Welcome to the NHL!

11 thoughts on “Welcome to the NHL!”

1. I could not agree more. Though hits and fights are part of the game at some point it has gone too far. I don’t think the leagues will ever take these acts of violent crime seriously, however. Look at the Steve Moore/Todd Bertuzzi incident. So sad…

2. Good Morning from Omaha,

   I finally saw the hit that occurred during the fight that was supposed to be a hockey game. It would appear that the only thing that saved horton’s life was that he was wearing a helmet when his head hit the ice.

   This kind of hit, dirty as it may be, used to happen all the time in football, when the player being hit was not paying attention to what was going on around him. NO excuses, this should not have happened, but the rules, as they now stand, only allow so much in penalties. SOME hockey fans, crave this kind of junk.

   The officials are going to be on the look out for any kind of revenge hits against the guy who committed the crime on ice, if not in the following games of the series, next season.

   Hockey has always had bad guys, goons, and they need to change the rules or goons will continue to occupy the ice. My best wishes to Boston’s Horton, who I saw had movement in all of his extremities, for a quick recovery and a long career in hockey.

   Strive for excellence, nothing but your best.

   Gene

3. Dear Drew,

   I still haven’t seen the hit in question but with so many people saying how voilent it was the guy doing the hit should get 5……years in jail. His “penalty box” show have bars in front of it.

   I remember many years ago in the NBA (forgot the participants) when a player sucker punched another player in the face. The puncher was suspended for half a season. By comparision the cheap shot artist at minimum would deserve that going into next season. By comparison a 4 game suspension is a joke.

   This incident reminds me of a very haunting cartoon you did many years ago in the Rocky. It was a two panel cartoon. It was of the Jack Tatum hit on Darryl Stingly. You talked about the penalty Tatum got (I think you said 15 yards) while Stingly in a wheelchair got “life”. If you still have that cartoon it might be a good idea to post it. Just an idea.

   All the best

   Louis

4. I pulled my soapbox out about this situation on your last blog post – but it bears repeating. I couldn’t agree with you more, Drew. There is no place in the NHL, NFL, or any sport for the flagrant, intentional, violent hits such as the one Nathan Horton experienced the other evening. Same with the biting. The NHL’s league disciplinarian needs to be schooled on the definition of bad behavior, and should, in fact, be ousted from his job. Shame on him! Shame on the league!

   peg

5. Drew – the NHL did take it seriously and the player who committed the hit has been suspended for 4 games which takes him out of the remainder of the Stanley Cup series completely. This was a historical decision in the NHL post season. Great cartoon as always buddy!

6. It’s only a matter of time before we get “Rollerball.” I’m talking about the 1975 version with James Caan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073631/), not the remake.

   In that film, Jonathan E (Caan) is the greatest player in the game of Rollerball, a mixture of roller derby and hockey. The corporate masters want him to retire because he’s becoming more important than the game, which does not fit in with their ideas of what the game represents. Jonathan refuses to retire, so they keep changing the rules so that the game becomes more and more deadly, finally disposing of them altogether.

   There’s supposedly no place for this; unfortunately the nature of the games reward aggressive behavior. And when a human enters that beserker mode, fight or flight, it’s very hard to ramp it back down in the space of seconds.

   Horton may have been watching the puck too long; but Rome could have checked himself, as noted in this Sports Illustrated column. I think the punishment was correct, but will it ever be enough of a deterrent to stop the next one from happening? Or, as I fear will happen in this case, will it spur the desire for revenge in Horton’s teammates?

   You can talk about professionalism all you want, but if someone on the other team knocks one of your best players out in the middle of the Finals, effectively eliminating him from the rest of the series, you would want a measure of revenge, yes? The ideal channel is to win the game and the championship. But who is to say that the baser human instincts won’t take over, even a little bit?

7. We discovered hockey through watching the University of Denver play, then started watching the Colorado Avalanche. We quickly became disgusted, and gave up the sport altogether.

   By chance, I saw this hit live while eating in a restaurant. It reminded me of the attack on Rudy Tomjanovich. My personal belief is that athletes should not be exempt from criminal prosecution for egregious violence during games. Sadly, this attack falls just short of the line, so it will have to be dealt with at the NHL level. But, contrary to one of the comments above, I think a 4-game suspension is way too light, even during Stanley cup season.

   Soccer handles one aspect of this better, with a red card resulting in a real penalty to the team, not just the player. Good model, if your goal is to motivate folks to stop it. But apparently that isn’t the goal. I’m sorry to hear that more people bring their ticket money for this behavior than walk away.

8. Drew,

   I agree with you and most of the other folks as well. I have to disagree with Chris a little bit though. I don’t see a 4 game suspension as a tough stance by the NHL. Yes, he will miss the rest of the playoffs, but he should miss much more than that.

   I like the physical aspects of the NFL and the NHL. I do not want to see the NFL turned into flag football, nor do I want to see the NHL turn into soccer on ice. That does not mean, however, that I condone hits like this one. It may take something like the soccer red card to truly get teams to start policing themselves to end this kind of behavior. Of course I expect to see that happen when I see a flying unicorn, but still.

   My vote would be on a 1/4 of the season suspension for a first offense of this nature. 2nd offense, half the season, and should it ever reach third; an entire season and no roster replacement for the team.

9. the thing that bothered me was he could checked him out of the play and no problem (even though he didn’t have the puck) but he strode into him and blasted him with shoulder…and to compound things he banged his head on the ice. I used to love hockey but they game became as much about the hitting as the skating…maybe it always was and I just never noticed.

10. There is relatively well known case on tort law involving the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals, a nasty hit, and non-call. The following few paragraphs are lifted from the Appellate Court’s decision – it reads like a great play-by-play article.

    The Broncos’ defensive back, Dale Hackbart, was the recipient of the injury and the Bengals’ offensive back, Charles “Booby” Clark, inflicted the blow which produced it.

    Clark was an offensive back and just before the injury he had run a pass pattern to the right side of the Denver Broncos’ end zone. The injury flowed indirectly from this play. The pass was intercepted by Billy Thompson, a Denver free safety, who returned it to mid-field. The subject injury occurred as an aftermath of the pass play.

    As a consequence of the interception, the roles of Hackbart and Clark suddenly changed. Hackbart, who had been defending, instantaneously became an offensive player. Clark, on the other hand, became a defensive player. Acting as an offensive player, Hackbart attempted to block Clark by throwing his body in front of him. He thereafter remained on the ground. He turned, and with one knee on the ground, watched the play following the interception.

    The trial court’s finding was that Charles Clark, “acting out of anger and frustration, but without a specific intent to injure * * * stepped forward and struck a blow with his right forearm to the back of the kneeling plaintiff’s head and neck with sufficient force to cause both players to fall forward to the ground.” Both players, without complaining to the officials or to one another, returned to their respective sidelines since the ball had changed hands and the offensive and defensive teams of each had been substituted. Clark testified at trial that his frustration was brought about by the fact that his team was losing the game.

    Due to the failure of the officials to view the incident, a foul was not called. However, the game film showed very clearly what had occurred. Plaintiff did not at the time report the happening to his coaches or to anyone else during the game. However, because of the pain which he experienced he was unable to play golf the next day. He did not seek medical attention, but the continued pain caused him to report this fact and the incident to the Bronco trainer who gave him treatment. Apparently he played on the specialty teams for two successive Sundays, but after that the Broncos released him on waivers. (He was in his thirteenth year as a player.) He sought medical help and it was then that it was discovered by the physician that he had a serious neck fracture injury.

    The trial court found for the Cincinnati Bengals. But, on appeal, the Appellate Court found for the Broncos’ player

    The appellate court held that while pro football was a violent sport where the participants consented to physical contact, that consent was given within the rules of the game. Since the rules specifically prohibited the “head-shot,” there was no consent. Thus, the court gave Mr. Hackbart a new trial.

    The lesson learned… no matter how violent the sport, there are limits to the violence. Here is hoping Horton sues the pants off Rome and the Canucks franchise. If the NHL and law enforcement won’t do the work, micro-regulation by lawsuit is all that remains

    The link is here for anyone interested in the whole case: http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/601/601.F2d.516.77-1812.html

11. You all, are without a doubt, the greatest, most intelligent sports fans on the planet. Every comment on this cartoon has been terrific.