The IceMan's Rant on Violence in Hockey

I've been sitting here thinking about what has happened to hockey with the violent tendencies and disrespect for fellow players. The Patrice Cormier incident was the most recent and as I watch the hit to the jaw of Mikael Tam and then the subsequent convulsions of Tam as he lay on the ice, I wonder where this is leading to?

If you people think that this type of incident is new in hockey then get a hold of some archived hockey film and see what took place in the past. There were sticks being broken over player’s heads before they wore helmets, guys skating the length of the ice to deliver blows, brawls on the ice, you name it.

You think the movie “Slap Shot” was fiction? It was closer to reality than you think.

I remember many decades ago that I attended, and witnessed firsthand, at a junior playoff game between the Niagara Falls Flyers and the Edmonton Oil Kings, a vicious brawl. Some of you may remember the name of one Derek Sanderson (who later played for the Boston Bruins).

I watched as he grabbed a piece of a broken hockey stick and started wailing away on an Edmonton Oiler, who was down and out on the ice.

This was a complete brawl and it got so bad that they had to bring the cops onto the ice to break it up because there were so many fights going on.

What has happened when there is complete disregard and disrespect for the fellow player? Sure hockey is a violent sport at times, as the game is played at lightning speed and collisions are bound to happen. But to blatantly take a run at a player and deliver a blow to the head, is like taking a baseball bat and walking up beside someone and whacking them like a piñata.

Obviously this problem stems with the NHL and it is filtering down through the hockey ranks from junior to the minor association league levels. How come the NHL and Colin Campbell do not put a stop to it? Is it going to take the loss of a life or paralysis of a body before they put a halt to this blood thirst?

You and I both know that if they wanted to ban this sort of head hunting they could do it in a “New York minute”. It’s as simple as drafting a rule, as they have done each year for example, with the obstruction rule, to eliminate it.

Campbell has the power now to hand out a lengthy suspension for this kind of head hunting, but what does he do? He hands out this consistently two maybe three game shuffle.

Case in point, New York Islander Andy Sutton’s hit on Pascal Dupuis the other night, as he drove him into the boards with a shot to the back, with Dupuis going head first into the boards. The penalty—a two game suspension.

How many times have we seen that this year, last year and previous years?

You know, one time a player is going to break his neck being slammed into the boards head first—it’s just a matter of time. So deal with it now Mr. Campbell, have some fortitude, lay the law down and send a message to the rest of the league's players. You play with complete disregard for a player, cross the line and deliver the blow, you sit out for “x” number of games.

Do I know how many games it should be? No, but it has to be more than two or three games. It also would depend on the circumstances because with the speed of the game, it’s becoming apparent that players are turning at the last moment and how can one stop once your motion is going forward?

Now if it is a deliberate shot, where the offending player could have stopped, then twenty games for a start would surely catch all the NHL players' attention, and if that didn’t deter them, then up the ante.  

The “greatest game” in sports, doesn’t need any more Patrice Cormier hits. Deal with it now!

The Cormier Hit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cQAiT35d9Y