Tuesday, March 30, 2004
A RUSH OF FIST TO THE HEAD
The Todd Bertuzzi hit on Steve Moore was sick, wrong, and uncalled for, and he was punished accordingly. This we know.
From last Friday's Calgary Herald...
... in the wake of Brad Ference slugging the Flames' Martin Sonnenberg on Wednesday night in Phoenix, some Calgary hockey voices are asking if the two sides of the NHL's scale of justice aren't labelled No Blood and No Foul. While the NHL acted swiftly in two other assaults the same night, suspending the perpetrators, there was a curious silence from NHL headquarters when it came to Coyotes' Ference.
The NHL's delay in dealing with the blindside punch contrasted sharply with the four-game ban quickly slapped on Dallas' Marty Turco for his stick attack on Edmonton's Ryan Smyth the same night or the three-game suspension for Columbus' Jody Shelley for sucker-punching Alex Henry of Minnesota, also during a Wednesday game.
[...]
"If [Ference] doesn't get a lot (in suspension),'' said Flames centre Craig Conroy before Thursday's game with San Jose, "then it's like, 'If Sonnenberg doesn't get hurt, then it doesn't matter.' And that's when someone's really going to get hurt.''
Here's where it gets interesting...
Those who've watched the infamous Todd Bertuzzi footage a few thousand times found something sickenly familiar in the sucker punch Ference landed on the back of Sonnenberg's head. Late in a blowout game, a settling of accounts, a loss of control. The blow from the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Ference dropped the Flames' forward to the ice, precipitating a melee late in the third period of Calgary's 4-0 win over the Coyotes.
The difference between the Bertuzzi and Ference sucker shots? Sonnenberg was just dazed and did not sustain a broken neck or serious cuts, as did Colorado's Steve Moore-- the victim of the Bertuzzi mauling. So while Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the season and playoffs, Ference's double minor is the only penalty assessed for his actions thus far.
[...]
"We're not learning anything from the (Todd) Bertuzzi incident," said Conroy before last night's game with the Sharks. "That's the sad reality of it. You'd think guys would learn. I mean, look what happened. Last night... Sonny didn't get hurt and it's just a four-minute penalty. But he (Ference) did the same thing (as Bertuzzi).
"As players we've got to show more respect for each other. We can't go around cheap-shotting each other. At some point, you've got to give long suspensions. You start giving guys a year and they're not going to be too keen about sucker-punching a guy from behind, no matter how bad they are."
Looks like what we have here is punishment for the aftereffects rather than the action itself. Is this really the way to stop the madness? Alannah and Jeff have picked this debate apart a few times. If the NHL doesn't levy heavy suspensions toward all of these sorts of acts, regardless of post-act injury, I venture to say it probably won't be that effective and worse yet, more players are going to get hurt. Some players will still be convinced they can get away with it, and sadly, one could say that's what Todd Bertuzzi thought.
From last Friday's Calgary Herald...
... in the wake of Brad Ference slugging the Flames' Martin Sonnenberg on Wednesday night in Phoenix, some Calgary hockey voices are asking if the two sides of the NHL's scale of justice aren't labelled No Blood and No Foul. While the NHL acted swiftly in two other assaults the same night, suspending the perpetrators, there was a curious silence from NHL headquarters when it came to Coyotes' Ference.
The NHL's delay in dealing with the blindside punch contrasted sharply with the four-game ban quickly slapped on Dallas' Marty Turco for his stick attack on Edmonton's Ryan Smyth the same night or the three-game suspension for Columbus' Jody Shelley for sucker-punching Alex Henry of Minnesota, also during a Wednesday game.
[...]
"If [Ference] doesn't get a lot (in suspension),'' said Flames centre Craig Conroy before Thursday's game with San Jose, "then it's like, 'If Sonnenberg doesn't get hurt, then it doesn't matter.' And that's when someone's really going to get hurt.''
Here's where it gets interesting...
Those who've watched the infamous Todd Bertuzzi footage a few thousand times found something sickenly familiar in the sucker punch Ference landed on the back of Sonnenberg's head. Late in a blowout game, a settling of accounts, a loss of control. The blow from the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Ference dropped the Flames' forward to the ice, precipitating a melee late in the third period of Calgary's 4-0 win over the Coyotes.
The difference between the Bertuzzi and Ference sucker shots? Sonnenberg was just dazed and did not sustain a broken neck or serious cuts, as did Colorado's Steve Moore-- the victim of the Bertuzzi mauling. So while Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the season and playoffs, Ference's double minor is the only penalty assessed for his actions thus far.
[...]
"We're not learning anything from the (Todd) Bertuzzi incident," said Conroy before last night's game with the Sharks. "That's the sad reality of it. You'd think guys would learn. I mean, look what happened. Last night... Sonny didn't get hurt and it's just a four-minute penalty. But he (Ference) did the same thing (as Bertuzzi).
"As players we've got to show more respect for each other. We can't go around cheap-shotting each other. At some point, you've got to give long suspensions. You start giving guys a year and they're not going to be too keen about sucker-punching a guy from behind, no matter how bad they are."
Looks like what we have here is punishment for the aftereffects rather than the action itself. Is this really the way to stop the madness? Alannah and Jeff have picked this debate apart a few times. If the NHL doesn't levy heavy suspensions toward all of these sorts of acts, regardless of post-act injury, I venture to say it probably won't be that effective and worse yet, more players are going to get hurt. Some players will still be convinced they can get away with it, and sadly, one could say that's what Todd Bertuzzi thought.
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