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Patrik Laine trashes Canucks for their video game ban
More often that not, hockey players provide stock answers to virtually any question in an effort to avoid controversy and not stand out from the pack.
As a result, it’s always nice to see someone zig where everyone else zags, like Patrik Laine did on Wednesday. The Winnipeg Jets sniper went out of his way to trash the Vancouver Canucks for both their poor 2017-18 season and their decision to ban video games on road trips in a conversation with Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun.
Laine went on to say that the players amongst the #NHLJets have agreed that if they start playing like that (Vancouver) they will stop taking their Playstations on the road.
— Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) October 3, 2018
For reference, here’s what Bo Horvat, who might as well wear the ‘C’ in Vancouver, said about playing video games on the road in an interview with TSN 1040:
“Yeah, that’s definitely a no-go on the road. No more Fortnite. No more bringing your video games on the road. It’s strictly team meals, team dinners, and hanging out with the guys. So we’ll have to put an end to that.”
“There’s better ways to spend time on the road, whether it’s hanging out with the guys in the room, going to a movie with the guys, doing stuff outside your room. There’s a lot of cool cities we go to visit and to be cooped up in your room all night and not doing anything, playing Fortnite, is a waste of your time.”
It should go without saying that Laine is pretty much spot on here. Legislating the off-ice time of grown men to the nth degree is absurd, as is the assumption that playing video games is somehow a more problematic use of free time than virtually any other sedentary activity. Hockey players can’t be working out or playing hockey all the time, and what they do with their free time otherwise feels pretty irrelevant so long as it’s safe and legal.
Basically, Laine isn’t selling what the Canucks are buying and he’s willing to let the world know about it. In the NBA something like this would be a non-event, but in the NHL where folks tend to keep their heads down and avoid confrontation, it’s practically grounds for a blood feud.
That said, the Canucks don’t seem too interested in escalating anything just yet.
Reaction to Laine’s comments in #Canucks room –
JV18 – “Whatever, I don’t care what he says.”
BH53 – “We have a home opener tonight to worry about I’m not going to sit here and talk about video games.”— Irfaan Gaffar (@sportsnetirf) October 3, 2018
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