They are the memorable words used to shelve emotion, and bring oneself to a state of calmness and peace, at least according to “Seinfeld.” George Costanza’s father, Frank had received a relaxation tape from his doctor which advised him to repeat the words “Serenity now” when he perceived an increase in his blood pressure.
Say the magic words. Emotion suppressed. Problem solved.
But as we are reminded throughout the episode “The Serenity Now” life doesn’t work like that.
Prior to Thursday night’s game between the Bruins and Canadiens, Scott Gomez was asked about seeking retribution for Zdeno Chara’s vicious hit on Max Pacioretty. Gomez replied that the Habs “know [we] have to keep [our] emotions in check,” and added that “the best revenge is to get two points.” Other Canadiens players made similar-sounding statements — the talking points were set: “Serenity now.”
The team in white on the TD Garden ice on Thursday reminded me of my middle school music teacher.
On the exterior Mr. Allen tried his best to present an image of calm. He was stiffly dressed, spoke in a quiet baritone voice, and tried to remain expressionless even when dealing with the least musical members of our group — there were many. But even at the tender age of 12, we could smell fear.
There were not-so-subtle tells — beads of sweat on his brow, hands that would shake and a slight quiver in his bottom lip. Then there was, the ritual. Every day we would watch through the glass of the classroom door as Mr. Allen would stop, and before entering, mutter a few words to himself. Perhaps it was “Serenity now?”
But as he did his best to bottle up and hide his boiling cauldron of emotions, Mr. Allen was a terrible teacher. He lacked confidence, and committed a suicidal sin in front of a group of adolescents: he was tentative.
Tentative is probably the kindest way to describe the type of game played by the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. As the first period unfolded you could almost see the wheels turning in the minds of the players, “Keep my emotions in check. Revenge is two points. Serenity now.” Consequently, there was no passion, no intensity and no confidence.
Play tentatively in the NHL and your weaknesses will be exploited — quickly — as in 61 seconds.
Should the Habs have been driven by emotion? No. Should they have dwelled on the emotional incident of their teammate? No, of course not. But they should have been allowed to resolve their emotions before the rematch with Boston and/or encouraged to channel them in a positive way.
That’s not likely to happen in a Jacques Martin locker room. The coach surprised everyone by jumping in front of the cameras very early in Pacioretty’s recovery to announce that the injured left-winger would be back for the playoffs. Discussion of the hit was over, emotion was shelved, and attention turned to preparing for hockey.
But were all the players ready to move on?
In Boston, the situation was handled quite differently. Interestingly enough, emotion had to be manufactured by turning the spotlight of blame on the Canadiens organization and Pacioretty himself. In the most perverse way possible, Mark Recchi rallied his troops by demonizing the victim.
Recchi and others, including Milan Lucic and Tim Thomas, proposterously claimed that the Canadiens had “embellished” Pacioretty’s injuries with the intent of getting Chara suspended. Recchi’s comments cast aspersions on Dr. David Mulder and the Canadiens medical staff. He even criticized Pacioretty for his choice of activities during his recovery.
Recchi’s words were nonsense, and after the game he admitted as much. Pacioretty was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of the fourth cervical vertebrae, and a grade III (severe) concussion. The degree of the concussion was determined by the duration that Pacioretty was unconscious on the ice — that’s not open to interpetation, nor embellishment.
Concussions in athletes are not yet well understood. It is known that symptoms can vary, and can be subtle or delayed in onset. The fact that Pacioretty was dealing with another major injury, a fractured neck may also be a factor.
We know that Sidney Crosby ignored mild symptoms after the hit to the head that he received on January 1, and kept playing. Four days later, Crosby received a second hit and hasn’t played since. Second Impact Syndrome can result in major trauma and is a concern for players like Pacioretty who could be tempted to return too soon if experiencing only minor discomfort.
None of this is news to the Bruins organization, which sadly, is intimately familiar with the issue of concussions. After the game, when asked if he really believed the embellishment comment, Recchi distanced himself, praising Dr. Mulder and saying that he did what he had to do. Essentially he claimed that the ends justified the means.
Afterall, the Bruins did get the win. Despite the collateral damage, Recchi was proud of the way he engineered emotion and put the Canadiens on the defensive. In doing so, he spun a tale that took aim at one of the most respected physicians in Canada and vilified a young athlete who came within a whisker of losing his career or his life.
Throughout the country, Canadians will always feel pride for the unlikely comeback to win the 1972 Summit Series. But they can never respect Bobby Clarke who purposefully broke the ankle of Russian superstar, Valery Kharlamov — a major turning point in the series. I suspect that many have started seeing Recchi in that same light.
Two teams. Two different ways of dealing with emotion. On Thursday March 24, the team in black and yellow did a better job of making it their ally.
Coach Martin seems to ignore the experience of the successful teams that have worn our national sweater. Emotion in the form of passion, desire and intensity have served them well.
After a 7-0 shellacking at the hands of the Bruins, there was undoubtedly plenty of emotion in the Canadiens locker room. It’s a safe bet to say that no one was using the words, ‘Serenity now.” Instead, they were likely a more profane version of Frank Costanza’s words at the end of the episode when his wife, Estelle crashed her car into the garage.
“Hoochie-mama!!”