Hockey is a rough sport.
From the youngest players to the oldest, the coaches, the referees and everyone else involved, we all know this to be true.
In-game hits are common and they carry penalties.
Maybe the overly physical hits are not condoned by the league, but headshots, boarding, fighting, spearing and the like all still happen.
However, Barrhead Minor Hockey (BMA) and the 1660 League are not the majors.
Nobody, as far as I know, gets paid a big salary to play on any of the association’s teams, so why is it that I feel like we are encouraging violent behaviour on-ice by shrugging off the worst of hits, rolling our eyes and saying ‘well, that’s just how hockey is’.
Last week, I covered a Bantam league playoff game and witnessed one of the most horrendous, shameful acts of gross misconduct I have ever seen at a hockey game.
After three rather tense periods of penalty-riddled play in which both the Warburg Thunder and the Barrhead Pirates received calls for head-contact, boarding, tripping, elbowing and slashing, the game — the second of what was supposed to be a three-game series — ended 7-1 for Barrhead.
Instead of shaking hands and offering up the typical ‘good game’ mantra however, Warburg’s players, to a man, collectively refused to return their Barrhead counterparts offer of congratulations on a game well played.
While the referees were busy returning the pucks and the game-sheet was being finalized, one of Warburg’s players, probably incensed by the outcome, took the opportunity to deliver one last hit and slammed a Barrhead player face-first into the boards — this in addition to Warburg’s coach and one of their fans getting into a verbal, profanity-laced argument with the head official.
Talk about losing ungracefully.
So the RCMP were called to the arena and an Abuse of Official incident report was written up, more than likely resulting in a 2-game suspension for the aforementioned Warburg coach, but hey, this is just hockey folks, right?
Regardless, I have to hand it to the players of all of our own teams here in Barrhead.
Time and again I have witnessed them kneel and show solidarity with the opposing team whenever a player is injured.
I see the game-sheets and I know the referees have a hard time trying to keep their eyes on the puck, following the flow of the action.
League and provincial playoffs are tension-riddled affairs certainly, but there is a time and a place for rough-play and it isn’t when the game is over.
Kudos to the Pirates for earning their banner at provincials last month and kudos to the referees for making the calls that they do.
