Boston Bruins television announcer Jack Edwards apologized Saturday for comments he made about Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke during the broadcast of a Saturday afternoon game between the teams.
In the first period, Edwards, the play-by-play announcer for NESN, made some controversial statements about Cooke, who has been a polarizing figure in Boston since his controversial hit on Marc Savard on March 7, 2010 that resulted in a concussion for the Bruins forward.
"... when the Pittsburgh writers nominated Matt Cooke for the Masterton award for dedication and perseverance to hockey, the justification being that Cooke had changed his ways after basically assassinating Marc Savard," Edwards said during the broadcast. "Nominating Cooke for the Masterton is about the equivalent of nominating Sirhan Sirhan as the prisoner of the year. An outrageous lack of judgment on the part of the Pittsburgh press."
Sirhan Sirhan was convicted in 1969 of the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Sirhan is serving a life sentence in California.
Edwards made the apology through his Twitter account, @RealJackEdwards.
"I am sorry for insulting Matt Cooke, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the National Hockey League, and anyone else upset by my Cooke comments," Edwards said in one tweet.
"I made a mistake. My fault all the way. This is my apology. Bad week, bad emotional reaction by me," Edwards said in another, referencing the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing and the ensuing manhunt for the suspects that had the city of Boston in a locked-down state Friday.
Cooke was selected by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association in 2012 as the Penguins' candidate for the Masterton Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.
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