Matt Cooke Waits for News on Suspension

As Matt Cooke reverts to type, Ricky Rothstein wonders if a man can ever change, or if he always has to be true to his nature.

Matt Cooke is in the dock again, waiting on a suspension hearing from the NHL Department of Player Safety after he checked Colorado’s Tyson Barrie’s knee and put the defenseman out of hockey for the next four to six weeks.

Matt Cooke wasn’t meant to be like this anymore. Sure, there was a time when Matt Cooke was one of the leading goons in the NHL, but he worked so hard to change that.

A man born tough and who can dispense summary justice will always find a roster spot in the NHL. Cooke is an NHL veteran. His career started in Vancouver, he’s played in Washington and Pittsburgh before signing last as a free agent for Minnesota.

The files list Cooke a winger but his real skill is his expertise in the black arts of the enforcer. Cooke’s run-ins with the officials for cheap shots reached their apex in March 21st, 2011, when he got a ten-game suspension for a hit on Ryan McDonagh of the Rangers. The hit was so bad that even the Penguins said Cooke deserved the suspension, and Cooke himself vowed to be a better player after it.

And he tried. By the end of the 2012 season, Cooke had just 44 penalty minutes from 82 games, his lowest per-game total ever in his NHL career.

But sometimes a man cannot really change who he is. For men like Cooke, hockey is always hit first, worry about the puck afterwards. It’s hard-wired into him. And when the pressure mounts, that’s what takes over.

Colorado led 2-0 and was the hockey betting favorite to move on before Game 3 at Minnesota. But during that Game 3, Cooke saw his chance and took it. Avs defenseman Tyson Barrie has been key in turning defense into attack for Colorado all year, but Cooke zapped him with a knee-on-knee check in the second period that will see Barrie out for the next four to six weeks, a huge loss to the player and the organisation.

Cooke has an in-person hearing with the League as a result of the hit, meaning that he is going to get the book thrown at him. If anyone in the NHL Department of Player Safety is a fan of old westerns, he might find this whole Cooke situation explained by three short sentences in the movie Shane: “A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mould. I tried it and it didn’t work for me.”