It’s always been about the playoffs in the NHL.
Sure, the regular season is a great way to determine which teams get to
compete during the NHL's second season, but for a sport considered
by Americans as regional, playoff hockey is the league’s signature
event.
If the sport ever gets any national play, it's when violence is involved. Once blood is spilled or a player
is knocked out, the NHL makes the headlines.
To a majority of Americans, the NHL is a combination of barbarism and apathy, which is a shame.
Hockey will never have an impact in the United States until it cleans up its perceived image of being a brutal sport.
That’s why Game 1 of the Detroit Red Wings-Nashville Predators playoff series featured a plethora of questionable penalties. The officials were
trying to keep a lid on Wednesday's game by calling every marginal infraction
possible.
The strategy backfired and did nothing to enhance the game. But it did create a frustration level that boiled over at the conclusion of
an intense contest.
First, Nashville center Paul Gaustad gave Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk a chop
to the back of his knees with a perceived intent to injure near the end of regulation. A complete
bush-league move that went ignored by the officials and the
NHL.
The next, more harsh assault came when Nashville captain Shea Weber smashed the head
of the Wings' Henrik Zetterberg into the glass at the end of the game. The
act was vicious, ugly and just plain cheap.
After Weber’s attack, a stunned Zetterberg remained on the ice for a few moments before he skated off, yelling at the officials.
Weber received a meaningless, end-of-game two-minute roughing penalty that he’ll never have to serve.
After the game, Nashville coach Barry Trotz — usually an intelligent man — played the victim card by claiming that Zetterberg was the aggressor because he hit Weber in the head first. Come on, Barry, I know
you’re protecting your best player, but you’re better than that.
Zetterberg is maybe 5-foot-11 and 197 pounds; Weber is a behemoth, checking in at 6-4 and 232.
In typical NHL fashion, we’re getting administrators and pundits talking
out of both sides of their mouths. They’re feigning a bit of outrage,
but for the most part they’ve given Weber a free pass.
Many expected Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s senior vice president of player safety
and hockey operations, to be tough with Weber. That's what the former Red Wing had done all season, doling out harsh punishments for shots
to a player’s head. And the criticism
Shanahan has received for his controversial rulings have had little effect on
him.
But instead of doing the right thing and suspending
Weber for at least a game for his attack on Zetterberg, Shanahan instituted what essentially comes down to double-secret probation.
Weber, Nashville’s superstar captain, was fined $2,500 — the maximum allowed
under the collective bargaining agreement — along with this warning in a statement released by Shanahan:
“We felt this was a reckless and reactionary play on which Weber threw a
glancing punch and then shoved Zetterberg's head into the glass. We
reached out to Detroit following the game and were informed that
Zetterberg did not suffer an apparent injury and should be in the lineup
for Game 2.
“This play and the fine that addressed it will be significant factors in
assessing any incidents involving Shea Weber throughout the remainder
of the playoffs"
All right, let’s see if we understand the crux of this ruling. It appears the only way Weber would have received a suspension is if
Zetterberg had been injured. Regardless of intent to injure, Zetterberg wasn’t hurt, so everything is good.
Weber is slapped on the wrist and allowed to continue to make "hockey plays" as long as he doesn’t take anybody out.
What a joke.
If it had been Jack Hillen, Nashville’s sixth defenseman, and not a superstar like Weber who had crushed
Zetterberg’s head into the glass, he likely would
have been suspended.
You missed your opportunity, Brendan. You based your punishment on the
outcome of the incident and not the incident itself. Whether Zetterberg
was hurt or not and Weber being Nashville’s best player should not have played into your decision.
Hockey is a beautiful game that should be much more popular in the USA.
Unfortunately, Shanny, when you could have moved the game forward by
suspending one of the game’s best, you chose to hide behind the tired adage, “it’s playoff hockey,” where anything short of murder is
acceptable.
Until that mind-set changes, the NHL will always be relegated to
second-class status. That is the real crime here, one that is totally unacceptable.
