Old Time Hockey or Excessive Brutality?

Wow… when is the last time we’ve seen this kind of physical intensity in the playoffs? Detroit vs. Colorado in the late 90’s? The Broad Street Bullies in the late 70’s? Maybe, but maybe not even, this years madness has been league wide!

A lot of people hate fighting in hockey, and say it has no place in the game. They also say that when the game is on the line like in the playoffs, you rarely see a fight. Well so much for that! And I wonder what they are saying now! I for one love it, and can’t remember being this hooked to every series, and this excited for every game, since the last time the Leafs were in it. And other than tight games, with lots of OT magic, I can’t think of a better way to further intensify a rivalry.

The other great thing about it is that the guys that are fighting, throwing those big hits, and doing whatever it takes to win, are the superstars on each team. Captains leading their teams into battle… can you think of anything better?

The bad thing is, this has also been the dirtiest playoffs in recollection. Because, despite all of the great bouts, and the insane level of intensity, players are getting hurt. I’m sure you are thinking that it goes hand in hand, the fighting and the dirty plays. For example, a player takes a cheap shot, and that brings on the violence. Well, in that you’re not entirely wrong, that is what happens. Players will always come to the aid of a fallen teammate, but believe it or not it is much deeper than that.

This years playoffs have more rivalry matchups than in recent history, and they have intensified throughout the regular season. The intensity level is raised by the skilled players. They are the ones getting all of the ice time at the beginning of the games. They are the ones crashing the net, playing hard in the corners, and getting their teams fired up. And by this point you would have seen a few scrums, and maybe even a fight. And if the game continued like that it would have been intense, physical, and highly skilled. But that’s not what happens.

This is the point in the game where the fourth lines come on. These guys are already hyped up to do their job, which is to frustrate the other teams stars, kill time while their stars are resting, and throw big hits. But now with the raised intensity, these guys end up being reckless. They think they are helping their teams by sacrificing themselves to take out a skilled player on the other team, but what they are really doing is ruining the game of hockey.

Goons don’t belong in hockey. Period. They drop the skill level of the league considerably. They have no integrity or respect for other players. And they get paid to hurt people, and take skilled players out of the game. And that is what is happening in these playoffs. Guys like, Asham, Rinaldo, and Carkner to name a few, are getting sent out to settle scores, or run players. These guys have no place in hockey.

So what is the answer to players getting injured? How do you stop these things from happening? Well, there are two ways a player has to answer for his actions. One is with the league; the other is on the ice. On the ice, typically a fight is coming. For the average player, who doesn’t fight a lot, this is a pretty good deterrent. Usually the player knows it’s coming, and it’s usually from the player he hit or a bigger teammate and he has to stand up and takes his licks like a man. The good thing is that usually ends up being the end of it. But with a goon, they’re looking for a fight. So there’s no real “on ice” punishment. And if you banned fighting completely, than you would end up seeing an eye for an eye type of stuff, and in that scenario everyone loses. So with those types of players you really have to look to the league to make things right. The league, or Brendan Shanahan who is in charge of player safety, is the one responsible for handing out suspensions and fines to the players, and in this he must be vigilant. He has to set a precedent that says, “This sort of nonsense will not be tolerated!” And I strongly think that repeat offenders should be out indefinitely. Lets keep are stars on the ice, and out of the press box.

5 Comments

1. 

   B.Kerr

   April 16, 2012 at 7:49 am

   The problem I have is that Shanahan is becoming as much of a joke as Colin Campbell was.

   3 games for Hagelin, 2 games for Bitz, 1 game for Carkner, a $2500 fine for Shea Weber, nothing at all for Brent Burns.

   Its such crap. If you are a star like Weber and Burns are, then you don’t get suspended but if you are a third or fourth line player you do. This isn’t the way to handle discipline.

   Weber’s play was brutal… just grabbing a guy’s head and smashing it into the glass. And Burns hit was just as bad as Hagelin.

   The NHL Board of governors has neutered Shanahan and he can’t do the job he needs to. Until then we are gonna keep getting this crap.

   Reply
2. 

   T

   April 16, 2012 at 12:12 pm

   How can you post this post about Shanahan taking responsibility and doling out punishment when just a few days ago, in a post about Shea Weber’s brutal turnbuckle style abuse of Zetterberg, you wrote the comment below? You’re showing your team biases here, Grant. Here’s your comment regarding the Zetterberg where you all but say he deserved it and above you’re saying Shanahand should take stronger action in the Pens v Flyers series:

   I’m going to disagree. First, I don’t know how “legal” the hit on Weber was. There was less than 2 seconds on the clock, so the hit was borderline unnecessary to begin with. Next, the hit was clearly from behind, it was shoulder on back. If that was Ryan Ellis instead of hulking Shea Weber he would have been on the ice. Finally, yes Shea’s actions were illegal (just like every other shot to the face, slash, face wash etc. that you see after the whistle, or in the playoffs), I don’t think they were unwarranted. If you run a guy from behind, into the corner, at the end of a game, you have to expect a retaliation. If it were Bertuzzi we wouldn’t even be talking about it. But it wasn’t, it was Henrik Zetterberg, who didn’t want to be responsible for his actions so he turtled into the boards, and Weber ended up punching him in the back of the head. You have to be responsible for your actions, and “face it like a man”, just like Shea did in game two. When players don’t, thats when we get situations like Steve Moore. Funny how that came full circle.

   Reply
3. 

   Grant

   April 17, 2012 at 12:24 pm

   Team bias? Lol does anyone really like the Nashville Predators? Player bias, 100% though. Shea Weber is one of the best defenseman in the league. He’s a good old Canadian boy, plays a tough physical game, logs a ton of minutes, puts up top 10 numbers, is a perennial All-Star, rarely fights, and doesn’t (or rarely) take cheap shots. I can’t think of a player I’d rather defend. And quite frankly I’m upset that you have even mentioned him in the same context as players like, Asham, Rinaldo, and Carkner. Who are all repeat offenders, with little to no skill. Also, unlike these players, and most of the other players receiving suspensions, Weber didn’t initiate contact.

   Reply
4. 

   T

   April 23, 2012 at 10:24 am

   So if you are Canadian and have some skill, you’re allowed to take a guys head and smash it into the boards? I fail to see the connection between skill and license to bash. If you really want to shut down the egregious violence, the way to do it is to take a lead player, top performer like Weber, when he does it and give HIM a 25 game suspension instead of just giving those suspensions to low performing goons. Then people will know you’re serious because you’re putting a franchise’s play-off hopes for success in jeopardy. The team owners and the crowds will shout that very fact to the roof asking why you’d jeopardize a play-off run for one bad hit. The right response from Shanahan would be, “Yes. Yes, we are. Anybody, else want to try a turnbuckle-style smash into the boards? Because if you do, you’re next.” The reality is the conflict of interest comes from the fact that Shanahan is paid by the league. If you want to solve the problem – hire an independent body that is paid at arm’s length to be objective. An organization that is professionally trained at being an ombudsman or arbitrator. In either case, your posts give an air of objectivity, but it belies your biases (player or team driven). If you’re going to take an unapologetic, Don Cherry-style, just come out with it. Don’t say “Goons don’t belong in hockey.” as you do above because in reality, what you really believe is “Well-scoring Canadian Goons,like Shea Weber belong in hockey, but all of the other Goons don’t.”

   Reply
   • 

     Mike

     April 23, 2012 at 10:43 am

     T… care to write a rebuttal? I will post as an official reply? Email me if interested. LastWordArmy@gmail.com

     Reply