Tonight will be an epic Game 7 battle between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning… But I want to turn the clock backwards for a moment and address a growing issue in the NHL that blatantly reared its ugly head at the end of Game 6 on Wednesday.
As the game concluded and the final scuffle was broken up, what seemed like small plastic tennis racquets began to fall from the skies above. Maybe fall is too soft a definition. It was more like they were flung…launched…hurled! Worst of all they were thrown AT players on the ice. Both teams! I almost lost my mind when the Versus cameras were on David Krejci when one of these giveaways plunked him directly in the head. Good news was it hit his helmet, but it was an inch or two away from getting him directly in his exposed face.
Imagine for a minute that Game 7 was played without the man who scored 3 or Boston’s 4 goals the night earlier because some Floridian took hit eye out with a 15 cent giveaway noise-maker. Seriously.
So what does the NHL do about it?
Well, the only thing that they will address is Nathan Horton allegedly spraying a fan with a water bottle (which is stupid) in defense of his team being peppered by the fans. Thankfully Horton got away with it because if he compromised his status for Game 7 just to be a tough guy to the recently retired Joe 6-Pack (I assume if Joe 6-Pack is in Florida he is retired…going out on a limb there) all of Boston would personally run him out of town without a second thought about his OT goals in round 1.
The NHL, as usual, does nothing. Just like the Boston fans continue to throw their yellow towels on the ice after goals the retirees in Florida continue to throw their noise makers at players. No one will stop it and it’s only going to get worse.
So here is what the NHL needs to do. Carry-Over Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty! Baseball games have been forfeited because the team could not control their own fans (See: Dodgers 1995 baseball giveaway night) or in soccer the league makes the team play a few games without any fans at all! So if Tampa decides to give away projectile gifts they understand they run the risk of starting the next game a man down for 2 minutes. Seems fair to me.
NHL Rule 75-1 Minor Penalty XXVIX: Unsportsmanlike Conduct – Supporters
It is the responsibility of the Team and Team Management to ensure the safety of all players, coaches and officials on and off the ice. If items are provided to supporters which have the potential to do injury to players, referees or staff it is the responsibility of the Team to prevent those items from being propelled onto the playing surface. If, in the eyes of the officials or the NHL, such an effort is not made resulting in potentially dangerous situations, the Team will be assessed a 2 minute minor to be served by any player chosen by the Team. If the infraction occurs after the completion of the game or in the final 30 seconds of a game in which the result is not in doubt the minor penalty will carry over to the first 2 minutes of the following game.
-Note 1: If the provided items are not harmful (i.e. towels, soft foam, stuffed toys, etc…) the league will determine if the players, referees or staff are at risk and adjust the penalty accordingly.
-Note 2: Hats will forever be excluded from this infraction in the case of a hat trick. This is a tradition of hockey that will never be ruled an infraction.
-Note 3: Also excluded are octopuses in Detroit and toy rats in Florida.
So there it is NHL. Problem solved. Your welcome!
Go Bruins!
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