Yes

by Jeff Gulley

Created on: August 20, 2008

Hockey can be a graceful sport, no question about it. From the early days of the high-flying Ace Bailey, through the steely-eyed determination of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, to Rick Nash's stellar highlight reel goal this past season against the Phoenix Coyotes, hockey has dazzled fans for generations. The game of hockey has witnessed incredible innovations through the ages: the introduction of the slapshot by Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, the mastery of the backhand by Dave Keon, the Savardian Spin-a-Rama (after Denis Savard), and many other feats by the greatest players in the game have all added to the allure of the so-called coolest game on earth.

However, hockey also has an ugly side. Although the game has changed a lot, one of the constants through all those years of innovative greatness has been a penchant for downright brutality.

Recent cases of extreme hockey violence have been Marty McSorley's high-stick to the head of Donald Brashear in 2000, and Todd Bertuzzi's vicious attack from behind on Steve Moore four years later. Brashear went on to play hockey again, but Moore was not so lucky; he suffered cracked vertebrae and was forced into very early retirement. Both McSorely and Bertuzzi went on to face court charges for their action.

However, these two incidents were not isolated. Both McSorley and Bertuzzi are well-known for their toughness and willingness to drop the gloves for a fight, if necessary. McSorley stands as the fourth-most penalized player of all-time in the NHL. After his incident with Brashear, McSorley was suspended for a year, but never banned from the NHL. Bertuzzi, before his assault on Steve Moore, had previously been suspended for 10 games in 2001 for leaving the bench to join a fight. After the Moore incident, Bertuzzi was suspended for what was eventually 20 games, but has since been reinstated in the NHL, looking to start the coming 2008-09 season with the Calgary Flames.

Furthermore, and what should be even more pressing for the NHL, these types of incidents are hardly anything new in hockey. The aforementioned Ace Bailey's career was cut short when he was viciously upended by Eddie Shore. Maurice Richard, the "Rocket" himself, was suspended for the duration of the 1955 Stanley Cup playoffs after a high-sticking incident eerily similar to McSorley's.

It is unfortunate that it is these such events that push NHL hockey into international headlines, when annual Stanley Cup game results are regularly relegated to the back page scoresheets in most newspapers outside of Canada. The defence is usually given that the players police themselves; afterall, Donald Brashear is also a resident tough guy of the NHL, and Steve Moore had lain a questionable hit on Bertuzzi's captain, Markus Naslund, in the game previous. They both had it coming, right? It is interesting to note that Ace Bailey's response to Eddie Shore's apology for the hit was, "it's all part of the game". This was just before Bailey convulsed and fell unconscious. This was in 1933.

And what has changed? Well, not much really. Had Bailey died after that incident, Eddie Shore would have been charged with manslaughter. Bailey lived, was forced into retirement, and Shore went on to continue his playing career as a fan favourite in Boston. Steve Moore will never play again, and is pressing ahead with his civil suit against Bertuzzi, but the NHL's total punishment of Bertuzzi amounts to 20 games.

Hockey is a contact sport, and in my opinion, that helps make it exciting. A solid bodycheck is just as exciting as that Rick Nash goal (well, maybe not quite THAT exciting). And I'm willing to accept that in a contact sport, tensions get built, emotions get heated, and mistakes can be made. However, the level of brutality that seems to be sewn into the fabric of the NHL (not taking into account other hockey leagues around the world) is jaw-dropping. Mistakes can be made, but should not be repeated. All other major sports in North America have rules in place to minimize violence, except for hockey. The three other major sports punish the errant knights who stage the violence a lot harsher than the NHL does, and it works. Consider the fact that the NFL football is also a contact sport, and the frequency of brutal violence in that sport is exceptionally better than the NHL's. Until the NHL wakes up develops some form of proper policing to keep the undesirables out for good, it will continue to be wrongly regarded as bullies on ice. I for one would rather see it known for its grace, not its grotesque.

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