Hypocrisy By The NHL And Media In Full Effect

My general feeling is that if someone pulls the same kind of hit the day aftyer he comes back from a long suspension, he’s flat out saying “I don’t give a shit about your rules. I’ll play how I want to, regardless of anyone’s safety.” A statement like that one needs to be dealt with harshly. Suspension for the season, or being tossed out of the league.

Look, regardless of consistency, as fans of the game, we have to keep trying to make our voices heard that something needs to be done. Yes, it has been a problem for a long time. And yes, it will still be a problem for a while to come, I’m sure. But we can’t just say “oh well, we tried.” We HAVE to continue to show our disapproval of hits like these. And the players need to, too.

I find a couple of things greatly disturbing about all of this:

1. That the Islanders are still sticking up for this man, instead of tossing him to the curb like the garbage he is. Sometimes teams need to do the right thing and suspend their own players. The Stars have done it before for a lot less than endangering someone’s life. It’s time that teams quit supporting their goons when they go too far.

2. That the NHL is seriously NOT stepping up their punishment for these incidences. I’ve said this before, but how can the NHL NOT act on these things, when it’s a concussion that has kept they’re only real MVP of the season out for months, and maybe though the playoffs, too?! Granted, I know that hit wasn’t dirty like this one, but if you ar stricter on regulations and punishments, players will be more careful to avoid those types of hits. It’s sad to me, because I know why they’re not doing anything about it. Publicity. They’re making headlines with this stuff. They have the attention of the national media. People are talking about them. And that’s all they freaking care about. They are the equivalent of Charlie Sheen. Mad ramblings that people pay attyention to, and Charlie loves it. If it’s ever going to stop, they’re going to have to make an example out of 2 or more people now. If they suspend someone for a whole season or more, everyone will think “Oh that’s just the NHL being inconsistent again.” They are going to have to grow some fucking balls and hand out harsh punishments to their players. It’s the only way to get it to stop.

But the sad thing is we know that’s not going to happen. They won’t start being consistent any time soon. And we all know what it’s going to take: Someone is going to die on the ice. Plain and simple. I really hope I’m wrong, but that really seems to be the only thing that ill make it stop.

/rant

did he really thing that he did nothing wrong there? I agree with your conclusion that the NHL doesn’t wanna punish better players, and it is seen with that weber hit.

is focus more on the play itself, and not necessarily on who did it. A head shot is a head shot, it doesn’t matter if it is a 4th line nobody or the star player on the team.

That probably starts with the guys in stripes on the ice. They need to do a better job of seeing them game though un-biased eyes. How many times do you see some poor rookie get nailed with a penalty that a 10 year vet does every single game yet never gets called for it.

As for the whole “accidentally” boarding/whatever call. (Like Weber on Vincour the other night) versus the intentional hit (GIllies) the league needs to do a better job of letting the players know that regardless of your status in the league you should all get the same punishment for that kind of play.

Was the Gillies hit worth 10 games? Absolutely. Should Weber at least gotten a game suspension, yes. A lot of people that have never played the game fail to realize just how dangerous the Weber type boarding play is. It personally happened to me, and I could not turn my head at all for about a week. To me, that’s is by far the scariest play in hockey. The league has started to focus so much on the direct hits to the head, that they are seemingly forgetting about the boarding type penalties that are just as dangerous.

I just had to post it in my Facebook, hope it’s fine.
I just have to see who says something first and who will read this first.
Very good article.

I wonder what Steve Moore would say, if he could choose how long Bertuzzi was out for. “As long as I am” would be what I choose.

Sorry, I am upset by some of the antics that are going on in the league now. I appreciate a hard game, I appreciate guys getting chippy with me, and I love getting chippy back. Two weeks ago a guy told me I was going to die…I told him better MEN than his fat ass had tried and I am still walking, he wasn’t going to be the one. The next shift I got elbowed in the mouth. I wear a shield not a cage. But, in 7 weeks I have buried one Marine, I have another Marine just arrive home from Afghanistan minus his legs and yesterday had a Marine shot in the head. (Amazingly, not a joke) he suffered no critical damage, The round entered behind his ear and lodged in his spine, but did not do any damage to the nerves. He is in Germany for surgery to see if they should remove the round or leave it, whichever does less damage. The fact is, my guys are doing a dangerous job and risk is a part of it, the people they are fighting is a real life or death situation, hockey players are modern day gladiators, entertaining the masses in a beautiful and violent game. They have to learn that they can hit each other, but there needs to be some level of respect for the safety of their opponents.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. If a noted goal scorer hit Clutterbuck the same way, the league would likely say the arm was simply a part of a follow-through motion. But that’s not to say I’m defending Gillies either.

What I want to know is why Mike Camilleri can take his stick in a preseason game and swing it at an Islander player’s face, and then hack his legs with another swipe, and get only one game. I’d like to know how Maxine Talbot delivered not one but two cheap shots in one game (one injuring Blake Comeau and the other a blind-side head shot delivered to John Tavares), and received no fine and no suspension. And yes, now that I’ve seen it, I want to know why Shea Webber is not sitting for as long as Gillies.

But since we won’t get that answer, I have another solution: Take away two active roster spots from each team and redistribute those lost jobs to two new teams. By redistributing, it wouldn’t really be “expansion” and yet teams would not be able to afford to keep players like Boogard, Cooke, and yes, Gillies around. There simply wouldn’t be a roster spot for them.

This will not stop a few of the better players from losing their minds from time to time. Rules still have to be in place to make sure they feel the sting of their actions, and the league can’t be afraid to to sit them down. But eliminating two fourth-line spots would go a long way towards ending the worst of the violence.

Good luck in the playoff hunt!

In a game between Dallas and Phoenix in April of 99, Hatcher crushed Jeremy Roenick. Cost him the final 2 games of the season and 5 playoff games. Roenick had sliced Modano in the face with his stick earlier in the year and Hatcher paid him back breaking Roenick’s jaw. I was happy to see Hatcher send the message, but I was not happy with the message. That suspension was very fair considering that missing those 5 games in the first round of the playoffs could have derailed Dallas’ eventual Cup winning run.

Except they don’t HAVE a standard. It’s all become a fine mess.

Just wanted to commend you for a well-argued piece about Trevor Gillies and the sliding scale suspension system in the NHL, not to mention the cacophony of idiocy that the hockey media has become (maybe it always has been?). I don’t expect anyone outside of Islander country to defend Gillies, but it is nice when other fans take notice of nonsense that is paraded around as cleaning up the game.

Good job showcasing the Shea Weber hit alongside the Gillies hit. The level of superstar, as well as the sweater the player wears, seems to be the biggest deciding factor in whether an offending player is judged based on outcome or “intent” or action itself.