Wall of violence

The NHL throws up its own roadblocks to acceptance

You may not have noticed it, but you probably heard of the NHL's Great U.S. Expansion. The league unveiled nine new franchises in nine years and teams enjoyed brief honeymoons in spots like Nashville, Southern California, Tampa Bay while television ratings, while still below those of the WNBA, second-rate golf tournaments and Gilligan's Island reruns, rose significantly. You heard about how more kids are playing hockey these days, how Gen Y'ers considered NHL hockey to be the coolest game on earth. Then you tuned in to this year's playoffs and saw what garbage it all amounts to, and why the NHL as presently constituted will never catch on. Would any responsible parent take his or her child to watch a game like this?

Hockey remains in the Stone Age, just as it did when your father was a kid. The NHL still clings to this ridiculous notion that allowing grown men to beat each other up, to attack and attempt to maim, is all part of good fun on the ice. They'd have you believe that you need this junk to sustain the game.

That non-violent Olympic hockey in Salt Lake City was really tough on the eyes, wasn't it? Been to an NCAA Division I game lately? There's no fighting. Just damn good hockey.

The most telling thing about Bruins defenseman Kyle McLaren's hit on Canadiens forward Richard Zednik last Thursday was that so many hockey people -- "People who played the game" as they invariably reminded us -- publicly said that, in the scheme of things, the blow wasn't that bad. They trotted out any number of the many other brutal hits in recent years and said that by comparison, McLaren's wasn't as severe. The grim truth is that they were right. The NHL is so full of gratuitous violence that McLaren bashing Zednik's face really wasn't that bad.

After McLaren was suspended, Boston president Harry Sinden, half a century in the sport, said he believed the hit was consistent with hockey's accepted style of play. What McLaren did was to use his heavily padded left arm to bludgeon Zednik's skull and knock him to the ice. You've seen the play. Zednik wound up immobilized on a stretcher with broken bones in his face. Later, people argued over whether McLaren had used his elbow or his forearm, as if by discussing a spurious detail they might find McLaren an alibi. Get serious.

You're probably tired of hearing about McLaren by now. Heck, there's plenty of other NHL action to talk about, like Gary Roberts checking Kenny Jonsson from behind, face first into the boards (Jonsson's out for the year, maybe longer), and Darcy Tucker attacking Michael Peca's knees, and Eric Cairns crashing punch after unanswered punch into Shayne Corson. I can see how talk of McLaren might feel a little stale.

That's how it is in hockey: a guy gets carted off on a stretcher and a few days later it's old news.

Is it any wonder that some teams have trouble selling out their first-round playoff games?

As all the violence was unfolding last week, as we steeled ourselves for blow after concussive blow, we heard from a lot of old-timers who long for the days when NHL rules were more permissive about fighting, when it was easier to avenge a whupping by dishing one out yourself. I can't tell you how many people, including executives high in the NHL command, have said to me that the game would be better if players were allowed to "police themselves."

Police themselves? So we can see gang fights on ice like we used to? Go back to your cave.

Lately I've been watching sports with a 6-year-old girl. She likes baseball. She used to like hockey. We watched a few minutes of the Maple Leafs-Islanders game last Friday night. It was one of the times that a few guys broke off playing the game to punch each other for a while. "Could we go back to the Mets game?" the little girl said. And we did.

I'm not naïve. I know hockey is a rough sport. I know that's part of the appeal and the excitement. I also know that you have no chance of making today's brand of the NHL appeal to the masses. Sure, the occasional baseball brawl, the occasional basketball scuffle, lends a neat edge to those sports. But in the NHL, guys simply bludgeon one another -- with a fist, a stick or whatever's handy -- game after game. It has to stop.

Gary Bettman has a chance here. He's on solid footing as commissioner. He has real power and with a little courage he could go down as a real hero. Tomorrow he should announce the following plan: From now on, if a player fights, he will automatically be suspended for 10 games. His coach will be suspended for five. His team will be fined $100,000.

That would get rid of the roadside brawls at least. That would be a great start.

In moments of grandeur, the NHL likes to consider itself the fourth major sport in the U.S. after the NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NBA. Guess the hockey powers-that-be haven't noticed that in the past decade, golf and NASCAR have swept past them. So have major college sports. No. 4? No way. Without the bloodletting the NHL might have a chance to widen its appeal. In the meantime, warn your kids to stay away.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides every Tuesday at CNNSI.com.

 

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