Briere Fined for Another Poor Decision

What’s becoming a recurring theme this season is Flyers top goal scorer Danny Briere committing penalty after penalty at poor times, followed by a league punishment. In the most recent case, as Philly Sports Daily is reporting, he received a marginal $1000 fine from the NHL for hitting New York Ranger forward Brandon Prust in the head while sitting on the bench at the end of last night’s game.

In some instances, like the high-sticking infraction against New York Islander Frans Nielsen taken back in October, I can sympathize with his frustrations. Just moments before the puck was dropped at the faceoff circle, Nielsen was visibly screaming at Briere. One substantiated claim online was that it was a comment about the car accident he and his young son were in this past summer. Whether it’s true or not, Briere felt that he needed to protect himself.

The cross-check to the face earned him a three game suspension.

Unfortunately, Briere has felt the need to either “protect himself” or retaliate at inopportune moments throughout the season. Some fans argue that he has to play with an edge due to his comparatively diminutive size, but there’s a difference between a lazy hooking penalty and a blatant cross-check to the back well after the play.

Specifically, I’m referring to the 7-5 loss to the Boston Bruins, when Bruin centerman Marc Savard was skating past the bench and Briere came up behind him, knocking him down with arms outstretched. It was completely uncalled for and put the Bruins on the man advantage while the Flyers were barely holding onto a 5-4 lead.

Last night’s infraction actually made me chuckle at first. In the waning seconds of the third period, Prust took a clean, if unnecessary, hit on Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen. Prust, skating towards the Rangers bench, was gently pushed towards the Flyers’ bench by captain Mike Richards before Briere and Scott Hartnell took swipes at his face.

“There was a few guys yelling at him, but what are we gonna do?” Briere told Stephen Whyno of Philly Sports Daily. “We can’t jump on the ice because it’s an I-don’t-know-how-many-games suspension, and there’s not much we can do at that point other than hoping Kimmo would get up and be fine.”

Briere’s referring to both the instigator penalty that the NHL has been promoting since last season as well as the fact that there is no rhyme or reason to how Colin Campbell, the Director of Hockey Operations for the league, has rendered judgment on players throughout the year. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Campbell isn’t a fan of Briere’s cheap antics.

The fine doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. It’s a drop in the bucket of Briere’s bank account and won’t affect the team heading forward. It is, however, a reminder of #48’s behavior this season and how potentially damaging it could be if he doesn’t learn to control it.

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