Jesse Boulerice Fallout: Enough Is Enough

Vancouver is a city on the rise.

Hockey arenas are being built left and right, ski slopes are being renovated with the utmost care, and the locals are starting to feel a buzz they haven't known in quite some time.

Part of the reason is that the city is slated to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. But the Vancouver Canucks also factor prominently in the equation.

The Canucks boast some of the NHL's brightest young talents, including Ryan Kesler—a man that the Philadelphia Flyer organization had been courting last offseason. Eager to haunt the Flyers once again, you could bet Kesler was estatic to face off against Philadelphia.

Until, that is, he received a blindsided crosscheck to the face courtesy of Flyers forward Jesse Boulerice.

After tussling with Kesler throughout his shift, Boulerice let his emotions get the better of him.

One cheap shot later, Kesler was lying motionlessly on the ice, and the hockey world was in a state of shock.

The hit was reminiscent of the infamous blows levied by Todd Bertuzzi and Marty McSorley. These types of plays have no place in hockey.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was quick to act on the situation, handing Boulerice a record-tying 25 game suspension.

But that's not enough.

Given the severity of the hit, it seems to me that Bettman's verdict is too lenient. After all, the NHL has said it's trying to crack down on violent play.

Instead, the league looks to have missed the mark yet again.

If the NHL really cared about the safety of its players, the penalty would have been much harsher. The relatively light sentence sends the wrong message to NHL goons—and to aspiring  young hockey players across the globe.

By no means can assaults like Boulerice's be tolerated. A 50-60 game suspension would have made that point far more clearly.

If the NHL wants hockey to be taken seriously, it owes it to fans and players alike to rid the game of unnecessary violence.

And the process has to start in Bettman's office.

Perhaps now would be the time for Bettman to take a page out of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s book on disciplinary action.

Someone has to grab the bull by the horns here. I just wish Gary Bettman had the cojones to be the man.