Sometimes in sports, a story comes along that seems just way too crazy to be true. This time around, the story comes courtesy of Vancouver Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa.
While the Canucks have been accused of diving by many across the game in the last few seasons, it was Bieksa who came out and blasted two members of the San Jose Sharks, accusing them of diving in the two teams’ first-round playoff series.
Many see it a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but Bieksa went right after both San Jose’s Logan Couture and Joe Thornton, accusing the Sharks forwards of embellishing.
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It actually got better from there. Bieksa went on to say that maybe the Canucks should try their hand at diving, to which just about everyone outside of Vancouver likely responded with “You mean you’ve stopped?”
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However, this isn’t the first time Bieksa has gotten all bent out of shape about diving. In fact, he actually called his own team out for doing such back in 2011.
“I know guys will do whatever it takes for a power play to win a game,” Bieksa said, according to The Province. “But sometimes they’re crossing that line of integrity. I think for the better of the game, for the good of the game we need people to stay on that line and not cross it, and not dive and exaggerate for calls.”
Bieksa also said that it’s not necessarily cheating, but added “it’s a matter of integrity.” So at the very least, we know that Bieksa sure values integrity.
