The Enemy Within Part One
In the concerted effort by those of us who defend the aspect of fighting in our beloved hockey, real writers and amateurs like myself, unfortunately, come across as people, always critiquing in the negative or even worse, as whiners. Since we love fighting, because of its inherent peacekeeping role (not an oxymoron, but a fact), we have to complain about the infusion of anything that would detract from one of hockey’s greatest selling points. We have to complain about intrusions from marginal elements. Since the league is less compliant with it’s fan base, we wind up preaching to the choir most of the time. We will not stop and we will never shut our mouths. We will always do what is necessary, in service to hockey.
The other night, by sheer accident, I came across an article by Keith Gave, SportsLine.com Senior Writer, which prevented me from going to sleep, casually as I, perhaps, should have. Entitled, For Better or Worse, NHL Crackdown On Fights Getting Results, Mr. Gave wrote and quoted several top-executives on their feelings about fighting: the future of fighting, the instigator rule, and the leagues’ full fledged efforts to corral anyone with two eyes, half a brain and a haircut, to its envisioned form of the game, a vision which we do not share. I would like to discuss some of the statements made within the fairly neutral column. Nothing I say without your knowledge of what was said by the people in charge of our game would matter. It is better that the medicine is taken straight for its full effect. Lets take a look at one of our friends in a high place, Mr. Jim Devellano of the Detroit Red Wings.
Mr. Devellano has been involved with the NHL for more than 30 years. In case you did not know, Devellano is the successful senior vice-president of the Wings. He has a lot of pull, the ability to influence, and in other words, a mover and shaker within the world of the suits in the NHL. Here then is the exact response attributed to him when asked about the decline of fighting in the NHL…
"And it’s by design. The league has been working toward this for the last five years or so. I think some of the people running the game see it as beautiful enough that we don’t have to have that stuff. A lot of people, the fans we’re trying to attract in other regions around the States, saw our sport as being too close to roller derby. There’s been a gradual move afoot, with certain rules changes and everything, to get this element slowly out of the game."
This bleating of absolute stupidity was not enough for Mr. Devellano. After a statistical breakdown of the decrease in fights, it was ironically added that the Detroit Red Wings of the late ’80s featured the great two-fisted tandem of Bob Probert and Joe Kocur, Detroit’s premier nonsense shoveller actually said, it certainly worked for the Detroit Red Wings (their fighting). "We sold our franchise on those two guys, along with Yzerman and our coach at the time, Jacques Demers."
Being at a loss for words has never been a problem for me. I must admit I am stumped by this blatant disregard for logic. Did this man not say and in fact admit that fighting sold his franchise? Did this man not profit as we all did from the great battles on ice by his own employees? Does this man really represent the great fans of Detroit, a city with a tradition of tremendous respect for hard aggressive play? Who does this man represent?
In part two of my article, I will examine more flip-flop artists within the current NHL regime: more of the motives behind eliminating fighting: all courtesy of the people whose salaries we pay. As always, I write in dedication for all of us who have to suffer simply to go see a live game. Long Live Our Hockey!
