So it finally happened and now the example has been set once again in the NHL as Chris Simon has been suspended indefinitely after deciding to slash Ryan Hollweg in the face in a game between the Isles and Rangers last week. Simon who has a slight history of being an NHL bad boy awaits a meeting with Colin Campbell to decide the actual extent of the suspension.
But how does this league decide on how they draw the line in the sand when it comes to player conduct. You cannot deny that swinging the stick at a man's head needs to be addressed but what about an argumentative head shot that Simon took prior to losing control. We have talked about the all too familiar event of head shots on this site before, yet it takes a hit on Tomas Kaberle to bring up the first suspension in a while on the subject.
And while the league needs to keep a clean, fair game, I believe that this happens time and time again where the policing of the officials, rules and game itself is not done well. There is a rising trend of predator type hits that while I figured we would see them go away, continue to be a part of the game. And when a player is hammered with intent from an opponent, knocked silly, and no penalty is called, emotions run high. But the key here is that these penalties need to be called, and while I know it is at a referee's discretion, I would rather see an intent to hammer and kill a guy called over these awful hooking calls.
The role of officials in any sport is to keep control of the game, make the right calls so that bad things do not happen. Retribution occurs in the NHL only when the league does nothing at the point of any ugly incident. We saw it a few weeks ago in Buffalo and a few years back in Vancouver with the Bertuzzi/Moore incident. So if the NHL wants to avoid these types of events, smarten up and call penalties when they are justified.
So...PUCKOFF NHL...keep control of the game so nobody gets hurt, the game does not get tainted and the level of respect between players stays high!
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3 comments:
I think they might just be trying to set a precedence. Saying if you hit someone in the head we take it seriously!
On the otherhand i think they should look at the seriousness of the injury and take that into account when deciding the punishment! Sometimes they just get power hungry...or bored? Stirring the shit is what they do isn't it?
Your writting is almost as good as your talking Mikey! Keep it up!
Nice blog. I subscribed just today after reading this recent one. You have a nice knack for your commentary. A pleasure to listen to you rant!
Jim (Burnaby)
You should really think about doing a show. You're like a young Neil McRae, but more insightful
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