Earlier this year I wrote about fighting in hockey.
This past weekend the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins met up in what became a fairly rough match up.
It started with James Neal kneeing Brad Marchant in the head (Marchant was laying on the ice) in what was, in my opinion, clearly an intentional motion.
After that, we saw the Bruins' Shawn Thornton punch Brooks Orpik and continue to punch him as he lay on the ice. Apparently Orpik was knocked out, though that seems to be something that is still in question as he was able to travel with the team and was conscious when he arrived at the hospital. Regardless of how bad the injury was, that is not the point. Thank goodness he is ok.
To add to that Loui Eriksson suffered a concussion from a hit that Brooks Orpik laid on him and Chris Kelly suffered a broken ankle at the hands of Pascal Dupuis.
Clearly this game was a mess.
I won't go on my rant about getting rid of fighting in hockey. I did that in my previous post. What I want to point out is the lack of consequences.
If you look at the box score for that game 12 penalties were given out. So that says to me that the referees were trying to get control and couldn't. I can't really blame the refs in this situation. All they could do is start calling every little thing and that would not help matters. So where does that leave it? Brennan Shannahan and the NHL department for Player Safety.
James Neal was given a 5 game suspension. Apparently that is the maximum a player can receive for an over-the-phone hearing. In my opinion, that's bullshit. His intent, which normally is next to impossible to determine, was quite clear. He wanted to hit Marchant, I doubt anyone can dispute that.
So that raises the next question: why was this only an over-the-phone hearing? I don't know what the factor is that changes a phone hearing to a hearing in person. I'm not sure that the NHL does either, as I can not find a clear definition. I do see a simple solution though: If the phone is the main issue preventing this from having a longer suspension all you need to do is call the player and say "this is going to require a face to face meeting". Problem solved. This isn't James Neal's first suspension. This was clearly intentional. He should get at least 25 games in my mind. If it was me, I'd tell him to take the rest of the season off.
Shawn Thornton is scheduled to meet with the NHL on Friday (December 13) and he will have his suspension decided at that time. I will say this to Shawn's credit he really seemed sincerely apologetic in the post game interviews. It was refreshing versus the usual typical response that is vague and tries to chalk it up to being "part of the game" or "the heat of the moment".
That being said, Shawn must accept that what he did was wrong. Not only a violation of the rules within the sport but also wrong in the context of society as a whole. If I went out and punched out somebody like that in the street then I would be in jail. This happened during a hockey game so he won't be in jail (which is a whole other topic for another day) but the suspension should be heavy. If I were a betting man I'd guess the NHL will give him between 5 and 10 games. If it were me, much like with James Neal, I'd say take a year off. Come back next season.
Some may say that's harsh. I say this: If you don't start making it clear that you want this crap out of the game then this crap will stay in the game. Sending a strong message out to the entire league by sending these players home for the year would do exactly that.
To boot, the salaries that these players loose should be donated to a foundation that does research pertaining to concussions and their effects on the brain. Make the money help counter the damage the player is contributing to.
That's my 2 cents.
