Two Game for Ovie? An NHL Joke

After watching the video of the Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell and reading the morning after quotes by Bruce Boudreau, Ovechkin himself and a few others I want to weigh in on this controversy.

It is clear in the video on NHL.com that this was an intentional hit from behind by Ovechkin and that the final thrust of his arms propelled Campbell heavily into the boards. With both players moving at high speed the Chicago defenseman was defenseless. As a result of the collision, Campbell has a broken clavicle and two broken ribs. On the ice the referee handed out a five-minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct. This penalty is also called “with the intent to injure.” Before the dust settled Colin Campbell, the NHL disciplinarian, suspended Ovechkin for two games. This is his third suspension this year and the league saw fit to make it for only two games.

Here is the statement from Alex Ovechkin on the matter:
I am very sorry that Brian was injured and I hope he is able to return to his team soon. NHL hockey is a physical game. We all play hard every time we are on the ice and have battles each shift in every game we play so we can do our jobs and win. As players we must accept responsibility for our actions and I am no different but I did not intend to injure Brian and that is why I was disappointed with the NHL’s decision yesterday. Every time I have the honor to play for my team, I will continue to do what I have done since I was taught to play. I will play hard, play with passion and play with respect for my teammates, opponents and fans. I look forward to returning to my team and doing everything I can to be the best player I can be.

So Ovie says: Gee, Brian. That’s tough but hockey is a physical game and I must do my job so we can win. And guess what? I will continue to do what I have done since I was taught to play.

Does that sound very remorseful? Can the next defenseman going back to retrieve a puck trust that this guy won’t try to put him through the boards into the second row seats? Does having the skill set Ovechkin has make him immune from all the professional conventions the rest of the players follow?

Sadly, I believe that this is the state of our game. The real question is: How did we get here? How did we get from Clarence Campbell suspending Rocket Richard for the season and the playoffs for mistakenly hitting an official to Colie Campbell slapping Ovie on the wrist despite his multiple offenses?

Since Commissioner Gary Bettman appointed Campbell to deal with the leagues bad boys and hand out the suspensions, he nowhere to be seen when the heat is turned up in the kitchen. It is obvious that the NHL is leaderless. The owners have Bettman fronting for them and from the shadows they control his every move. Where are the owner protests after a debacle like this one? Who will be the first to step up and say enough is enough? What hockey needs is an independent commissioner whose integrity cannot be denied and who will look after the best interests of the game not those of the owners. When Bettman was installed, his mandate was to get the NHL a national TV deal that would allow hockey the exposure it deserves. Hmmm, how are we doing with that? Let’s appoint a commissioner whose responsibility is to oversee the game and give him the authority to make the necessary changes to preserve it.

This week the General Managers had their Spring meeting and sent out a release that they will change the rule about east-west hits to the head like the Cooke on Marc Savard. Hello? Any hit to the head cannot be tolerated. The game was not meant to be “last man standing” or “who can survive the dirty hits and make it to the playoffs?’ The traditions of hockey lie in the players respecting each other enough to play wide-open hockey without fear of ambush. Jean Beliveau, Gordie Howe, Henri Richard, Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and players with that like talent and equal class built this game to what it is today. Unless someone finds the authority to put discipline back into the game we may lose it all.

As a kid I watched hockey with my dad all the time. One night there was a bench-clearing brawl during which he opined that the games were getting out of control and it could spell big trouble. “Lacrosse was once a major professional sport,” he told me, “but the violence killed it. People just stopped going.” They stopped the brawls by instituting stiff penalties on the coaches and the teams who allowed their players to leave the bench during any altercation. Miraculously everything changed.

Is anybody out there listening? Clamp down now before the game is ruined.

Posted by Kevin Hunter on Mar 16 2010. Filed under Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.