NHL looks more like WWE than UFC lately by Mike Ross - NHL Forum

Jayzhockey · 10-29-2008, 02:23 AM

Since we came back from the lockout, I’ve heard complaint after complaint from many hockey fans that the league is looking to soften-up the game. That the NHL is becoming a less edgy game.

But the actions of players like Tom Kostopolous, Rene Bourque and Alexandre Picard have me wondering if some players aren’t making the game a softer game all on their own.

All three of these players jumped an opposing player after a lhard, clean and legitimate hit had been levelled against one of their teammates.

We’re told by George Laraque that such acts are justified whether the hit was clean or dirty. As Ken Campbell pointed out in a recent blog on thehockeynews.com, we’re told that opponents can not take liberties and get away with it.

But since when does a hard, clean body check get defined as a “liberty”.

If my reward for levelling an opposing player in the NHL is going to be getting my head smashed in, I wonder if at some point, some players decide that such hits are not worth the risk.

We keep hearing how players want to keep the game tough and honest. What is tough and honest about attacking someone for delivering a tough and honest check?

We keep hearing that some of the dirtiest hits out there sometimes happen because the victim left himself in a vulnerable position and the victim can’t do that and not expect to be hurt.

Well, what about the player who leaves himself vulnerable to a clean hit? Why is that victim not being blamed for having his head down? Why, instead, are we seeing the hitter have to get up and have his head on a swivel because he’s about to be jumped and have his head pummeled?

Phil Esposito and I had an interesting chat with Maxime Talbot of the Pittsburgh Penguins the other day on our XM NHL Home Ice show “In the Slot” (weekdays 4pm ET on XM 204, Sirius 208).
Max explained that often, such fights are a result of the speed at which the game is played.

He stated, if he saw Sidney Crosby get hit hard out of the corner of his eye, he would (or someone on the Pens) would likely jump the guy who hit Sid because “you can’t do that”.

I told Max that I disagree. While I am sure, protecting the star player on your team is nothing new, Phil will tell you that when he played, if a hit was clean, you took the other guy’s number and nailed him with a clean check sometime down the road.

Now, if the hit was dirty, that was a different story.

And as I told Max, I don’t care who you are, if you deliver a clean check, you should not have to drop the gloves as a result.

Later on, during my drive home, I thought about a question I should have put to Max: What if Sidney Crosby hits someone with a hard, clean check? Should he expect Rene Bourque or Alexandre Picard to jump him and apply fists to his head?

I am not pacifist….I don’t walk out of the arena or get off my La-Z-Boy if there is a fight going on… unless that fight has absolutely no basis.

Some of these battles are more WWE than UFC…And in an era when violence is selling so well (see UFC ratings and PPV sales), if we are to allow fighting to continue, let’s try and give it some kind of legitemacy.

One positive note to end this commentary…When Alexandre Picard jumped Kevin Bieksa for his hit on Nikita Filatov, Bieksa handed Picard his lunch….while I dispise Picard’s actions, I had to smile at the result.

Mike Ross

Badat · 11-03-2008, 02:15 PM

That was the stupidest thing I've ever read and obviously from somebody who understands very little about the game.

If I wanted somebody to stop rocking my team-mates I wouldn't walk away after he leveled one of them clean or dirty, I would jump in there and challenge the guy to show we don't let people take free hits on are team mates.

Jayzhockey · 11-03-2008, 04:43 PM

Exactly Badat, that's the reaction I want, in this day and age you need to stand up for yourself and your teammates. A hit clean or dirty, that is hard enough should and always will draw attention in the NHL. A team that allows themselves to be walked all over will go no where. Mike Ross believes that a clean hit should always be accepted. No, if your star players are getting rocked, You need to back them up, clean or not. Sure it's great to see guys get their bells rung by a clean hit, but there still needs to be someone their willing to stand up. Call it protecting your players but you need to. If you do nothing you will continue to get beat on. You stand up, they will think twice, if need be ya take a number and pay back. But don't walk away.

VanCan · 11-03-2008, 04:50 PM

Mike Ross, sorry man, you HAVE to back up your team. If you don't your team will be beat down by the end of the year. Hockey players are not pansies, if you are willing to hit, be willing to back it up.

Badat · 11-05-2008, 01:54 PM

If I were a boxer and I went into a match and only returned a punch when the guy threw a questionable punch I would be destroyed, well hockey is no different. If you don't stand up for yourself and your team-mates then teams are gonna take physical liberties with your team and more often then not if your dominated physically you lose. You can't let teams just walk over you clean or dirty not if you want to keep your players healthy and win games.

Jayzhockey · 11-08-2008, 10:42 PM

I'm not ashamed to admit I like hockey fights and admire the men who partake in them. The fact is, standing up for your teammates in a hockey fight takes the sort of guts and courage that few of us can understand.

But there's another side to violence in hockey, the one that's represented by folks we call agitators -- your Sean Avery types, the Darcy Tucker's the Otts, the guys who stir things up. But one step beyond that, we have players that we can fairly call cheap shot artists, folks who have little respect for the game and even less for their opponents. It's these guys antics which are not needed in hockey.