funkisland expatriates

Mr. Simon's Suspension

After having a look at 'the incident', I would say that the hockey world ought to treat this kind of stick swinging episode the same as most other sports would treat a major doping infraction. The reasons for this are clear. These other sports (I'm thinking specifically of cycling and track) want doping gone, and so they impose very strict penalties. The NHL needs to make it clear that there is no place in hockey for deliberately using the stick as a weapon.
It is not that the league needs to protect the players, as so many media outlets cry, it is that they need to protect themselves. What would happen to the league if the worst happened? A player died on the ice. Or worse than that, a player killed another player? Of course, I am not saying that deciding on this suspension will have any impact on whether that worst of worst situation would ever come to pass. But it would set precedent, and show that the league is actively trying to reduce the incedence of extreme violence in the game. If the league has a policy of suspending, for a long period of time, those who commit acts of extreme violence, then when that happens the league doesnt need to sit behind closed doors and decide if what happened was bad or not. It would diffuse the talk in the media about what the league is doing about violence in the NHL.
Two years.
Chris Simon should not be allowed into an NHL arena for two years.
If he does it again after that, he should be banned for life.
This is how you stamp out extreme violence.
We'll deal with hits to the head in another blog post.

posted by bitz @ 5:06 PM