The NHL's Latest Sucker Punch
Published March 13, 2004
In the 60s and 70s, I lived and died by the Montreal Canadiens. The past 25 years has seen a waning in my interest in hockey, with baseball overtaking it for a number of reasons. Last week, Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks assaulted Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche, in a Canucks/Avalanche game. He's been suspended, and the Vancouver police are investigating.
The fallout has been predictable and at times, pathetic. Proof that the players are out of touch with their own sport and behaviour comes from listening to Wayne Gretzky, Tie Domi, and others, who call the assault "unfortunate", and use the crutch of "emotions running high out there" as an excuse for what happened. Had Steve Moore been hit by a car, that would have been an unfortunate incident. What happened on the ice was disgusting, premeditated, unwarranted, stoooopid, and the lowest of the low.
An "unfortuate incident"? Oh, puh-LEASE.
Cast no aspersions on Bertuzzi's character. My guess is, he feels like garbage for what he did, which, in addition to nearly ending Moore's hockey career, his ability to walk, or his life, also includes reducing his team's chances of winning the Stanley Cup. His public apology, while heartfelt in my opinion, still lacked a direct apology for what happened. Like others before him in this situation, he refused to say "I'm sorry for what I did to you," but rather, "I am sorry for what happened." No one associated with the Vancouver Canucks has apologized to Moore or his family. Bertuzzi, now the fodder of political cartoons, now wants to meet Moore and apologize personally.
Hockey is courting disaster, as it seems to do with as much predictability as the tides. For years the players have had no respect for each other. I've been a lifelong Habs fan, and am pleased at their comeback this year. But overall, the NHL is a goon-based, skill-deficient collection of players, only of which a few stand out with their talent and class. Count Sakic, Yzerman, Koivu, Sundin, Naslund, Francis, and a few dozen others, and what you are left with are the Bertuzzis, Tuckers, Marchments - those who seem to relish in injuring others.
- The NHL's Latest Sucker Punch
- Published: March 13, 2004
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- Section: Sports
- Writer: Randy Reichardt
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The number of fights has radically decreased in recent years. So have the ratings.
Two men facing off and punching each other for a few seconds is far different from the sucker-punch and body-slam Todd Bertuzzi delivered. The reason this stuff is news is because it is so damn rare these days.
As for the presumption that the sport of ice hockey is filled with "goons" I must disagree. Most players are highly skilled skaters, passers, and shooters. Only a few are thugs. This is much different from a few decades ago, when the skilled players were in the minority.
And, people, we need to remember that incidents that transipre during a professional sporting event are exempt from normal criminal law. Football players commit "assault and battery" every single play. Basketball and hockey players also engage in the rough stuff. That's why we pay these people millions!
The Todd Bertuzzi hit should be enough to ban him from the league, but not send him to prison. And, we should all remember, this type of behavior is a relative rarity, not the norm.
With only six teams in the Canadian market, the US market is much more lucrative for the NHL. I still believe that fighting=higher revenues in the States. As for the rarity of the Bertuzzi incident, what's rare is the degree to which the assaulted player was injured, and how he was approached - from behind. That's it. Otherwise, variations of this kind of garbage - one player not respecting another, and attemping to injure, is happening a lot. Players are being hacked, concussed, and kneed into extended time away from the game because of injuries. For years, I have felt that the check delivered by extending a leg to hit another player's knee was the cheapest, lowest kind of "check"; players such as Cam Neely and others have had their careers come to a swift close, on such plays.
The league has many skilled players, yes, but until it bans fighting and reigns in the goons like Domi, Tucker, Oliwa, Shelley, etc., incidents like this will happen again and again and again and again.
Hockey is indeed being destroyed by the people who run it.
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"Americans want to see fighting in the game, and more viewers means more television and gate revenue, so the NHL will never move in this direction."
Um, I'm Canadian and while I don't watch too much hockey, Alot of my friends are obsessed by it. They all love hockey fights, and are enamored of old footage of good fights.
When Hockey Night in Canada or what have you has a showcase of the "Best fights in NHL history" they talk about it for days after. I don't know the specifics, but apparently new rules and such have lowered the ammounts of fights. My friends hate it, they consider fights to be a bonus in a hockey game. Admittedly the people I'm talking about are all around the age of 18. Maybe it's an age thing.
But I think we canadians like their violence as much as americans do.