resented the fact that Lapierre later scored, especially with Thornton being a few feet away. In the world of Mike Milbury, I suppose Lapierre should serve as a punching bag for Thornton, purposely miss any scoring opportunity presented to him and keep a poker face as all times, all the while saying "Thank you, sir. May I have another?".

The criticism wasn't limited to Lapierre. P.K. Subban, the team's designated lightning rod of controversy, then had his own feet held to the fire. Milbury criticized Subban for not fighting Dan Carcillo on Wednesday. First off, what part of Subban's player profile dictates that he is the type who should be getting into scraps and going to the penalty box for five minutes on a regular basis? He's one of the team's most utilized defensemen and their primary powerplay quarterback. It's one thing for a scrub like Carcillo, who plays a grand total of five minutes a game, to have that role but Subban's coaching staff and teammates can't afford Subban to get into regular scraps, much like the Los Angeles Kings wouldn't want Drew Doughty to play that role.

Subban was then criticized by both nimrods for backing down from Gregory Campbell after Subban delivered the very definition of a clean, hard hit to Brad Marchand. "Turtling" was the term Milbury used. For whatever reason, they feel that every clean body-check has to be followed up by a scrum. I'm not sure when this feeling began but it's absolutely ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as Milbury's criticism of Subban for "dangling his gloves" after the incident. Without a doubt, it's the first time I've ever heard a player criticized for what he does with his gloves.

To round out their exhibition of stupidity, Milbury talked about how the game has been "wimpified" over what led to the Michael Cammalleri penalty shot. After what preceded this, one would think if David Krejci was in the place of Cammalleri, not only would a penalty shot have been more than called for, a hearing with Colin Campbell & Friends would have been in order and a possible spot on the NHL's blacklist.

Now that it's been established what exactly was said, it's just as important to factor in who said it. In P.J. Stock, you have a career scrub with the most basic grasp of the english language and a stuttering problem worse than Porky Pig. Stock long ago washed away any credibility his six career NHL goals gave him by admitting on several occasions his bias towards the Boston Bruins. It's understandable considering Stock is thought of in high-regard in Boston and is just more of an afterthought in Montreal. Because of that, he has no business being employed as a supposedly unbiased hockey analyst. Stock has long held a grudge against the Habs for dumping him for Gino Odjick after a mere 20 games with the club.

Mike Milbury's resume speaks for itself. He shares with the title of "Worst General Manager in Modern NHL History" with John Ferguson Jr. after the way he demolished the New York Islanders. It was a job so poorly done, the organization still has yet to recover from it. He is someone who, in his career as an analyst, has bashed long-term deals despite giving out two of his own. I guess he never expected people to remember the 10-year deal he gave Alexei Yashin or the 12-year monster he gave Rick DiPietro. He is both hypocritical and prejudice, having once referred to the Russian style of play as "Eurotrash".

In a way, it's understandable why CBC has employed these two. I know I'm not alone in saying the comments that were made in the first intermission had me turning to CBC to see what would be said next in the second intermission. Luckily, we got a brilliant piece on Jacques Demers done by Elliotte Friedman. CBC has decided to go the "smut" hockey analysis route, employing people who will say controversial things for the sake of controversy. This is in stark contrast to TSN, who won't always say the nicest things about the Habs, but always formulate educated opinions based on facts and objectivity. There is an evident difference in the quality of analysis given by Milbury and Bob McKenzie. The infuriating aspect is that, seeing as CBC is government-run television, several thousands of our tax dollars are going to fund the opinions Mike Milbury and P.J. Stock spew on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the only thing we can do is tune out.

About Will Martinez

Will Martinez runs the 'Hey, My Name is Will' blog and is a contributor for TheFranchise.ca. You can follow Will on Twitter @heymynameiswill

Tags: CBC \ habs \ Maxim Lapierre \ Mike Milbury \ Montreal Canadiens \ PJ Stock \ PK Subban