Time to end hockey violence once and for all
Posted Dec 10, 2009 By Jeff Maguire
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Tweet ThisEMC Lifestyle - This is an issue which, as a sports fan, has troubled me for a long time. It's a situation which needs to be addressed and fixed once and for all.
I am talking about violence in hockey and particularly in professional leagues such as the National Hockey League (NHL), the so-called 'No. 1 hockey league in the world.'
The number of incidents related to fighting and other acts of violent conduct in the sport are repetitive and frankly, disgraceful. It is hard to take the sport seriously, especially when leagues such as the NHL do so little to police such pointless on-ice behaviour by their own athletes.
Like most Canadian kids I played the sport when I was younger and it is hard not to have a soft spot for our winter national sport. It's a great game. But it could be so much better if the powers-that-be, especially NHL management, would finally do the right thing and end fighting and other violent conduct in the game.
Hockey would be so much better if the skilled players were spotlighted and the Neanderthals forced out of the game. Why are there players in the NHL of today who rarely put their sticks on the ice and are there mainly to "protect" the star players on their particular team?
It's a mind-set actually, one that should have changed long ago in my opinion. Violence in hockey could be ended overnight if there was any will on the part of those who run the NHL and other leagues, who condone this kind of activity, to stamp it out.
At one time I too paid lip service to the oft-repeated excuse that "hockey is a contact sport and in contact sports tempers flare and fights happen."
I'm not sure if I ever really believed that? But I definitely don't believe it now! My mind was changed long ago.
Due to public pressure to clean up the sport, minor hockey and most junior hockey leagues - any worth their salt - long ago imposed penalties which make it so unattractive to fight or engage in violent behaviour that it is now largely a thing of the past.
Critics of hockey violence used to say, "If you want to see fighting, go to a wrestling match."
As we all know, even wrestling has now become professional theatre. The "violence" involved is strictly choreographed and no one actually gets hurt. It's strictly for show!
Even boxing, a truly violent "sport", has rules which govern the conduct of participants, although strict guidelines don't always save boxers from death or permanent brain damage.
Hockey is a team sport where the objective is to score goals and prevent the opposition from scoring. How fighting and temper tantrums remain an acceptable undertaking for players - especially certain players - is beyond me?
Last week in an NHL game in Atlanta, Florida Panthers' defenceman Keith Ballard swung his stick wildly after his team gave up a first period goal in a game they ultimately lost 4-3.
Violent temper
True, it was just a temper tantrum - an accident really. But when Ballard swung his stick in frustration and anger, he struck the head of his own teammate, goalie Tomas Vokoun. The net minder was carried from the ice on a stretcher. Fortunately his injury was limited to a lacerated ear which only kept him out of the line-up for a couple of games.
The league disciplinary people looked at the incident and decided it didn't warrant a suspension. After all, it was an accident!
"It will be on every sports highlight show for the next week," said NHL official Colin Campbell, who is in charge of discipline. "If that's not enough of a punishment...."
Campbell evidently felt the "embarrassment" of having the clip watched over and over again on YouTube was enough punishment.
He also pointed to what he feels is the league's history of "dealing more severely with stick fouls than any other type of infraction."
Admittedly the incident I refer to is at the low end of the scale when it comes to violence meted out by hockey players, accidentally or otherwise.
But to me that is part of the problem. Seriously, what other pro sport would let an incident like that go unpunished? If anyone should be embarrassed it is the league as a whole for making excuses for such behaviour, accidental or otherwise.
This past season Detroit Tigers' relief pitcher Fernando Rodney, in a moment of frustration and anger, threw a baseball into the crowd during an American League game. Luckily the missile didn't hit anyone. The ball fell harmlessly, a souvenir for a fan.
Major League Baseball wasn't amused. They handed Rodney a three game suspension for that little gambit.
My point is that undisciplined acts of violence, including accidental ones, should not be tolerated in pro sports.
Young hockey players shouldn't be left to think that incidents such as that - an explosion of temper - are permissible. Anti-social behaviour is just that, even if it happens on the ice at a hockey rink. To me inaction by the league in such cases sends the completely wrong message!
But then what would you expect from a league which hands out five minute penalties to players who interrupt a game by dropping their sticks, gloves and helmets and going toe-to-toe in punch-ups which often leave one or both bloodied and, on occasion, badly injured?
The on-ice mayhem still prompts cheers for the combatants from fans who have come to expect this kind of nonsense. It's routine stuff in the NHL and other pro hockey leagues.
If the aforementioned stick swinging incident is a bad example for young hockey players (and I firmly believe it is) then what message do violent fights on the ice send? Some of these incidents would lead to criminal charges if they happened outside an NHL arena.
Tragic incident
Let's look at the infamous 2004 occurrence in which then Vancouver Canucks' forward Todd Bertuzzi was suspended indefinitely by the NHL for deliberately injuring Colorado Avalanche player Steve Moore. Bertuzzi's blindside punch left Moore with a broken neck.
The incident was seen as retaliation for a hit Moore had put on Canucks' star Markus Naslund which left him with a concussion and sidelined for three games.
Blindside hits, retaliation and concussion - broken neck! What are we talking about here? A bar room brawl?
No, this is the modern NHL.
Moore has never played another game of hockey and never will apparently. As far as I know the lawsuit for damages is ongoing?
In this one case the occurrence was so violent that Bertuzzi fell under the eye of the police. He was eventually charged with criminal assault and faced up to 18 months in prison. Instead he was handed a one-year probationary term and ordered to do 80 hours of community service work.
In terms of the NHL's "indefinite suspension" Bertuzzi was reinstated 17 months later, even though during his suspension the league player lockout took place during which no games were played. His ban was extended to Europe which meant he wasn't able to go over there as some of the locked out NHLers did.
Bertuzzi lost a lot of money of course but that is little consolation for Steve Moore who is out of the sport completely as a result of that inexcusable incident.
But then again it was excused wasn't it? Bertuzzi continues to play, for the Detroit Red Wings this season. He left Vancouver soon after reinstatement to the league and played for three other teams before ending up in the Motor City.
I can't help but wonder how many other pro sports leagues would re-admit a player following that kind of situation?
As for fighting I now laugh and shake my head when people say "it's part of hockey." It is only part of the game because there is no will to end it! If there was a way the NHL (or any other hockey league) could put a stop to the mayhem tomorrow, simply by instituting tougher rules, just as so many other pro sports leagues have already done.
There is no greater contact sport than North American style football. There is heavy hitting on every play and yes, fights do erupt on occasion. Very occasionally now! Because the National Football League in the U.S. and Canadian Football League have stringent rules in place, prohibiting fighting in their sports. Fight and you face immediate ejection, suspension and heavy fines. If the situation is serious enough, longer suspension or even banishment can occur. There are no exceptions made and therefore there are few, if any, fights. Players know better than to get involved in something that will result in suspension, not to mention a heavy hit in the pocketbook.
The same is true of the National Basketball Association and professional football (soccer) leagues in Europe. In England's pro soccer leagues, any kind of violent behaviour is immediately met with lengthy suspensions and heavy fines. As a result it is not a common occurrence!
If the NHL wants to be taken seriously in its bid to expand south of the border or elsewhere in the world it should end the savagery associated with on-ice fighting and mindless temper displays by some of its players. It is completely unnecessary!
Why not concentrate on showcasing the skilled players in hockey instead of no-talent individuals whose only role is to act as "enforcers" who "protect" a team's skilled athletes. It is ludicrous actually.
Who cares if Don Cherry likes tough guys? Fighting and other violent acts are a stain on pro hockey which could easily be washed away.
Yes, violent incidents will happen in sports. It's discouraging them that should be the objective. In my opinion until the NHL decides to properly police itself and clean up this kind of pointless activity it will always be viewed as a second-rate league, outside of Canada at least. For some odd reason many Canadians seem willing to accept this behaviour as part of our national game. It doesn't flatter us I have to say!
If you have any comments or questions for Jeff Maguire, he can be reached by e-mail at: jeffrey.maguire@rogers.com
