Tag Archives: Dirty hits


 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Cowards at Play

Posted on by

I didn’t want to blog anymore about the continuing rampant violence in the NHL, especially with the King of Conflict of Interests Colin Campbell at the helm. It had become a pointless exercise. Any more broken record jabber by me about headshots and excessive violence would have been useful if I got paid to write for this site, but I don’t, so I stopped talking about it. I’ve written about it plenty in the past, and my stance is quite obvious for anyone who’s been reading this site.

But the NHL’s continued incompetence has forced my hand once again, and like hundreds of other hockey blogs, I feel the need to sound off on what has been going on in these NHL playoffs.

Last night, notorious madman Raffi Torres set his crosshairs on Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa’s head and sent him to the hospital. Thankfully Hossa has since been released from hospital, but again, the culture of hockey that needs to change is so resolutely set in stone that anybody with a chance to change it either doesn’t want it changed (because they’re afraid and/or cowardly), or is content to ride out their careers and leave this mess for the next generation to clean up. This is not to let the on-ice officials off the hook. The quality of officiating in hockey today is in such a sorry state of disrepair. As the top-shelf hockey league in the world, the NHL needs to be embarrassed about the depths of stink that the referees have sunk to. Barely a night goes by without hearing a hockey fan somewhere groan when they learn which officials will be working their team’s game. Blaming the refs, a loser’s lament, has become an inescapable part of game analysis.

Throughout history (both real and fictional), there have been countless entities charged with protecting an institution. The NHL itself, the General Managers, the Board of Governors and the NHLPA all form an ecosystem that sets the direction for the sport and is responsible for ensuring the game’s growth and protecting its integrity. Over the last 20 years, hockey has grown in leaps and bounds, but I’m not so sure we can say the same about the integrity of the game. Perhaps in the NHL’s opinion, the ends justify the means. Integrity takes a back seat to profits, so it appears. Last year in the wake of the Chara/Pacioretty incident, Brian Burke waxed poetic about not wanting to change the “fabric of the game” with outright bans on headshots. Right. So instead, we’ll compromise the fabric of the game in other ways, most notably watching players leaving on stretchers for hits that should not be happening in the first place. It’s simply inexplicable that lewd gestures, and critical opinions are more offensive in the eyes of the league than is a shot that sidelines marketable star players for months on end.

When the execrable Colin Campbell was replaced by Brendan Shanahan, hockey fans rejoiced, or at worst were cautiously optimistic. Shanahan got off to a strong start as the czar of discipline, but it seems that before long, he received complaints from the powers that be, and his desire to mete out proper justice was once again, as it was with Campbell, thrown in to a state of confusion, disarray, and arbitrary justice. What was a 3 game ban for one player was a flaccid $2,500 fine for another. The famous two-tier system of different rules for stars vs grunts has once again come home to roost. Between Shea Weber turnbuckling Henrik Zetterberg’s head against the glass and James Neal’s Seal Team 6 mission to kill, a total of a 1 game ban and $2,500 in fines were dished out. Yet Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw gets 3 games for clipping a goaltender that was in the “hitting zone”. Arbitrary indeed! Everybody understands that a lot is at stake, especially in the playoffs. But if teams are free to eliminate the other team’s stars, then it won’t be long before we go from the bloodsport of today, to mutually assured destruction. (For the “I didn’t know the Titanic was real / Who is Paul McCartney” crowd, please click here to learn about Mutually Assured Destruction before continuing.)

There’s an old guard in hockey that passes the torch down from one generation to the next. The old guard exists at the league’s head office, within each team, within the NHLPA, and within the media. Those with access to a microphone seem to get off on telling fans who are fed up with the escalating violence to either go watch another sport, or to “man up”, because hockey has always been this way and should always be this way. What garbage. What an utterly myopic, dogmatic black and white view. Yes, hockey is a tough sport and nobody ever wants that aspect of the sport to change, but I didn’t know that headshots and tough, hard-hitting hockey go hand-in-hand. I didn’t know that clean play, and hard-nosed hockey were mutually exclusive. I guess I haven’t yet devoted enough time to the history of the game, or spend enough time watching hockey to know the difference.

The problem is that the dinosaurs are too thick-skulled to comprehend what people are saying. If you’re going to take a stand against reckless hits to the head, then be consistent with punishment, otherwise there’s no point in any of it. This old guard, usually a loud, boisterous, and opinionated group quickly reverts to chiding (usually of the emasculation type) whenever the topic of violence in hockey comes up. These people likely have shrines to their Rock Em, Sock Em collection, complete with VHS player that demonstrates just how out of touch and stubborn they are. They also like to tell us that “if we’ve never played the game at that level, we can’t have a real opinion”. That’s the last resort of somebody who lacks the intelligence to participate in a civilized discussion. What they’re in efffect telling us is that only current or former NHL players are allowed to opine on the sport, and that their word is gospel. If you ever find yourself in the presence of one of these people as they tell you how bad a particular movie is, kindly remind him that they’ve never held a job in film production, and they should therefore shut their pieholes.

This is about nothing but fear and cowardice on the part of the NHL, and of the vanguards of “old-time hockey”.

  • Fear of seeing hockey evolve to the point where they don’t recognize it without the sheer brutality and over-the-top violence.
  • Fear of becoming irrelevant and out of touch.
  • Cowardice in that the powers that be circle their wagons and deflect all responsibility so that the status quo can resume.
  • Cowardice to take the heat from the dinosaurs once real, meaningful change is enacted.

The NHL shuffles deck chairs and continues to play the shell game in terms of player safety. They like to keep us in a state of flux, somewhere between angry, confused and sedated. They fast track new rules to deter head shots and are all too eager to show the world what a progressive group they are when that happens. They drop moderately heavy hammers on bottom-feeding players in an attempt to persuade us that they are serious about player safety. Nonsense! We are back to square one. Back to that prickly limbo where everyone is left guessing as to what will happen next. The only guarantee is that the next devastating head shot is only hours away.

Surprisingly, the way to fix this is not all that hard. For the most part, hockey’s rules make sense. Referees are armed with the authority to curb much of happens on the ice, from elbows to the head, to savage hits from behind, to unsportsmanlike conduct, to post-whistle nonsense. For some reason – whether through legitimate confusion, incompetence or marching orders – referees are not calling games properly. Raffi Torres will be suspended for his filthy hit, yet he was not penalized on the play. If the officials can get their act together (and that’s a big, perhaps impossible “if”) and if the powers that be can let Shanahan do his job without meddling in his process, then perhaps some level of consistency can be attained.

But things have spiralled so far out of control already, with the old guard watching as it happens. Through their indecision and ineptness, they’ve encouraged it to happen. Case in point is the rampant retribution for clean hits that has become recently engrained in the game. Clean hits were never punishable to the extent that they are today, and this is in large part because officials refuse to crack down and enforce rules. The old guard, now more than ever seems content with cashing fat paychecks until retirement, leaving the next generation of NHL leaders to do what this current old guard is too scared and cowardly to do.

Violence & Headshot Blog Compilation

Posted on by

There’s been an unprecedented amount of chatter, much of it of the loud, profane and passionate variety surrounding the Chara/Pacioretty incident.

While the hit was a shock to everyone, it’s important to use this incident as a spearhead for league-wide change, and not just an opportunity for Habs fans to get “justice for their guy”. While some justice would have been nice (considering Campbell’s quote after suspending Ovechkin last season), that no supplemental discipline was given to Chara may be a blessing in disguise. If he had received a game or three, there would still be a large amount of fans dissatisfied with the decision. Upon serving the meagre suspension, the refrain would have reverted to “he served his suspension, move along”.

Instead, the league has flung the door wide open to criticism on their insane views of what is tolerated as “part of the game” and what isn’t.

I’ve been very, very vocal about the whole situation on twitter, and it’s led to many “accusations” that I’m only this upset because it’s happened to a Canadiens player. While my anger is certainly intensified this time around (and to be fair, a broken neck and severe concussion is as horrific an injury as we’ve seen in the NHL since the Bertuzzi/Moore incident of several years ago. Marc Savard’s accumulated head traumas are certainly the most profound for any player since Moore) there’s no doubt that I’ve made my stance and opinion on the state of the NHL very clear. I may not have listed every incident, but you’ll get the point.

Below is a compilation of blog posts that I’ve written over the past couple years that prove (I hope) just how disgusted I am with the league and their ineptitude to properly deal with headshots.

I’m not sure how I’d qualify it, but the oldest blog entry on this list most closely mirrors the way I feel today about Pacioretty. This tells me that despite the introduction of rule 48 to NHL play, that the sport of hockey is still nowhere near getting to the root of this frightening problem.

As Canadiens fans prepare to protest at the Bell Center prior to the game on March 15th, I can only speak for myself when I say that I hope the focus of  the protest centers around the fact that the NHL now expects their players to take far too many risks and that they need to get serious about suspensions and safety. Hockey has always been a fast, dangerous sport. The lack of respect among players, and the flaccid, impotent rules (as well as the disciplinary office) only make it a more hazardous environment.

Look What You’ve Done, Gary

Posted on by

If you follow the pulse of NHL chatter on Twitter, you “learn” a lot of “things” about the wonderful Commissioner of the NHL. For example, did you know:

  • That Gary Bettman hates Canada with the burning rage of the dual Tatooine suns?
  • That Gary Bettman is pulling strings – as I type this – to ensure that the Penguins, Capitals, Coyotes, and Red Wings, are all going to win the Cup this year?
  • That Gary Bettman has Sidney Crosby pyjamas, a Sidney Crosby poster above his bed, and a picture of Sidney Crosby in a heart-shaped locket around his neck?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, and as much of a lie telling doofus as Gary Bettman is, clearly much of the hate is off-the-wall. He’s brought it on himself, but sometimes we get a little ahead of ourselves.

But the League’s top executive, and his team of cronies (hi, Colin! hi, Bill!) has really done it this time. For years fans have been waiting for the NHL to do something about the growing number of head shots and concussions, to little or no avail. Many assumed that if Sidney Crosby were to ever go down with a head injury, the league’s head office inhabitants would turn themselves inside-out in order to implement some sort of rule to curb headshots. They can’t lose the poster-child, can they? Surely the NHL’s offices would collapse like Barad-Dur if the Golden Boy were to miss extended action, right?

YouTube Preview Image

Lo, and behold that time is upon us.

As you know by now, Sidney Crosby was clobbered by David Steckel and Victor Hedman in consecutive games shortly after the calendar rolled over to 2011, and has yet to return to action. In fact, he has yet to resume light exercise. Whispers are now gaining steam, leading Globe and Mail columnist (and my favorite sports journalist / sports writer) Stephen Brunt to reveal on the Team 990′s airwaves that he has heard that Crosby may not be back at all this year.

Perfect. The NHL’s best player, the face of the league and the spearhead of many marketing efforts *may* miss the playoffs (and scuttle Bettman’s chances to further line the rafters at the Pens’ shiny new arena with Cup banners). Oops!

I’m not saying that any kind of legislation or rule would have protected the league’s top player, who was in the midst of one of the best seasons we’ve seen in a while, from injury. What I am saying is that now the discussion has just became a lot more complicated for Gary and his band of merry incompetents. Complicated, not because the solutions are difficult to pin down and implement (they are complex) but because he’s brought a mess to his doorstep that was entirely avoidable by merely taking their collective heads out of the sand. It’s better to do something than to do nothing. The blindside hit rule (rule 48) is a nice start, but it’s only that – a start. That the refs still can’t consistently enforce that rule points to the fact that the league really isn’t all that focused on making things better. The way the NHL has approached this issue, they’ve made it sound like curbing head shots is akin to achieving time travel. Maybe Emmett “Doc” Brown is available for consultation? My money is on the NHL cleverly ambushing him on October 21, 2015, since they’ll know exactly where he will be.

For argument’s sake, if they decide to crack down and institute real measures (rules, consequences, assessments, treatments) to get rid of head shots and lessen the severity of concussions, people that despise Crosby and Bettman (there are plenty in both camps) will say it was only done to protect the “Chosen One”. Bruins fans in particular may bristle at this after one of their stars, Marc Savard was decimated by Matt Cooke. If the boneheads continue to drag their heels (as well as their knuckles), they’ll be accused of not caring about the stars, the fans, the product, or the game. His continued reluctance to apply common sense in the face of a terrible rash of recent head injuries has now landed him squarely between a rock and a hard place. Maybe Gary can have a sit-down with a really brave guy who knows a thing or two about just that.

If I were Bettman, I’d rather suffer the consequences of being labeled as the former instead of the latter. He’s gone way beyond the point of getting credit for being “proactive” on the issue.

Your move, Gary.

Campbell Gets Another Chance

Posted on by

When it rains, it pours.

NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell has been handed another opportunity. Will he use this opportunity to further embarrass himself and the league, or will he stick to his new found standard of consistency?

Alexander Ovechkin, a reckless runaway train on NHL ice surfaces, and now hopefully labeled as repeat offender was at it again today vs the Blackhawks. In case you have not seen it, here’s the hit:

YouTube Preview Image

If that isn’t a suspendable hit given the climate in the NHL today, then I don’t know what is. Except for the fact that Ovechkin is the league’s biggest star. Or in the top 2. Take your pick, it doesn’t really matter.

Last week Canadiens motor mouth Maxim Lapierre was suspended for four games for a nasty, boneheaded hit from behind on Sharks forward Scott Nichol. To refresh your memory, here is the video on that hit:

YouTube Preview Image

On the surface they may look slightly different, but in the end, they are both in fact the same thing. Both were from behind, and both shoved defenseless opponents headlong in to the boards at high speed. Lapierre was suspended four games for his hit, and deservedly so. While he is a mouthy player who refuses to back up his words by dropping his gloves, he had not yet been suspended by the NHL. Contrast this with Ovechkin who has been suspended once already this year (no doubt begrudgingly), and has many questionable hits on his resume, including others from behind, and knee-on-knee. It’s clear that while some would dismiss the wreckage in Ovechkin’s wake as a byproduct of his aggressive, reckless abandon style of play, there’s no doubt that the focus should be on reckless.

So again the ball is in Campbell’s court. In just about everyone’s eyes, he dropped the ball by not suspending Penguins forward Matt Cooke under the “intent to injure” leeway that he has. He cited consistency as his reason for his inaction. To him it was more important to remain consistently wrong, because he did not suspend Flyers forward Mike Richards early in the season. If being consistent is his new mantra, then we should look forward to seeing a suspension of at least four games, should we not?

I am not going to hold my breath, because Campbell has given hockey fans no reason to have faith in him, but with the entire hockey world watching for dirty hits and Campbell’s reactions, he can’t afford to drop the ball again. But haven’t we heard this before?

Also embarassing was NBC’s reaction to the hit. While Ray Ferraro nearly had a stroke decrying Lapierre’s hit, barely anything at all was said of Ovechkin’s dirty hit. Pierre McGuire was notably silent on the issue, and when was the last time that happened? I’m not a conspiracy theory guy, but it’s not hard to imagine that they were being told to not get too critical of the game’s main attraction.

What’s your opinion on this latest questionable hit from Ovechkin? Will his status as a star save him again, or will the league do the right thing for once?

NHL General Managers Finally Act on Headshots. Sort Of.

Posted on by

I suppose we should be glad that the NHL’s General Managers meeting in Florida has finally produced some concrete action against headshots. It seems not a week goes by where somebody in the world of hockey gets their head smashed by an opponent’s shoulder or elbow, or is shoved head-first in to the boards at high speed. These types of hits are tough to watch, and they often have devastating effects. Some of the after effects of these hits are still unknown to doctors, which, to me makes them even more dangerous.

Frankly, I’m appalled that the NHL took this long to investigate the matter. For years the old guard stood there and claimed that by wiping out headshots, you would be taking the physicality out of hockey. I know I’m not alone in finding that statement to be absurd. Since when does ensuring the safety of player mean that you are promoting the “pansification” of hockey, as Mike Milbury puts it?

How utterly embarassing were things within the NHL before today?

On the way to work yesterday, I read a story by Jeff Z. Klein and Stu Hackel regarding Matt Cooke’s hit on Bruins center Marc Savard, and it had a couple of quotes that worry me greatly.

“the question really is, when a shoulder makes contact with the head, is that going to be termed illegal – because right now, it’s legal” – Colin Campbell

In reference to blatant head shots, like the Ted Green/Wayne Maki incident of 1969 and Dave Brown’s cross-check to the head of Tomas Sandstrom in 1987 Campbell has this to say:

“We don’t have these things anymore….we’re talking about cross-checks to the head, sucker punches to the head.”

Campbell claims that league crack downs have eliminated this sort of thing.

So what is the problem with these quotes exactly?

On the first, it sounds like he has no intention of punishing a hit that is currently deemed as legal. I guess he really can’t and shouldn’t try to invent punishments at random. But is there not a penalty for intent to injure? Cooke is a repeat offender, after all. You can make the strong case that he did precisely what he intended to do. At best, Campbell may give another slap on the wrist for hitting an opponent while defenseless. In the end, although Cooke is a repeat offender, he probably won’t be penalized very harshly, if at all. That’s pathetic, because there is no justification for letting those sorts of hits go unpunished.

On the second quote, it appears as though Campbell’s memory is fading. He says that we no longer see cross checks to the head, or sucker punches. But wait a minute…didn’t he suspend Daniel Briere for cross checking Scott Hannan in the head in November 2009? Yes he did. He also suspended Danny Carcillo for sucker punching Matt Bradley in December of 2009. Yes Colin, indeed we don’t see those things anymore.

Did we not just witness an Olympic tournament that displayed the best of what hockey has to offer? And we saw it without headshots, without fighting and without making hockey and less tough than we all like seeing it. So what is so difficult about instituting a ban on head shots? If the best players in the world can avoid knocking each other’s heads off, why can’t other players follow suit?

It is utterly shocking to me that the General Managers, and the player’s union did not take this more seriously before now. The players are what sell the game, and they’ve been dropping like flies in recent years. Colin Campbell, for his part, has not helped matters at all. His wildly inconsistent disciplining has only served to exacerbate the problem, and frustrate fans who have come to label his process of determining appropriate punishment as “the Wheel of Justice”. Want an example of what I mean by wildly inconsistent? In November 2009, former Canadiens forward Georges Laraque was suspended for 5 games for his knee-on-knee hit with Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. Then, just a few days ago, Campbell saw it fit to give Minnesota Wild goon Derek Boogaard just 2 games for a similar knee-on-knee hit. You’d expect this sort of discrepancy if Boogaard was a star in the league, but he’s far from it. He’s the type of player that Commissioner Gary Bettman has been trying to squeeze out of the league with instigator penalties and rule changes that focus on speed and skill. It’s that sort of inconsistency and randomness that has dogged Campbell for years now.

Today the league has finally put something in writing with regards to blindside hits to the head. A panel of General Managers came up with the following language to define the new rule against headshots:

“A lateral, back pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and or the principal point of contact is not permitted.

A violation of the above will result in a minor or major penalty and shall be reviewed for possible supplemental discipline.”

Is it just me, or is that not nearly enough? Like I mentioned, I suppose I should be happy that something has been done, but what is with these half measures? Like Major League Baseball when it first instituted anti-performance enhancing drug rules, this penalty is obviously nothing but lip service. It feels like this rule was put in place just to quiet people down. Does it make sense that a marginal hooking call, or an accidental delay of game call is given the same penalty as a headshot that could sideline a guy for months, as it did with David Booth? Why could they not have taken a serious stand? In my view, a more appropriate penalty – one that shows that the GMs care and are serious – would be a 5 minute major, a game misconduct, and an automatic review with the Wheel of Justice, who would presumably have less reason to be so random.

What I don’t think will work is lifting the instigator rule. While I don’t like the rule at all, I don’t think it changes anything. Instead of guys having their heads scrambled by an elbow, or shoulder, they would instead get it scrambled by fists, as fighting would likely increase with the fear of being penalized and tossed from the game for instigating removed.

Personally, I don’t think today’s implementation will change anything. The NHL does not seem to have taken any steps to educate the players about respect, and it does not seem to want to look at the issue of body armor as weapons. These are 2 more items that the league and player’s union should look at. The Rock ‘em Sock ‘em culture still exists, and guys are not only looking to separate the man from the puck, they are looking to intimidate and take opponents out. The idea of “sending a message” continues to escalate itself, and until the players learn that their speed, and power has exceeded the skull’s ability to protect the brain, I don’t see much changing. I still think someone will be crippled or killed before the NHL gets serious.

Because the nature of concussions and brain trauma is not yet fully understood, I think the league needs to swallow its pride and be safe rather than sorry. It won’t ruin or change the game. Perhaps I’m a softy, but 30 years from now, I want to be able to see and hear today’s players take part in ceremonies and interviews, without the need of using a walker, and with their full, vibrant memories intact.

How do you feel about the league’s first step to stem the tide of headshots? Are you satisfied that the league has finally done something, or is this just nothing more than public relations?


 Powered by Max Banner Ads