Ron MacLean-Alex Burrows Video: HNIC Host Rips Burrows

Crap journalism at its best.This is not fair and balanced by any stretch.Right or wrong, Burrows deserves fair & balanced rather than being hung out to dry by MacLean.

I am thoroughly disgusted with McLean's piece on HNIC. 1800 people at that game, witnessed what happened and biased as the great majority would be, most are knowlegable hockey fans who would agree en-mass that Burrows version of events are more than likely to be the accurate version. I have always enjoyed McLean's insight, but this was out and out character assasination of Burrows. For this unbelievable display of bias, he should lose his job. Shame on McLean and Shame on our national broadcaster CBC for allowing to be aired.

Get off your soapbox referee MacLean.Nice work with your smear montage, not bias at all. It was only missing some goose stepping. What school did your editor go to? Was it in occupied Europe, circa 1930's? The CBC is a elderly dying dinosaur that needs to take a long tar nap.Way to loose your audience, jerks.

I'm embarressed to have been a fan of Ron Maclean. What a idiot! I'm not even a Burrows fan. Does Maclean realize by assassinating that kids character he has assassinated his own. The part of the interview where Maclean pretends he's Burrows talking to the trainer made me want to puke. Then Cherry comes on and compliments Maclean on his interview! What a joke! Unless Maclean comes on next Saterday and admits he was wrong I will never watch coachs corner again! Which makes me feel like someone shot my dog!

I worked at the CBC for years and I am usually proud of the journalism it produces. This particular sports segment on HNIC was sub-par and never should have made it to air.  It was a pointless screed against a player whose reputation is well known - what MacLeans' piece had to do with the actual incident between Burrows and the Ref. Auger is beyond me.

i have lost a ton of respect for maclean.a very unprofessional and biased piece of journalism. going after burrows totally one sided. thumbs down to maclean (and the cbc).RONNY BOY, you are going to be held accountable whenever you're back in Vancouver. you are going to hear the boos and taunts.you make a personal attack on one of our players and you are going to hear plenty of personal attacks.

Im in Edmonton and dont care for the nucks to much but Maclean was out of place for this. Hockey players hit and he was picking for anything. Im surprised, Im not a Cherry fan and thought Maclean was the better half. Maybe time to hang them up with a bias opinion like that. I do hope that Auger is ref for the Oilers Nucks game this Weds. We really need the win.

Sorry I missed it live — but yes, this is stupid stuff and way departed from McLean's usual style.The December hit from behind — and last night's hit on Mitchell — were worth 5 minutes, regardless of any acting. Dirty stuff like that, into the boards, should always be worth more than clearing the puck over the glass. 

What gets me the most is that Ron Maclean says "what we all know" when he does not know "whatwe all know". Obviously a personal attack on Berrows..Will be interesting to hear from him this afternoon on Vancouver sports radio

hey canuck fans wake and smell the coffee. mclean is right and burrows should of got more then $2500 fine. He over acts all the time, if he was on a different team canuck fans would not care about it.

I am the biggest idiot ever! I sold Burrows out so the NHL would better on the tail of their cover-up. Now I cannot look myself in the mirror. Even worse I made myself look like a total goofball and now all of Canada hates as much as Don Cherry does!

hey burrows this is not hollywood so quit acting and get on with playing hockey

I have to say, that he (MacLean) always got too much respect for being a good journalist when the record shows he's not.  Myself, I'm not much of a Cherry fan, but Ron has often asked him questions, knowing full well what the answer will be, deflecting criticism from himself, leaving the dumb stooge to twist in the winds of outrage that follow.He does this without regard to supposed friendship, he does it for the the most cynical of reasons; he does it for ratings -- pieces of silver, for betrayal of trust.He did it last year, when he went and asked Cherry why he thought NJ was the only undefeated team on the road, knowing what Don had already said off camera (How many Europeans do they have? There were 3 or 4.)  For all I know, the weasel may have agreed with Don. Probably did (hey, I have as much ability to read into to what I watch on on tape than he does).  One thing is for sure, that this is just a continuation of this behavior.  As I said, I personally don't like Cherry, but at least he says what HE means, while MacLean is just hiding behind a facade of being a balanced reporter.  Finally, I'm glad that others get to see him for what he really is.  He has shown his colors in such a way that even those who were blissfully ignorant of his past transgressions (and there have been many besides the one I listed...unfortunately I don't have the time or resources to put together a video montage of all them to assassinate his character -- unlike he, and the HNIC crew did.).  Good thing CTV got the Olympics, because I couldn't put up with having to watch him.  The real story this is meant to deflect us from, is that one of their referees was biased and influenced the outcome of an NHL game, and that we know, at least those of us who watched it (though it was strangely absent form this whole little theater that they put on -- NHL with assistance of CBC/HNIC).We won't forget this.

Not a fan of the canucks, but I can't help but look at those calls against Burroughs and the weird skate between the two prior to the game and then watch McLean's personal attack on Burroughs and wonder what the hell he was thinking. McLean and Campbell need to have a hard look at themselves and McLean should look at about anyone else calling themselves a journalist and then go back and start over again.

hey there are two fp's commenting here and yes i am a stinking leaf fan.

Looks as if the CBC piece was an attempt to bury Burrows and this whole story by garnering huge public disdain for Burrows, but it backfired. Like many, late last week I was kind of hoping this would all just go away, but after hearing Mclean on Saturday and then his interview on Radio 1040 today (incredible backtracking mixed with convoluted theories about what he meant to say) anyone, no matter where you stand about the actual incident, has to have that gut feeling something is not right. Now I really want something done. What did Auger say to Burrows during the pregame, why the phantam interference call by Auger, and why the terrible Burrows story by CBC? Even two year olds know you don't back down from bullying.  

Just the facts is all I want to hear. As part of the paying public, I also deserve this. Burrows dives, so what, so do others, that doesn't make it okay for the calls that night and it sure doesn't when the game is 2-2 in the third or at any point for that matter. If a player dives call a diving penalty. There is more to this story and Maclean has just opened a can of worms in my opinion. Character assassination at it's best. How much did the NHL pay for that time slot. Nothing more than damage control. Maybe the CBC will give Mr. Gillis his day in the CBC courtroom to defend his player and show video of Auger's past history. Nah... why lower yourselt to that degree.

If you are going to show Burrows' transgressions--fair enough--but show Auger's, too; including the call in the third period and his previous ones that got him into trouble.   Show *all* of his pre-game skate with Burrows, and then get a lip-reader.  I hear they got a good angle.  That would settle it.  When I watched that, I just wondered how much the NHL paid him.  I suspect quite a bit. 

Character assassination?  How can you assassinate the character of a player that has clearly demonstrated that he has none to speak of?  All Mclean did was show his past history and it's hard to blame the officials for not wanting to let him get away with that anymore.   I do agree that having a whole peice dedicated to this incident was a bit over the top and maybe it wasn't reported objectively.  They could have shown the whole skate with Auger as well as the dive that started all this in the first place like they did. But if had to happen to anyone, I'm glad it was a weasel like Burrows.

I am from Vancouver and must admit I did not see the Nashville game in question. However having seen the highlights of that game and now the commentary by Ron MacLean all I can say is that this is being blown way out of proportion on both sides. For one thing we didn't hear the comments made between Burrows and Auger during the pre game skate and now probably never will. So this makes it all hearsay and it's Burrows word against Auger's. As far as the NHL is concerned they will always side with the referee because what he calls goes whether you agree with it or not. I admit that Burrows does seem to have a history of being a diver and whiner but he's not the only one in the league right now. Look at Sidney Crosby. He's not a diver but because of is "superstar" status he always bitches to the officials about missed penalty calls that should have been in his favor. I will also say that MacLean does tow the line for the NHL and is a yes man. He always has been like that. I've seen a lot of controversial calls in games before that have changed the outcome of a game and this one with Burrows is no different. As far as who I would say is telling the truth here I really can't say. But I do believe that Burrows should probably keep his mouth shut right now and just play the game.