John Tortorella, Coach of New York Rangers Out of Line With Larry Brooks

It may be 12 hours after the fact, but the debate surrounding the battle between Rangers Coach John Tortorella and NY Post journalist Larry Brooks, which can be viewed below , is underway. It has received a lot of attention from the media, in the hockey world at least, bringing about varying opinions.

Fellow writers Steve Zipay of Blue Notes and Andrew Gross of Ranger Rants tended to side with Brooks this time around, claiming that the controversial reporter did not do anything out of line.

First, Zipay on how the situation should have been handled:

""For what it's worth and in the name of transparency, yours truly and the Rangers coach had a nasty but brief post-game public clash back in November on the Western Canada trip. I was on deadline and livid, but we agreed to meet in the team hotel lobby the next morning before they boarded a bus. We exchanged our points of view, he apologized, and we turned the page. Doesn't mean it can't happen again, though.

The situation with the Post's Larry Brooks goes deeper. The veteran writer and columnist and the coach didn't just meet last week, of course, and it's increasingly clear that there's tension.

The question Brooks posed was legit and asked politely. At least two us were going to ask about the response to the Carcillo-Gaborik fight (and did minutes later), Brooks just asked first.

But the response was over-the-top, especially in a group setting. It was uncomfortable and totally unnecessary.""

Now Gross on Torts making things personal:

""Obviously, the other topic out there in cyberworld, and no doubt shown on MSG or now on YouTube since it occurred during Tortorella’s post-game presser, was his go-round with the Post’s Larry Brooks.

Here’s the bottom line on that, whatever problems the two have, they should not be aired in public like that. And Brooks did nothing in that sequence to instigate. He asked a proper question, in fact both he and I started to ask the same question at the same time and he got his out while I stopped halfway through just so the question could get asked. Which was, should somebody have stepped in while Gaborik was being hit? In fact, Tortorella was asked that three times."

"But instead of saying no comment or I’m not answering that, Tortorella made it personal. That shouldn’t be the case regardless of what, in Tortorella’s mind, sparked that reaction.""

Both writers make good points and are correct when saying that Tortorella did not have to get into personal issues; a respectful decline would have been just fine. However, Larry Brooks is well aware of John Tortorella's approach and how he handles things. If Brooks is willing to write "Golden Gloves Redden," he better be prepared to be called out in public.

No, Tortorella should not have acted the way he did, but that is not going to change anytime soon. He will always take things personally and find them offensive, and moreover, he's willing to go at it face to face (although it should not have been on television).

So really, Tortorella and Brooks both made mistakes here, but both are stubborn and will likely never admit to them as long as they live. I do not expect this to be the end of the battle between the two, but you just hope it doesn't escalate into anything physical where people will end up losing jobs due to immaturity.

On that note, everyone needs to move on and focus on the next task at hand: the Montreal Canadiens.