Put away your pitchforks, villagers!
There's no need to crucify Tomas Hertl just because he's younger than you, better at hockey than you, or having more fun than you. Don't blame the messenger, and don't blame Allen Ginsberg's poetry, Elvis Presley's hips, Hertl's between-the-legs roof job, or anything you ancient, probably Internet-avoiding dinosaurs.
Well, at least Henrik Sedin agrees with me, although he might not have put it that way.
"Any other sport, if you do something nice, a nice move and it gets on the highlights everyone is raving about it," Sedin said, according to The Province's blog, The White Towel. If you haven't heard, the thought seems to be bouncing around that Hertl's between-the-legs beauty – which made it 8-2 San Jose on Tuesday night – may have been too far. A touch of showboating, perhaps? Maybe the fact this is even a question shows how badly hockey needs it.
Sedin continues: "In hockey, you can't do that. The best play is maybe to shoot it off someone's back because if it goes in no one is talking about it."
"I don't understand what we're talking about (with Hertl). He scored a beautiful goal and it's fun to watch. I love it.
"Is hockey the only sport where you do something nice and they talk about showboating? I don't get it."
Sedin said he and his brother, Daniel, were grilled a tiny bit after they scored a goal with similar flair to close out the 2010 NHL regular season, the same game Henrik rocketed ahead of Washington's Alex Ovechkin to wrap up that year's Art Ross Trophy – the first of now two in Canucks history.
The goal is below. I'd imagine Hertl saw it.