A Reputation Can Have It’s Setbacks

How often do we see a player with a bad reputation get called for a “touch” penalty? It seems unfair to me that a guy with a history of rough play and a little fighting prowess will get called for almost anything as long as he is making contact with another player and the official happens to be looking that way.

I am not out to verbally assault all hockey officiating. I am merely getting a few things off my chest concerning the treatment that some of the “tougher” guys around the pro circuit are getting.

Let us suppose that Joe Sakic is fore-checking and he gives an extra shove behind the play. Odds are that Sakic will not be called for this. Put Matthew Barnaby in this scenario and the tide will turn. Barnaby is a guy that cannot seem to get away with anything. Sure, he has had his run-ins with numerous players and officials throughout his career, but does that give an official the right to judge him more harshly?

Guys like Matt Barnaby are invaluable to their teams. I’m not saying that he is going to pour in 80 points during the season, but come crunch time, a coach wants him on his bench.

It is a popular thing among hockey media these days to discredit a fourth-liner who gets his nose dirty every night. With the exception of a very few teams, you will not find a guy on the first or second line that is willing to put his body at risk. Jaromir Jagr isn’t going to go to the front of the net and bang with a hulking 6-5 230lb defenseman and try tapping in a rebound. He has Chris Simon to do that for him. Yet we hear about Jaromir this and Jaromir that. What about the lunch pailers? A guy will give a second thought to criss crossing the ice with Chris Simon on his shift. Is it the same for Jagr?

What I’m trying to say is that hockey owes a heck of a lot more credit to its lunch pailers than it is ever going to give them.

Hockey officials, media, and fans alike jumped at the opportunity to go McSorley bashing a year or so ago. “Goons are bad for hockey.”” We don’t need thugs on the ice.” Everyone is finished hearing about this incident so I won’t even go this direction. I will say this; the “Great One” felt a whole lot safer when a certain someone was on the ice with him.

I live in a UHL city and attend many of my local team’s games. A winger by the name of Chad Wagner graces our Civic Center. Many of you have probably already heard of Wagner. Try going to see him play one evening and count his minutes on the ice. There aren’t too many to count. That is not because Coach Shawn Ulrich doesn’t give the guy any shifts. Mr. Wagner is parked in the penalty box for at least half the game. Not because he earned it, but because the referee was looking to put him there.

I dream of attending an Asheville Smoke game when Chad Wagner, Mike Payne, and Kris Schultz aren’t renting out the penalty box. Smoke fans pay good money to see their favorite players on the ice, not in the sin bin.