Wheel of Justice Strikes Again

Donald Brashear is a bad motherfucker, there's no getting around that. He's also a really lame fighter too on occasion, I guess some guys need proper motivation or to not be a complete wuss.

Whatever.


It's not always a knockdown drag out affair with Huggy Bear Brashear

Thanks to Colin Campbell's amazing and unpredictable Wheel of Justice, this:



Is worth a six-game suspension.

OK so it's not just that hit, it's the pre-game nonsense he instigated with the Rangers Colton Orr and... well, insert whatever other reasons you might want to toss in for having the suspension be six games. Dirk over at On The Forecheck has the hands-down winner on his Twitter page to this point:

It sucks to be Donald Brashear. He got 1 game for the pre-game shove, 1 for the head shot, and 4 because it's Ulysses S. Grant's birthday.

Beauty.

Truth is it's one game for the pre-game shenanigans and five for the hit.

Was Brashear wrong here? Absolutely. It's a reckless hit. It's a hit coming full force on Blair Betts while he's unsuspecting and that's not necessary in the NHL.

I find myself watching this over and over again and trying to figure out what the motivation is here for Brashear and if Betts is in the wrong at all (ie: head down, admiring his pass) and while Betts is caught flat-footed and somewhat admiring, it stands out to me as a prime example of everything in hockey happening a lot faster than in other sports.

Check out the YouTube video above once again. Betts gets the puck at the :12 second mark, has the puck away and down the ice at :13 and Brashear clobbers him at :14. I know there's big heaps of fractions of seconds involved here but that's a span of two seconds where Betts goes from safe to dismantled with a highly questionably timed hit.

TWO SECONDS!

Incredible. This does boil down to Brashear crossing the line between hitting a guy who has a basic idea the hit is coming and a guy that has no clue it's coming which gets into all sorts of grey area stuff as far as the NHL is concerned. After all, guys who get caught skating with their heads down get creamed and concussed the same as guys that are caught watching their passes as if they're Monet paintings.

Does this put Betts in a different category at all? Brashear was on the ice the whole time and, let's face it, he's not out there to score goals or play rock-solid defense. Betts was looking to dump the puck in deep to get the Rangers a line change and Brashear was looking to, for lack of a better phrase, light a fire under his team - a team that's been criticized all playoffs long for being physically soft.

Sending a message in a different sort of way? Probably, but now Huggy Bear is going to have to pay the piper for six games.

The Capitals aren't really going to lose too much not having a guy who has averaged about 3:25 of ice time in the four games he's played in this series. Brashear is so vital to the Capitals that he didn't suit up for the first two games of the series, the same two that Jose Theodore yacked away at home.

Betts, meanwhile, is likely out for Game 7 and the Rangers will miss him dearly. He's played an average of 10:44 per game before having his day shortened in Game 6 and logged over 13 minutes of ice time in Game 4 which the Rangers won 2-1 and held Washington's power play to an 0-6 performance, much thanks to Betts' work.

Chris Simon: Now We've Got Your Back

Hey, remember when I wrote this?

Yeah...my bad, Chris. I say that only because you were cool enough to call out Colin Campbell.

To the quote board!

"I think it's definitely not fair," Simon told the Minnesota
Pioneer-Press. "My opinion is there's obviously two sets of rules."

If you look at the (video) tape and look at his history, you
can't say we're different, other than he's a star player and I'm not."

A home run all around from the mouth of Chris Simon. Of all people to call Colin Campbell out on the carpet it's the former poster boy for boorish thuggery.

Well...he still might be the poster boy for that, but as far as we're concerned he's irrelevant until he plants another stick into some guy's face. Until that happens, he's now the shining star as to why the NHL is ripe with hypocracy and a crock.

To prove that, here's more wisdom from Chris Simon:

"Because you look at the evidence, at the tape of both cases. You have to put in
the facts of both players being suspended (previously), and I'm being treated
unfairly. The tape proves it all, and his history proves it all. I have nothing
against the other players, I just want to be treated fairly, and in this case I
don't think I have been."

DAAAAAMN!

In typical toothless and brainless fashion, Colin Campbell fired back:

"[Simon's] skate drop on the Pittsburgh player was in a totally
different context than Chris Pronger's," Campbell told
the Pioneer-Press in an email.

"Mr. Simon can state his opinion. Our job is to assess what we
feel is fair and right. If Chris didn't do what he has done, he wouldn't need to
complain about how we handle discipline."

Seriously Colin? Couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone on this one? Real nice.

And the decision is...

Colin Campbell says:

Eight! Eight games! Ha-ha-ha!

So as I postulated last night about this, he'd get just enough of a suspension to make some of the casual fans feel good about it all the while doing Anaheim a huge favor in giving their minutes horse on the blue line a couple weeks off before the start of the playoffs.

The way this suspension works out, Pronger doesn't even miss the rest of the regular season (which I figured would happen) and instead gives Pronger the extra favor of having one game to get his legs back underneath him before the Playoffs start!

Absolutely incredible. I guess that since Los Angeles hasn't been a viable hockey market since Gretzky left town, the NHL is pushing all their chips in on Anaheim using the "close enough" corollary. Not familiar with it? You should be - after the NHL shot itself in the foot after the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994 and the owners locked out the players for the better part of the following year, they had essentially killed all momentum gained by the Rangers winning it all.

The Rangers had essentially gone into the tank (good-bye New York market!) but the Devils used losing to the Rangers in their epic seven-game series the season before to come back even more fierce in 1995 and winning the Stanley Cup.

By virtue of this "close enough corollary" the league decided that putting all their eggs into the Devils basket in regards to rule enforcement and quality of entertainment figuring that the savvy hockey fans from New York City would latch onto a winner instantaneously and therefore keep the budding world-wide hockey takeover train rolling along!

Oops. The league soon found out that the Devils, while initially a great and lovable story about a team that finally rose out of mediocrity to win it all, became a not-so-fun side show of domination and boredom. Many, including yours truly, postulated that the lost season of 2004-2005 due to the lockout and the rule re-establishment borne from that was the way for the NHL to cleanse itself of all the clutch-and-grab styles that were adopted thanks to the success the Devils and Stars gained from that.

And now here we are at another crossroads in hockey history, a team developing a style of play that is completely opposite of what hockey was meant to be and using the same styles adopted by New Jersey (the grabbing, the slowing down, the constant interference) and then adding a different twist to it with the cheap hits, dirty play and constant fighting. You'd figure that since Bettman has been on a crusade to eliminate fighting from the game so he can market hockey to his precious and mythological "wider audience" he'd have figured that Anaheim would be a bad thing.

That's where Anaheim has got him by the balls - just being in Southern California - hitting on Bettman's other more pressing weakness, successful hockey teams in the new markets that came out of reckless over-expansion.

Hell, you don't need me to tell you what a bonehead Bettman is for pushing his garbage, listen to him yourself! Not only doing a half-ass job congratulating the winning team, but mostly to brag about how great hockey's doing in California and how quickly success has come to one of their expansion teams.

I wish I could tell you I was making all of this up, but real life allows me the creative freedom to come up with something so crazy sounding that it seems plausibly true.

Stompy McUnibrow Update

It appears the smoking gun/Zapruder film/second gunman has decided to make its appearance in regards to the Chris Pronger stomping on Ryan Kesler incident.

Be sure to check this link first to see it for yourself if you were doubting the validity of Kesler's claim.

Also doing a mea culpa with this is TSN's Bob McKenzie who had initially said he didn't believe Pronger should be suspended based on the "inconclusive" video evidence presented before. Now, with the new video showing a closer view of what exactly Stompy McUnibrow was doing to Kesler... he feels action should be taken.

The main guy changing course in all this, however, is Colin Campbell. Campbell had asked for Pronger to come to New York City to meet with him to discuss his newly minted indefinite suspension. Pronger opted to exercise his right to have his hearing over the phone.

What I found oddly amazing about this part of the story was this:

Traditionally, the type of hearing usually speaks to the number of games a
player can be suspended. The phone hearing normally means four games
or less, while an in-person hearing means five or more.

By waiving his right to an in-person hearing, Pronger acknowledges his
suspension could be more severe than the phone treatment usually determines.

So... basically you know how screwed or not screwed you are based on how they want to conduct business. I also find it a bit odd that the player who's about to be punished has the option of whether or not they come to meet with Campbell. Shouldn't something regarding what will likely be a long suspension have to require their presence in person? This would be like having a defendant be tried, convicted and sentenced all while never having to set foot in court....ever. Then again, it's not surprising that the NHL would operate in such a way.

This should prove interesting to see how harshly the NHL comes down on Pronger - remember, the bar is set at 30 games (what Chris Simon got for doing exactly the same thing). Also, remember that Simon and Pronger now both have the same number of doled out punishments from the NHL. I'm thinking Pronger will miss out on the rest of the regular season and then will be back and ready to go for the playoffs where he'll probably continue to be a beligerent rule breaker and menace to the safety of everyone on the ice.

This really couldn't have worked out any nicer for Anaheim.

The Double-Standard is Clear

Remember Chris Simon? Yeah, he's on the Minnesota Wild now, but while he was a New York Islander he helped add to his fun legacy by both using Ryan Hollweg like a batting tee and Jarkko Ruutu as a Dance Dance Revolution mat.

I get to mention that last incident because it elicited this response from NHL Discipline Lackey Colin Campbell:

Several factors were considered in imposing the longest suspension in NHL
history for an on-ice incident. While it was fortunate there was no serious
injury to Mr. Ruutu as a result of Simon's action, the deliberate act of kicking
an opponent with an exposed skate blade, especially where the opponent is in a
vulnerable position, is and always has been a repugnant and totally unacceptable
act in the game of hockey.

In addition, while the act itself was
extremely dangerous, the fact that this is the eighth incident requiring the
imposition of supplementary discipline on Simon compelled me to impose a very
severe penalty in this case. When a player repeatedly evidences the lack of
ability to control his actions and conducts himself in total disregard of the
rules, as well the health and safety of other players on the ice, each
subsequent incident is deserving of enhanced scrutiny and more severe
discipline.

This response serves not only the purpose of imposing
appropriate punishment for the player involved, but also the purpose of
deterring the player and all other players from engaging in similar conduct in
the future - hopefully creating a safer long-term work environment for all NHL
players.

I ask that you keep these words ringing through your head as I show you this.

That is Chris Pronger of the Anaheim Ducks, the darlings of the NHL, deliberately stomping on the Vancouver Canucks' Ryan Kesler with his skate in their game just last night. In case that sentence was too much to handle, here are the operative statements to keep in mind:

Chris Pronger
Anaheim Ducks
Deliberately
Stomping
On

Now that I've painted that clearly for you, the outrage from the Canucks and from Ryan Kesler was rather obvious:

"He stomped on me," Kesler told reporters after the game. "He got me on the
calf."

Again, our operative word here is:

Stomped

After Colin Campbell reviewed the incident, he followed through as how one would expect someone to on a repeat rule-breaking violent-hitting offender...

Chris Pronger Will Face No NHL Disciplinary Action for Stomp

Of course...why would the NHL suspend a guy they had their media gurus persistently sucking up to all last playoff season?

Wait, he was suspended twice during the playoffs last year for dirty hits? Once in the Western Finals and again in the Stanley Cup Finals? That can't be true! He's the best defenseman since Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey had a love child together with Scott Stevens! He's all parts fantasticness!

Wait a minute, what's this I read here?

Chris Pronger has been suspended seven different times before in his career? How is that possible!? I was told all playoffs long the last two seasons that Chris Pronger was the greatest thing to ever set foot on the ice that played the defensive position. This must be an egregious oversight.

After all, Chris Simon is the lowest form of low on the face of the hockey earth and he's been punished über-severely multiple times because he's got a bad temper and a bad reputation and he's been suspended by the NHL eight different times! He's bad! Boo Chris Simon!

Folks, I don't know how many more times I need to stress the idiocy of those in charge of the NHL in all offices. I feel like I'm a broken record here sadly and I'd love... LOVE to talk more about the great things going on in the game (basically Alexander Ovechkin) but I can't ignore these stories. The NHL is finding new ways to make me hate being a professional hockey fan on a weekly and sometimes daily basis and that makes me sad. I love the game more than anything.

But this...this circus of errors, hypocracy and ignorance on all levels from the Commissioner's office to the Discipline office to the General Managers and Owners on down to the fans who have been duped over the last 10-15 years into thinking this brand of hockey is good. It's downright shameful and an absolute disgrace.

It All Makes Sense

Here, just....go and read this now - its the update on Steve Downie.

There's a new name for my pain....and it is Colin Campbell.

I really am dumbstruck by this decision. I mean, I already had my bar set low - I was counting on the punishment to be light. What I didn't expect was that I would have to amend that statement by having to say it thusly:

I was counting on the punishment being light, if anything at all.

Let's run down the list of things wrong with this situation:

• He's already a previous offender
• He plays on a team with an outright bad track record this year
• The NHL Commissioner already issued a threat against the team if more of this kept up
• It's Downie's fifth NHL game played and he's already got more suspension games than that under his belt

What a joke. These clowns in charge should be ashamed of themselves and most of all, they should all be terminated from their positions.

Predicting a Response

Given how tough Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell have been on reckless and illegal hits this year, especially when they concern the Philadelphia Flyers, I'm eager to see what Herr Bettman and Sidekick Colin have to say about this:

During a scrum in front of the Flyers net midway through the second period,
Travis Zajac got his glove into the face of Philadelphia defenceman Derian Hatcher
and then pulled his bare hand out.

"I guess I got close to him and he bit me," said Zajac, who wore a splint on the middle finger of his left hand. "I felt pain, I saw blood and then got stitched up and went back out."

Zajac, who gave the Devils a 2-0 lead with his first goal in nearly a
month, missed the rest of the second period but returned for the third. Zajac
said Hatcher didn't talk to him.

"I had my finger in his mouth, so I don't think he could," Zajac said.

Hatcher's version of the story was different.

"If he's cut, good, but I didn't bite him," Hatcher said. "I
didn't think anything of it until someone mentioned it to me.

"He went like that (face wash) right across my face. He got his glove on my tooth, almost pulled it out. It's all sore."

So, we've had stick-swinging, cross-checks to the head, blatant hits from behind and crushing a guys head into the boards and now biting. Biting through a guy's glove no less. Just the fact that Hatcher bit through Zajac's glove is horrifying enough. If you've ever been within 10 feet of a hockey player's equipment, you know damn well how bad that stuff stinks, I can't imagine it tasted all that great to have a guy's glove in your mouth.

Maybe biting him was an apt response in that case.... Naaah - no way.

After the last incident involving a Flyers player attempting to end a player's career, Gary Bettman gave the toothless response along the lines of, "Now if you guys do that again, I am seriously going to consider punishing you really hard."

You can practically see him shaking his finger at owner Ed Snider and GM Paul Holmgren while feigning disgust.

While Derian Hatcher is yet another one of those players with a checkered history of dirty and questionable hits, biting a guy is something that just does not happen...unless your name is Mike Tyson.

My guess here is that Hatcher will get five games, appeal because of an apparent lack of evidence other than hearsay, and have to eat the five games anyhow - all while Bettman claims that this incident is different than all of the other incidents the Flyers have had this year. For the record, it's five dirty plays they've been smacked for this season, after the fifth one the Commissioner was awoken from sleep to make a statement for.

I figure because this had to do with a player totally losing his cool and doing something rather barbaric that didn't result in an injury where the player's livelihood was in danger, he won't get something too bad and the Flyers won't be punished for it. These are the kinds of things I expect from the Gutless Reign of Herr Bettman.