So You Want To Know How We Can Like Steve Ott?

Sorry for the lack of posts.  I’m still a little under the weather and overworked.  My brain is in a continuous state of fried these days.  So not been up to blogging much.  Plus, all the stuff going on with Steve Ott has got me bummed.  I’ve kept my mouth pretty much shut on everything until now.  And now I have finally had enough.  Let me preface this by saying I am no puckbunny in love with a player.  I am a working suburban mom who is old enough to be the young Mr. Ott’s mom.  I am a fan, pure and simple.  And so is my husband.  In the past few days, it has become apparent that I haven’t been watching hockey long enough to understand what is considered a dirty hit or a legal hit.  I will confess that I really don’t get the whole knee on knee thing at all.  Why would you do that on purpose?  Wouldn’t you risk blowing out your own knee as well?  Anyway, from where I sit, when it comes to deciding if a hit is good or bad, it all just comes down to reputation in the end.  If you have a good rep, then it’s a good hit or if it was bad, it had to be an accident and all is forgiven.  If you have a bad rep then any hard hit is considered bad/illegal.  You had to be doing it with the intent to injure.  If the roles were reversed, and Colawhatever had made the same hip check on Ott, I guarantee we would not be having this conversation right now.  For one, Ott wouldn’t have been so stupid as to jump up, he would have taken the hit straight on.  And for the other, unless he was dead or paralyzed, Ott would have come back into the game.  If he had gone out at all. (He played a period or so last year with a broken hand.)  But because it was Otter, everyone cried foul.  It’s all so prejudiced. 

When it comes to Steve Ott, other teams’ fans can’t understand why we like him so much, they liken him to Sean Avery and just don’t get how we could be supportive of him.  They also think his only purpose is as the team’s agitator and that beyond that he is not a NHL quality player.  They don’t get it because, first they only see him for a few games a year and second, they look at everything he does from a partisan point of view.  We see him every week of the season.  We see him scoring those ugly goals in front of the net and some pretty little breakaways (well to be honest, his breakaways aren’t that pretty because his skating is not that pretty).  We know that he does have great hockey skills, because we see him performing them every week.  I’m not sure why it is so difficult for the other fans to believe that.  I guess they just want to believe he is a good-for-nothing agitator.  Do they remember that he scored 19 goals and 27 assists in 64 games last season and finished at a +3?  Or that he is excellent in the face-off circle and on the penalty kill?  No, they can only remember the Boston game.  The one that got all the publicity. 

They claim he is a coward.  But week after week we see him going toe to toe with the other teams’ best and biggest players.  Egging them on like a rodeo clown with a bull, trying to distract them from their game.  It doesn’t matter that he is only 6′ and 194, according to the roster.  (I’ve met him in person a few times and that might be stretching things a bit.)  If they decide to come unglued on him for it, then so be it.  He feels like he has done his job. 

They say he is a turtler, but do they know how many bones he has broken in fights?  Fights he got into not just as an agitator but for taking up for his teammates?  He missed several games last season with a broken hand from a fight.  Do you get a broken hand turtling in a fight?  Then when he came back, he was forbidden to fight due to the surgery on his hand which included 8 or 9 screws.  The other teams never mentioned that in their reporting.  They just called him a litany of names for not dropping the gloves.  Instead of fighting, he played some great hockey and drew some hot headed players into stupid penalties without getting the usual roughing penalty on himself.  That, my friend, is what an agitator is supposed to do.  They complained about him not really fighting with Crombeen after the knee on knee hit in the St Louis game.  Did anyone mention that he was playing with a pulled oblique muscle?   But still, he was willing to give it a shot, while trying not to make it worse.  I guess he should have just kept his gloves on and been called a coward.  Before that they were complaining that he dropped his gloves against one of their youngsters, when it appeared that the youngster was going to take Ott on for his hit on the Colaiacovo dude.  I guess he should have kept his gloves on and been a coward or a turtler for not fighting.  You see, when you are Steve Ott, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.  It doesn’t matter what he does.  The other fans are going to only see “dirty”. 

They say he is selfish and that he doesn’t think of his team.  I don’t think his team would say that.  99 out of 100 times, everything he does on the ice, he does for the team.  He is all heart and leaves everything on the ice every shift, as they say.  Yes, there are those times when he goes over the line and no, we don’t approve of that.  When you play all out like he does and with so much emotion, you can get carried away.  I’m not saying that is a good thing, I’m just stating it as a fact.  But still that is only a minuscule part of who he is.  I’ve been to many practices and waited in the autograph line a few times, there is no question that Steve is well liked by his teammates.  (I also sat through some practices when Avery was here.  Let me assure you it was not that way with him.)  I’ve seen many more interviews on TV and in print and the players reactions to being asked about Otter are always the same.  They always laugh and have some sort of story about him.  Their affection for him is genuine.  Their play without him is obviously different…less.  His energy is so infectious and so needed by this team.  He is a team leader both on and off the ice.  It was no fluke when they gave him the “A” last year. 

Then there is the off ice Steve Ott.  It’s hard to explain, but he is the exact opposite of what you would think him to be.  The guy is almost soft spoken but well spoken, does an excellent interview and is probably the best spokesman on the team.  One who always has a laugh and a smile for the fans.   He loves kids and is always picking at those on the glass at practice.  He’s the player who takes his picture with the stick kid every pregame.   Steve is the guy who, when last season had just had surgery on his hand, was asked to make a quick video wishing a fan Merry Christmas.  He turns up the charm, turns on the smile and gladly complies.  (And I have the video to prove it.)

Yes, I know, I have my Good Otter glasses on but I challenge that a lot of you have your Bad Otter glasses on as well, causing the reports of his villainy to be greatly exaggerated.  As for me, I’ll keep my #29 Steve Ott signed jersey and wear it proudly.