Who says they don't fight in hockey any more?
The other night there were five scraps in little more than a minute in one game - and that's not counting Washington Capitals' head coach Glen Hanlon trying to get at his Atlanta Thrashers' counterpart Bob Hartley.
No wonder the National Hockey League acted so quickly today by suspending Washington forwards Donald Brashear and Brian Sutherby and Thrashers' forward Scott Mellanby for one game while fining Hanlon $30,000 (US) and Hartley $10,000.
The coaches were docked for having their tough guys on the ice with less than five minutes to go in a game won 4-2 by Atlanta. In the final 62 seconds of the third period, Brashear beat up Atlanta defenceman Vitaly Vishnevski while Sutherby worked on Brad Larsen of the Thrashers. Eventually, Atlanta goalie Johan Hedberg left his crease and was met by Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig while the referee went to the judges' scorecards to determine Mike Tyson had lost on a split decision.
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As for Hanlon, he was so upset after the game he tried to barge into the Thrashers' dressing room, probably to ask Hartley, "Hey, did you hear about Michael Richards's rant at that Los Angeles comedy club?"
With all that happening in one night, you just knew the NHL would act quickly since that's not how the league wants to portray itself. This is the new NHL, remember? It's all about the speed, the skills, the shootouts. Slugfests are no longer part of the program. If they happen once in awhile, okay. If they happen a lot in one night at one game, it's time for the NHL to rear up and slap somebody down.
The irony is that on the same night the Caps and Thrashers went wild, Vancouver Canucks' defenceman Willie Mitchell dropped Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings with a shoulder check to the head. Franzen stayed on the ice for several minutes before being helped to the dressing room. For his part, Mitchell got a two-minute minor for interference.
Afterward, at least one Red Wing dubbed it head hunting and promised revenge, which could be difficult since the two teams don't play again until March.
While the NHL acted swiftly on the Washington-Atlanta dust-up, it has yet to deal with head shots and players being left loopy on the ice. Maybe that's because it's an issue that goes deeper than two guys beating the daylights out of one another.
One concern has to do with today's equipment, which is light, hard and football-like. One hit from a shoulder pad is all it takes to kayo some players and yet little is being done to soften those blows.
Another concern is that the new NHL allows for more skating and speed and that means attacking forwards and circling defencemen can really lower the boom on their rivals.
That's a shame since the new hockey is more fun to watch. But considering the size of today's players and the combat shells they're wearing, it's also more dangerous.
No one's saying Hanlon and Hartley didn't deserve to be fined for their silliness. It's just that we'd like to see the NHL get just as worked up about head shots and concussions and players who can wreak havoc without even thinking of dropping their gloves.
